The news that the FBI has found Tom Brady’s Super Bowl LI jersey AND his Super Bowl XLIX jersey has surprised many, primarily since it wasn’t known that Brady’s Super Bowl XLIX jersey was missing. The development raised questions as to whether the culprit replaced the Super Bowl XLIX jersey with a replica -- which someone allegedly did nine years ago after stealing Michael Strahan’s Super Bowl XLII jersey.
Brady knew the Super Bowl XLIX jersey was missing. (Apparently, Brady has mentioned that fact in post-Super Bowl interviews; the comments should have gotten much more reaction and attention than they did.) Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the team didn’t know the Super Bowl XLIX jersey was missing until the Super Bowl LI jersey came up missing, too.
It’s odd that no mention ever was made by Brady that the Super Bowl XLIX jersey was missing, since that could have sparked an effort to track it down, like the effort that tracked down the Super Bowl LI jersey. It’s also odd that Brady didn’t disclose that a prior Super Bowl jersey had been stolen from him once the Super Bowl LI jersey came up missing, either via planned announcement or spontaneous “that’s twice!"-style declaration.
It’s hard not to wonder how many other items of game-used memorabilia have been stolen over the years, with the players from whom the items were stolen never saying anything about it, for whatever reason. Indeed, but for the fact that the media witnessed Brady looking for the jersey, it’s possible he would have simply moved on like he did two years ago.