Tom Brady’s stolen jersey from this year’s Super Bowl has been recovered after being found in the possession of a member of the international media, according to the NFL.
The league announced Monday that the New England Patriots quarterback’s game-worn jersey from Super Bowl LI and another jersey, missing from Super Bowl XLIX, were retrieved after an investigation led by the FBI.
The jerseys were found in Mexico and currently are being authenticated by authorities, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
“Through the cooperation of the NFL and New England Patriots’ security teams, the FBI and other law enforcement authorities, the Super Bowl LI jersey worn last month by MVP Tom Brady has been recovered,” the NFL said in its statement. “Also retrieved during the ongoing investigation was the jersey Brady wore in the Patriots’ victory in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks in 2015.
“The items were found in the possession of a credentialed member of the international media. Due to the ongoing investigation, we would refer any additional questions to the FBI.”
Following the Patriots’ 34-28 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI, Brady immediately realized his jersey had been taken from a bag he had put it in in the locker room.
“It’s unfortunate, because that’s a nice piece of memorabilia,” Brady told the media a day later. “If it shows up on eBay or something, somebody let me know. I’ll try to track that down. … Those are pretty special ones to keep. But what can you do? I’ll take the ring. That’s good enough for me.”
A week later, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, on the Fox Business Network, compared taking the Brady jersey to “taking a great Chagall or Picasso.”
In its report, the Houston Police assigned a value of $500,000 to the jersey, the same number that sports auctioneer Ken Goldin, who has sold game-used Brady jerseys before, said he believed it was worth if it were to hit the open market. Game-used Brady jerseys from regular-season games have been sold in the $50,000 range.
The Houston police classified the alleged theft of Brady’s Super Bowl LI jersey as a first-degree felony.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
