Patriots post Instagram photo of Tom Brady as draft begins

The NFL Draft began on Thursday evening with the New England Patriots on the sidelines; the team was forced to surrender its first-round pick as a result of the still-ongoing deflategate controversy. But the team wasn’t taking its public shaming sitting down; no, sir. The Patriots unveiled a bit of passive-aggressive social media shot-firing, posting the following on Instagram:

The team also changed its Twitter avatar to Brady’s 12, an obvious sign of solidarity with their quarterback who, at the moment, is suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season.

This isn’t the first time the Patriots have changed their avatar and announced their implicit support of Brady; the team did so last May around the time of the release of the infamous Wells Report. Not that it made much of a difference; Brady is still sitting pending an appeal. But the #freebrady movement is yet another example of how deeply silly this entire deflategate mess has become.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.