It's hard to find words that do justice to the legacy Tom Brady is leaving in the sports world. Fortunately for those paying tribute this week, they got to make a first draft last offseason.
The legendary quarterback on Wednesday announced his retirement -- for real this time -- with an informal video posted across his social media platforms. Having won seven Super Bowls across 23 seasons in the NFL, his greatness transcended the sport, and the outpouring of support from teammates, friends, coaches, analysts, politicians, celebrities and CEOs overwhelmed his mentions.
The New England Patriots, where he played the first 20 years of his career and established himself as a future Hall of Famer, were obviously no exception.
Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft and head coach Bill Belichick each released formal statements after news broke, and Kraft shared on CNN that the team would do anything in its power to get Brady to sign a one-day contract in order to retire a Patriot.
More candidly, former teammates like Julian Edelman, Devin McCourty, Robert Gronkowski, Josh Uche, Ja'Whaun Bentley, and more took to Twitter to express what Brady means to them and to football. Here is some of the reaction from the Patriots and the rest of the NFL world:
