Tom Brady Doesn't Mention Patriots in Official Retirement Announcement

It is official: Tom Brady is walking away from the game of football, as hard as it is to believe. The best quarterback of all time announced his retirement via his Instagram page today, a few days after ESPN initially broke the news.

A keen-eyed observer will note that, throughout the retirement announcement, plenty of individuals and organizations are thanked. Bruce Arians and Don Yee. The Glazer family and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Even the greater Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg region gets a thank-you note. But there is not one single mention of the New England Patriots, Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft, or anything related to the two decades Brady spent in the Northeast. If you didn't know any better you'd think Brady only played for the Bucs his entire life.

Now, it is hard to imagine Brady trying to slight anybody on one of the biggest days of his career. He probably feels like he already did the whole "Thank You Patriots" thing when he left in free agency two years ago and posted gratuitously about his appreciation for his time there. There is, in fact, a pretty good chance that there's a second post coming in the near future where Brady continues to thank the individuals who helped him along the way-- his journey is quite a long one and there are presumably many people who did so.

But there is only one, official, real retirement announcement. And Brady chose not to even vaguely reference the franchise where he built his legacy.

UPDATE: Brady later thanked the Patriots following their official statement on his retirement via Instagram story.