Tom Brady said he doesn’t have a “dog in the fight” for this year’s Super Bowl, and his former New England Patriots teammates are calling it “bullcrap.”
Vince Wilfork and Rob Gronkowski, Brady’s teammates during the Patriots’ recent dynastic run, both echoed the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback’s comments on a podcast this week.
“I don’t have a dog in the fight on this one,” Brady said on a recent episode of “Let’s Go!” Sirius XM podcast with Jim Gray. “May the best team win.”
Wilfork, who won two Super Bowls during his 11-year run with the Patriots, criticized Brady’s “political” stance and pointed to Brady’s role as a minority owner with the Las Vegas Raiders.
“That’s bullcrap, Tom,” Wilfork said during an interview this week with Boston radio station WEEI. “All that politics — this is not politics. It’s not politics, it is what it is. The attackers are not in it. Say what it is, what you see.”
Wilfork then responded to comments from one of WEEI’s hosts, who said Brady should focus on New England if he wants to be a “lifelong Patriot.”
“At the end of the day, if you’re a lifelong enthusiast, you know what it is,” Wilfork said. “Don’t give me that political habit. It is what it is. If you don’t think we’re going to win, just pick Seattle. Don’t swing for the fences.”
Brady, who led the Patriots to six Super Bowl victories and nine AFC championships, said during a podcast appearance that it’s “a new chapter in New England” and that he wants to “see a good game” that includes “good plays, good throws, good strategy, good decisions.”
“We’ve done it for 20 years,” Brady said. “There was a bit of a hiatus there, but the Patriots are back, and it’s a very exciting time for everyone in New England.”
Gronkowski said he never spoke to Brady about this year’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, but he pondered whether Brady’s behavior was motivated by bad motives.
“Maybe he wants to be a quarterback,” Gronkowski said during an appearance on “Up & Adams.”
“He’s got competition. He probably wants to be the guy in the Super Bowl right now.”
Asante Samuel, another former Patriot who won Super Bowls in his first two years in New England, called out Brady in a series of social media posts. The former linebacker said he was “very disappointed” in Brady for “not focusing on your old partner, Mike Vrabel,” and accused Brady of being jealous of Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.
Brady you can’t be the only one who wins big bowls. Let me know what you hate about Drake Maye and Vrabel. “I don’t have a dog in the army”
Not what I wanted to hear. Brady knows how I go down. This is nothing new to him
— Asante Samuel (@pick_six22) February 4, 2026
Current Patriots players also weighed in Thursday on Brady’s comments.
“Personally, it makes me sick,” linebacker Robert Spillane said. “But at the end of the day [he’s a Patriot]; you have a dog in the fight. So you say that, it is. At the end of the day, he owns the Las Vegas Raiders now, so he has to do what’s best for him. “
Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs compared Brady, also a Fox analyst, to other network broadcasters.
“Is Tony Romo still pulling for the Cowboys? I’d be surprised,” Diggs said Thursday. “I think Peyton Manning still likes Denver. I don’t hear him talk much about the Colts.
“But everyone is different. I don’t think too much about it. Everyone’s opinion is everyone’s opinion. Tom won a lot in New England, but he is also part owner of the Raiders. So I don’t expect him to have a dog in the fight in this situation. Your time with the team does not determine your future, I think.”
Gronkowski, who won three Super Bowls in New England and met Brady in another game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made his interest in the expansion clear Sunday.
“I’m rooting for the Patriots,” he said. “What’s great about the Patriots being in the Super Bowl is that it shows – it brings back the way the Patriots dominate.
“And there are many fans who are still crazy about the fact that the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, which is good for us. Because that brings back that they are crazy because of how many times we have won.”
ESPN’s Mike Reiss contributed to this report.
