Wild Tom Brady conspiracy theory connects Bucs absence to reality show

An NFL analyst revealed a wild fan theory that stretches to connect Tom Brady’s absence from the Bucs to the filming of a popular reality television show. 

The reasons as to why Tom Brady is absent from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers preseason, and the timetable for his return, still remains unclear. Officially, Brady is stepping away from the team in August for “personal reasons”, with NFL insider Ian Rapoport reporting that sources indicate the reasons are related to his family.

Bucs players like Devin White have publicly asked for media and fans to treat Brady with empathy out of respect for his private life, but the Internet had other plans. An NFL analyst on Twitter known as Lindsey Ok discussed the existence a wild conspiracy theory speculating that Tom Brady is absent because he’s busy filming for a popular reality television show.

Sportswriter David Gardner shared a screenshot of a Reddit thread taking users down this particular rabbit hole.

Wild conspiracy theory seeks to prove that Tom Brady is absent from Bucs to film The Masked Singer

Lindsey reiterated that primary selling points on the outrageous theory included the fact that he may have committed to the show while in retirement, he has already signed a broadcasting deal with FOX (which broadcasts TMS), and the show is currently filming during his absence.

There are also several NFL and Bucs connections to the show in seasons past, as Terry Bradshaw, Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski have all appeared on the show at some point.

Part of the reason The Masked Singer theory may excite football fans is not only seeing if Brady truly has a set of golden pipes, but because fans know virtually nothing about his uncharacteristic absence from the team.

Brady was famously tight-lipped during his time with the New England Patriots, but his relaxed attitude with the Bucs, demonstrated in his “Tommy & Gronky” web series and his love for avocado tequila, makes it fun to imagine Brady donning a costume and shocking the world once more.

Of course, from the information that has been released thus far, Brady’s absence is a more serious and private matter than flippantly missing the preseason to film for a reality show. What this conspiracy theory does prove is that everyone is anxiously waiting to see when Brady will return ‚— and speculating about TMS celebrities appears to be quite the pastime for fans of the show.