Tom Brady Patriots Exit: Julian Edelman Shares Heartfelt ‘Family’ Photo

Tom Brady announced a major change to his NFL career on Tuesday morning, revealing that he would not be returning to the New England Patriots. He would be joining another franchise after 20 years partnered with Bill Belichick. Wide receiver Julian Edelman, who has spent 11 seasons with Brady, saw the message and reached out to let his former teammate know that there are no hard feelings.

Edelman posted a photo on Twitter Tuesday that showed him and Brady jogging onto the field at Gillette Stadium. He simply captioned the post with “Family” to show the relationship that he and Brady have. They enjoyed several years of production together, as well as three Super Bowl wins.

“Can you go wherever he goes?” one Patriots fan wrote in response to Edelman’s post. There were several users on social media that were heartbroken by the news that Brady would no longer be in a Patriots uniform, but they were hoping to find some solace in the form of the two friends remaining together on another team.

“Follow Tom to either Raiders or Tampa Bucs. Or LA Chargers! Make this happen BroBro!” another Patriots fan added. The Chargers and Buccaneers have both reportedly made contract offers to Brady while the Raiders are expected to also pursue his services. If the six-time Super Bowl champion happened to sign with any of these three teams, the fans would hope that his wide receiver would come along for the ride.

Edelman has been openly campaigning for Brady to return to the Patriots all offseason. He drew attention during a Syracuse basketball game by proclaiming that “he’s coming back” to the cameras. Although this interaction created concern among Patriots fans due to Brady’s seemingly uncomfortable smile.

The wide receiver’s campaign has extended beyond talking about a potential Brady return. He also went out of his way to create some custom shirts promoting a return. Edelman released his design in late February, which included the words “STAY TOM 2020” and a campaign slogan reading “A quarterback you can trust.”

To further this campaign, Edelman also distributed his shirts to the Boston Celtics. Photos surfaced on Twitter that showed the “STAY TOM 2020” tees hanging in several lockers of the NBA team. Players such as Gordon Hayward, Romeo Langford, and Jaysom Tatum all joined Edelman in opening campaigning for Brady to make his return.

The campaign did not pay off for Edelman, but he has no hard feelings. He will continue to view Brady as family and will reminisce fondly about their time together with the Patriots.

(Photo Credit: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)