Tom Brady joins Twitter; announces retirement on April Fools’ Day

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady joined Twitter just in time to announce his retirement from the NFL via an April Fools’ Day prank tweet.

Tom Brady has gone through most of his adult life without needing a Twitter account. Despite being arguably the most well-known NFL player on the planet, he’s always been content with limiting his social media presence to Facebook and Instagram.

So it was curious to see a verified Tom Brady account spring up on Twitter at the end of March 2019. What was even more curious? Brady’s first tweet, posted in the late morning hours of April 1, 2019.

Most astute football fans – and people aware of the day’s date – were quick to comment and applaud Brady for his April Fools’ Day joke. After all, the 41-year-old was asked repeatedly in the days leading up to Super Bowl 53 whether he would consider retiring after the 2018 season, particularly if the Patriots won another championship, and his answer was always the same: “zero” percent chance he walks away, win or lose.

In other words, New Englanders who have been paying attention knew better than to fall for Brady’s idea of a practical joke. Those who haven’t been paying as close attention?

Well, needless to say, there were quite a few concerned Twitter users Monday, wondering how in the world they could go from losing legendary tight end Rob Gronkowski to losing legendary quarterback Tom Brady in the span of a little more than a week. Brady’s tweet sent some social media users into a veritable frenzy, before other online posters tried to calm their digital companions by pointing out the day’s date.

April 1st has long been celebrated as a day for hoaxes, practical jokes, and pranks. It was fun to see Brady getting in on the April Fools’ Day action, especially on a different social media platform than the ones we’re accustomed to seeing him use.

Inevitably, Brady must have either second-guessed the impact his joke would have, or perhaps he just decided to take pity on some of his more outraged/terrified fans. About an hour-and-a-half after the original tweet, he sent this follow-up:

We think it was a great joke, Tom, but we appreciate the clarification that you were indeed joking, nonetheless. Maybe if the pain and heartache of losing Gronk wasn’t still so fresh, we’d be laughing a whole lot more.

Now we just need Gronkowski to tell us his Instagram post was an early April Fools’ Day prank, and all will be right with the world again for Patriots Nation.

One can hope, right?