Mike RiceESPN Staff Writer4 min read
Patriots owner Robert Kraft plans ‘special and unique’ honor for Tom Brady
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said the team plans to honor Tom Brady with a “special and unique” honor on Sunday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft promised Sunday will be a “special” day when the team honors Tom Brady in their regular-season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles ( CBS, 4:25 p.m. ET).
“He’s really excited and I’m excited because our fans never really get a chance to say goodbye in a proper way. We’re going to do something special with him,” Kraft said during the ceremony Thursday night. Cutting activity for the $250 million Gillette Stadium renovation.
“He had 20 family members coming – all his nephews, nieces, sisters, parents. So we were honored to be able to host them all.”
Kraft said there will be a halftime ceremony for Brady, who is also expected to take the field before the game. Kraft noted the time constraints of the halftime ceremony but said the team has a “good plan” to make it memorable.
“He made such an amazing contribution,” Kraft said. “Think about it, the NFL is 103 years old and we’re privileged to have had the greatest player in the history of the game for 20 percent of that time. I think it’s a cool thing that we can say ‘thank you’ to him .”
Brady spoke on “Let’s Go!” the SiriusXM podcast Monday to preview his trip to New England.
“I have a lot of memories of my time there and memories with the people there, and I’m making new memories with the people there (Sunday),” he said. “Going back to that stadium, taking my kids and my family in a different way, I’ve never been to that stadium in this way. I’ve been there as a player, I’ve been there once as a competitor, Now I’ll go there as a true fan…
“I love the game and I love the Patriots, so it’s going to be a great experience to go there and see a lot of my friends and family.”
Brady added that he was filled with “a lot of gratitude” as he returned to a place where he had “two decades of incredible life-changing experiences.”
Current players talked this week about how exciting it will be to have Brady back.
“It’s really hard when you try to put into words what he means to this place and what he means to this place,” said captain Matthew Slater, the team’s longest-tenured player. Was teammates with Brady from 2008 to 2019. “I’m thankful that we have the opportunity to celebrate him the right way and our fans can celebrate him the right way.
“How lucky are we all to witness something like this? Two decades of an unparalleled run, greatness like we’ve never seen before.”
The Patriots have finished two seasons below .500 since he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent in 2020 and are underdogs heading into Sunday’s game against the defending NFC champion Eagles.
Kraft visited the team’s practice Thursday, walked the field with coach Bill Belichick and had a lengthy conversation with him. He said Belichick invited him to practice.
“Ultimately, we want to win,” Kraft said, noting the team’s tough first game against the Eagles.
“I kind of like how most people picked us to be fourth in the (AFC East) division. I think we have good chemistry. This is probably one of the youngest teams (we have). Coach does Overall, I think having (offensive coordinator) Bill O’Brien come in here and work with Mac (Jones), they seem to have good chemistry. I’m excited about this team. “