Tom Brady Says Thank You to New England, Hello to Tampa Bay

Bucs' new QB pens a touching note to his old team and city, as well as his new ones.

After 20 legendary years with the New England Patriots, Tom Brady is packing up and heading south.

Now the quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady shocked many with his decision to leave one of professional sports' greatest dynasties for one of the NFL's least successful franchises.

In a touching letter posted at The Players' Tribune on Monday, Brady spoke glowingly of the life he experienced in New England, and also the joy he feels at the challenge of what lies ahead in Tampa Bay:

Playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is a change, a challenge, an opportunity to lead and collaborate, and also to be seen and heard. And I know my time there will be as amazing in its own way as what came before.

It will be different — that goes with the territory. Different coaches. Different players. Different programs. Right now I have no idea how to get to Raymond James Stadium, or where the meeting rooms are, or where everybody sits. It will be a learning curve, in the same way it was remembering that the Atlantic Ocean is always due east.

Still, I’m excited. Most of all, I’m motivated. I want to deliver for my new team, my new coaches and my new teammates. I don’t want to let anyone down. I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.

The welcome and warmth I’ve gotten from the players and coaches in Tampa Bay has been so gratifying. For my part, I’ve loved getting to know a new group of young players.

They’ve welcomed me as one of their own. They want to listen to what I have to say. I’m excited to be embraced fully for what I can bring to the Bucs. In turn I’m ready to embrace fully a team that is confident in what I do — and what I bring — and is willing to go on this ride with me.

Brady makes it clear in the letter how much the Patriots and the New England community has meant to him, but also how excited he is to take on a new challenge with new teammates in a new community in Tampa Bay.

The six-time Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL MVP takes over as quarterback for a Bucs team that hasn't won a playoff game since winning the Super Bowl following the 2002 season. Brady has won 27 playoff games over the same stretch with the Patriots.

To read Brady's full letter at The Players' Tribune, click here.