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Best Tom Brady Memes and Jokes: Happy Unretirement Day

Let's hope the legendary QB hung on to that massive puffy coat, because he's always been a great meme topic.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
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Brady has unretired and will play for at least one more season.

 Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Tom Brady's always been a hot topic for memes, whether he's wearing a giant puffy coat or taking a wobbly walk at a Super Bowl victory parade. When Brady announced his retirement after the 2021 NFL season, it seemed like the Brady social buzz might finally be benched. But then, on Sunday, Brady announced his return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and a Super party broke out on all social platforms.

"These past two months I've realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands," Brady wrote. "That time will come. But it's not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I'm coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. Unfinished business."

Many Brady memes and jokes centered on the dismay other NFL teams might feel, as the always-tough-to-beat QB puts on his cleats one more time.

And many of those actual NFL teams did have something to say about Brady's return. The New York Jets replied to their own tweet of Feb. 1, when they wrote, "(Brady's retirement) better be real," updating it with "guess not."

The Denver Broncos weighed in.

The L.A. Chargers also had to dig into some past Brady tweets.

And the Carolina Panthers had something to say, too.

OK, so ONE team was kind of happy -- Brady's own Bucs.

Not everyone wanted Brady back.

But others really, really did. "God delivering to sports talk radio hosts," read one tweet.

Some imagined Brady, who'll turn 45 on Aug. 3, walking back into a league full of youngsters.

And others envisioned Brady getting tired of family time.

Some suggested that Brady just couldn't let other news stories grab the buzz he once held. One tweet read, "Not now Tom Brady, we're filling out our (NCAA tournament) brackets."

Others thought maybe he wanted the accolades of retiring without actually doing so. "Tom Brady faking his retirement to hear all the nice things people have to say about him is big Leo energy," wrote one person.

And some just delivered some touchdown-scoring humor at Brady's expense.

"I am also not retiring from whatever it is that I do," wrote author and journalist Dave Itzkoff.

Brady fans, let's hope he hasn't thrown away the puffy coat, because there's a whole new season of GOAT memes coming our way.