On Monday, retired football legend Tom Brady announced that he would be returning to the gridiron as a participant in the upcoming Fanatics Flag Football Classic, a competitive flag football tournament that will be held in Saudi Arabia on March 21, 2026. Joining him in the venture will be current league stars like Myles Garrett and Saquon Barkley, as well as former partner-in-crime Rob Gronkowski, among others.
Soon after Brady broke the news, the story was then amplified by ESPN's Adam Schefter (as is typically the case), who sent out a tweet of his own to presumably further the GOAT's reach.
But Schefter, in quite the internet-savvy move, opted to phrase his post in an extremely heart-stopping way, one that almost made this seem like a different bombshell entirely.
Specifically, the insider wrote, "Tom Brady is coming out of retirement, sort of," before listing some of the other big names involved in the eventβknowing very well that fans would see the words "Tom Brady" and "coming out of retirement" and stop their scroll in its tracks.
Tom Brady is coming out of retirement, sort of, to join Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, Maxx Crosby, Rob Gronkowski, Sauce Gardner Myles Garrett and others for the Fanatics Flag Football Classic - a competitive flag football tournament taking place during Riyadhβ¦
β Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 15, 2025
Hilariously, early reactions to the tweet had more to do with Schefter's provocative phrasing than the news itself. Take a peek at that below:
Had me about to grab Brady off waivers π
β PFF Fantasy (@PFF_Fantasy) September 15, 2025
Lol. I know those first 7 words had people in disbelief until they kept reading ππ https://t.co/FXzDuCDdGM
β J Wills (@ChillJDub) September 15, 2025
That first line made my heart drop, Adam. pic.twitter.com/Xewj4Xj8CK
β Jordan Moore (@iJordanMoore) September 15, 2025
Holy click bait
β Juju (@Jujutalksball) September 15, 2025
pic.twitter.com/G157yjxgTD
β Kyle Garay (@kylecgaray) September 15, 2025
It should be frowned upon to start tweets this way
β Sheldon Wohlman | Utility Sports (@_utilitysports) September 15, 2025
My heart dropped so fast
β suedetrades (@suedetrades) September 15, 2025
Starting the tweet like that should be illegal
β Woody (@woodyVSworld) September 15, 2025
Why would you start the tweet like that
β ππ₯π’ ππ’π±π―π¬π¦π± ππ¦πͺπ’π° π° (@the_det_times) September 15, 2025
pic.twitter.com/2kXAPlPXLW
β jakef (@jakefeigs) September 15, 2025
this noti almost hit like crack wtf
β neil. (@chilldude74) September 15, 2025
Now why would you get our hopes up pic.twitter.com/zODIKTNCTk
β Jason Williams (@jasoneg33) September 15, 2025
when i tell you my stomach droppedβ¦
β jack (@jack_bfr) September 15, 2025
All I read was the first part and jumped https://t.co/henpCfsPuc
β Zirkseeπ½οΈ (@Zirksee) September 15, 2025
You canβt start the tweet out like Schefty https://t.co/8j38Wer0QF
β Just Being Frank (@FrankTweetsALot) September 15, 2025
To be fair, Brady himself did use similar language while announcing themove alongside Saudi Royal Court adviser Turki Alalshikh, so maybe it wasn't all Schefter's doing entirely. And the post did get our attention, so maybe it was the right choice after all, even if we had to pick our jaws up off the floor when we finished reading.
The TL;DR? Brady isn't truly "un-retiring," but we will get to watch him play football in a semi-competitive capacity again soon.
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