The social evolution of Tom Brady: From Foxborough to TikTok – The Boston Globe

And has seemed to embrace the last few months.

A great event and a great cause ... winners all around! It was so fun having millions watch me shank shots, ask for lost ball rulings, and rip my pants wide open! Brady said online.

Brady has been in the public eye for a long time and does just fine as the center of attention on football Sundays. Hes often, though, seemed uncomfortable in that same glare off the field. He has cited a desire for privacy often and avoided politics. Some of his most telling interviews were those he walked out of as means of declining to engage in their subject matter.

That has changed. Whether Brady wanted to keep his life to himself or didnt feel he was allowed to be as open as hed have liked to be before this offseason, the quarterback is suddenly willing to put himself out there in ways he hasnt been in a long time.

For example: Hes starting a production company. Hes doing a nine-part documentary with ESPN about himself. He was mostly micd up for an entire Sunday of golf that was seen by a record-setting average 5.8 million homes reaching even more viewers once the pants incident went viral.

The only thing I saw from TB12 and them was he split his pants at one point and he sunk a hole-in-one, said Jason McCourty, errantly referring to the birdie Brady made from the fairway. So, I was happy to see he split his pants. The next time I see him, Ive got to give him a hard time.

Brady has also recently shared that his wife, Gisele Bundchen, at times, was unhappy with their marriage as a result of his time commitment to football. He has also told us (on TikTok) that he exercises more than she does but also spends more money, has more clothes, and is more of a whiner when sick. Hes posted selfies with goofy filters and photoshopped a Caddyshack reference. He is, as the kids say, very online.

More significantly, Brady has delved into the political. He has requested, via an Instagram post, justice for George Floyd, the Minnesota man who died last Monday after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck while arresting him. Earlier in May, Brady signed a letter from the Players Coalition to the Justice Department demanding a federal investigation into the February killing of another Black man, Ahmaud Arbery.

He has screenshot a TMZ post about his accidental barging-in on a Tampa man whose home he mistook for that of Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. He addressed a mini-controversy on social media, screenshooting a report claiming tension between he and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and captioning it please stop this nonsense! Please be more responsible with reporting.

Beyond the confines of the Internet, hes also selling his custom Escalade, with its blacked-out windows and privacy curtains. Hes currently living in a home (Derek Jeters, if you havent heard) in Tampa that he told Howard Stern is far less private than the Brookline manse his family inhabited for the last few years.

Where I lived in Chestnut Hill, I was pretty private for a long time, Brady said. So I forgot, in a way, like people could drive up to your house. You couldnt drive up to my house where I lived in Chestnut Hill. Here, they could pull right up to the back of the house.

This is a little different because when you go out to the backyard, theres a lot of boats that have pulled up and people out the front.

Oh, also, he did multiple hours with Stern.

Maybe this was part of the plan. Its smart business Bradys Twitter-follower count has grown from 977,730 on March 11 to more than 1.2 million now, the new followers roped in by the 37 tweets (out of a lifetime total of 206) hes sent since then.

Maybe it just makes him happy.

He wanted to go somewhere and enjoy himself, have more fun than he was having, Bradys friend Jay Feely said during an guest spot on NFL Networks Good Morning Football, speaking of Bradys change of scenery. He earned that right. He was a free agent and well see how that ends up.

The degree to which Patriots players are discouraged from having active presences online, and otherwise with the public, is usually overstated but still a factor.

Maybe it took the confluence of a global pandemic that requires the public to stay inside and become round-the-clock content consumers and the biggest change of his professional life to get Brady on TikTok, but there he is.

This has not all gone over well in New England. While Brady stories continue to generate tons of interest, plenty of Patriots fans including those still rooting for the quarterback, as long as hes not playing New England have voiced the opinion that its getting tiring hearing about his every move. (Anyone who has ever social media-stalked an ex knows that these things can both be true.)

Beyond the specific dynamics of this offseason, though, its fascinating to watch one of the NFLs defining players change this way. Bradys always done most of his talking on the field, but hes starting to get chatty in other arenas, as well.

Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.

See the article here:

The social evolution of Tom Brady: From Foxborough to TikTok - The Boston Globe