When Tom Brady announced that he had successfully cloned his late dog Lua, the reaction across the NFL world was a mix of amazement, confusion, and comedic panic.
Former teammates Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, never ones to pass up a chance to poke fun at their longtime quarterback, immediately launched into a stream of Jurassic Park-themed jokes, wondering aloud whether Brady had accidentally stepped into mad-scientist territory.
Brady revealed earlier this month that his new puppy, Junie, is a genetic copy of Lua, the pit-bull mix who was widely adored by his family before passing away in 2023. The cloning was carried out through Colossal Biosciences, a company Brady has invested in and that recently expanded into pet cloning technologies.
The news left Edelman and Gronkowski stunned, then highly entertained, as they tried to wrap their heads around the science behind it.
On their podcast, Dudes on Dudes, Gronkowski admitted he had “at least 20 questions,” which quickly spiraled into an avalanche of half-serious, half-chaotic queries about organs, brain cells, and how a complete dog could be rebuilt “from scratch.”
Edelman jumped in with his now-viral line: “I hope Tom didn’t use the other DNA part of the frog,” referencing the plot twist in Jurassic Park where frog DNA causes all-female dinosaurs to spontaneously change sex and reproduce. The former receiver joked that Brady’s cloned dog might “go out of control” if the process worked anything like the movies.
What really happened behind the scenes
In reality, the cloning process Brady used was far less dramatic than the blockbuster franchise that inspired Edelman’s worries. Instead of sci-fi DNA patchwork, Colossal’s method relied on a simple, non-invasive blood sample collected from Lua before she passed.
Scientists then used that genetic material to create an embryo carrying the same DNA, which was brought to term by a surrogate dog. The result is Junie, a puppy genetically identical to Lua but with her own personality, experiences, and environment that will shape who she becomes.
Brady framed the decision as a deeply personal one, describing Junie as a “second chance” to hold onto a pet that meant so much to his family, including his children and former wife Gisele Bündchen. And he is far from the first celebrity to pursue pet cloning: Paris Hilton and Barbra Streisand have both done the same in years past.
The process isn’t cheap – the cost for cloning a dog averages around $50,000 – but demand has steadily increased as the technology becomes more refined.
Despite the jokes, Edelman and Gronkowski’s curiosity mirrors a broader public fascination with cloning: a blend of wonder, skepticism, and a hint of unease. But in Brady’s case, the result isn’t a world-ending hybrid or a runaway experiment.
It’s simply Junie, a new life shaped by old memories, made possible through cutting-edge science and a quarterback’s enduring love for his dog.
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