Grab your No. 12 jerseys and probably a box of tissues, New England Patriots fans. Legendary quarterback Tom Brady is returning to his old stomping grounds at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro to be honored by the team.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced the news when appearing on Good Morning Football on Thursday.
“I’m thinking the NFL is over a century old, and 20 percent of those years of the NFL, the greatest player in the history of the game played right here in Foxboro,” Kraft said. “And I’m happy to tell you and your audience that I invited him back to come here and be with us at the opening game and let the fans in New England thank him for the great service he gave us for over 20 years, and it’ll be the beginning of many celebrations to honor Tom Brady and say thank you for what he did for us those 20 years playing for the New England Patriots.”
“The greatest player in the history of the game played right here in Foxboro, and I’m happy to tell you…I invited him back to come here and be with us at the opening game.”
Robert Kraft on honoring @TomBrady at @GilletteStadium. pic.twitter.com/Dg4Aq2TXvq
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) May 11, 2023
Without Brady, there wouldn’t be six Super Bowl banners hanging in the rafters at Gillette Stadium.
Along with coach Bill Belichick, Brady set the bar for excellence at an impossible height and forged the greatest dynasty in NFL history in New England. He left the Patriots in 2020 to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and ended up winning a seventh Super Bowl in his first year with the team.
There’s no questioning his status as the greatest of all time.
Now, he gets to return to where it all started to a fanbase that rallied around him for nearly two decades, along with Belichick and Kraft—the true, feel-good ending Patriots fans have been waiting for.