Tom Brady on Monday announced a variation of the news every NFL fan wants to hear: he is returning to football in a competitive capacity, only it'll be flag football as part of a Fanatics-sponsored tournament in Saudi Arabia.

So not exactly an NFL gridiron, but hey, a win's a win.

Brady will be joined in his venture by not only current league stars like Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey and Myles Garrett, but also former partner in crime and fellow retiree Rob Gronkowski, who you'll recall was Brady's tight end for three Super Bowls with the Patriots and one with the Buccaneers. If Brady returning to some form of football is the top headline, his re-joining forces with Gronk is easily No. 2.

In the wake of the news, one former Patriot and Super Bowl winner, who is often mentioned in the same breath as both Brady and Gronkowski, was feeling a touch left out: Julian Edelman.

How do we know this? Well, to illustrate this lighthearted feeling of exclusion, Edelman, who played for the Pats from 2009 through 2020, posted the funniest meme on X (formerly Twitter): a photo of Squidward watching on from a window as Patrick and SpongeBob have fun on the sand down below.

Take a look at that below:

Certainly, they could loop Edelman into this if he wanted, right? He hosts a podcast with Gronk for crying out loud! Someone pick up the phone!

The Fanatics Flag Football Classic will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 21, 2026. It will be a round robin-style tournament with three teams, the top two of which will advance to the championship.

More NFL on Sports Illustrated


This article was originally published on www.si.com as Julian Edelman Used Perfect Meme to React to Tom Brady, Gronk's Flag Football Reunion.

Test hyperlink for boilerplate