After Tom Brady Called Off NFL Retirement, Twitter Had A Field (Goal) Day With Hilarious Reactions

When Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL ahead of Super Bowl LVI, where his Tampa Bay Buccaneers eventually lost out to the Los Angeles Rams (after a banging halftime show), the responses were all over the place. His biggest fans offered respectful appreciation and light mourning, while his biggest critics were full of celebratory vigor. Such mourning and celebrating were not meant to last, however, as the 44-year-old athlete made it exactly one month after the Bowl before publicly reversing that retirement decision to say he’ll be back in Tampa Bay for his 23rd season. Suffice to say, social media went bonkers over the not-entirely-unexpected news. 

Tons of people were obviously extremely happy to hear this particular update, as Tom Brady has amassed a slew of diehard fans from his many years as a New England Patriot. But as it usually goes, the more jovial tweets just weren’t nearly as amusing as the ones from people who had nothing but punchlines about Brady reneging on his retirement. In particular, a lot of people had jokes about what the MVP’s latest decision says about his intended plan to spend more time with his wife and kids. Such as this tweet:

Or this gem, which is one of several responses to Tom Brady’s news that managed to work in memorable Arrested Development jokes and GIFs. (Look at retirement banner, Michael!)

But then maybe it's not about avoiding his family entirely. Maybe it's about not having enough episodes to watch from TV shows that are about dudes who are consistently fed up after spending only a few minutes with their spouses.

The timing of Tom Brady’s retirement reversal was also something many people focused on, since it took the spotlight off of other things while also downplaying everything that was tied to his initial retirement. Such as the ball that Tom Brady threw for his then-final touchdown, which legit just sold for $500,000. Granted, it’s still quite the keepsake, but… 

• Somebody spent 500 thousand dollars on Tom Brady’s final touchdown pass just for it to be a random ball 🤦🏻🤦🏻 #NFL #TomBrady - @OhYeahSports

Tom Brady's football-oriented news, which came a day after he put his soccer fandom on display, was not the most pleasing thing to see taking over newsfeeds on a day populated by basketball games. 

Tom Brady's return to the NFL also overshadowed reports about the Minnesota Vikings giving quarterback Kirk Cousins a pretty solid contract extension following the past season's successes. 

• #KirkCousins announcing his deal on the same night #TomBrady announces he's coming out of retirement is right on brand. How To Be Minnesotan Rule #4: We Don't Draw Attention To Ourselves. - @AmyHockert

One mom bemusedly pointed out that her son's efforts to memorialize Tom Brady's retirement in framed magazine form aren't quite as accurately timely as they were before. 

To be expected, Tom Brady's situation drew comparisons to all manner of other sports-related retirements, such as those of Brett Favre, Ric Flair (and lots of other pro wrestlers), and fellow GOAT Michael Jordan. 

I'm throwing the tweet below out there because its mundaneness amidst all of the overblown responses amused me. 

• #TomBrady is like that annoying coworker in meetings that says “oh and one more thing” when the meeting is over. - @Fyrekrakr73

And finally, to cap things off, we turn to a scene from The Wolf of Wall Street that was referenced quite a few times in relation to Tom Brady's retirement flip-flop. But this one is special, since it involves Brady's face Deepfaked onto Leonardo DiCaprio's. [Chef's kiss through football helmet's facemask.]

While waiting to see Tom Brady return to action in the NFL, be sure to check out some of the best commercials from Super Bowl LVI, and head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see all the biggest shows that are coming soon!