Tom Brady will be taking a historic step in his football career.
The six-time Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL MVP announced Tuesday he will not return to the New England Patriots after a 20-year run with the franchise.
Brady did not reveal anything about which team he would sign with or anything else about his plans beyond his intention to move on from the organization.
“To all my teammates, coaches, executives and staff, Coach (Bill) Belichick, RKK (owner Robert Kraft) and the Kraft family and the entire organization,” Brady wrote on a post to his social media channels. “I want to say thank you for the past twenty years of my life and the daily commitment to winning and creating a winning culture built on great values. … Although my football journey will take place elsewhere, I appreciate everything that we have achieved and am grateful for our incredible TEAM accomplishments.”
Brady’s decision ends one of the most prolific pairings of team and player in sports history. A sixth-round pick out of Michigan in 2000, he rose from relative anonymity to become the most prominent player of his era and one of the greatest players of all time. His numerous records include most Super Bowl victories by a player (six), most Super Bowl MVPs (four), most Super Bowl touchdown passes (18), most Super Bowl passing yards (2,838) and most regular-season wins by a starting quarterback (219).
He also ranks second in career passing yards (74,571) and touchdowns (541), trailing only Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints.
In the lead-up to becoming a free agent, Brady remained cryptic about whether he would actually leave the Patriots. He stirred speculation on social media by posting a photo of him in a stadium, but the post was a teaser for his Super Bowl ad for Hulu.
“There’s a lot of speculation, a lot of people who don’t have any information,” Brady said on Westwood One radio in February. “I haven’t put too much thought into those things other than understanding the situation I am in, which I knew I was going to be in at the beginning of the year and just taking these things day-by-day. Again, the reality for me is the season didn’t end that long ago. There is still time to decompress a little bit and that will happen and continue to happen after the season. I will take those days as I need them and deal with the different emotions and ultimately when the time comes decide what’s next, that is what I will do.”