This time last year, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady announced that he was retiring from NFL football with immediate effect.
The then 44-year old had seemingly pulled the plug on his greatest of all-time career.
Six weeks later, Brady was back, explaining that he had ‘unfinished business’ in the NFL and that he wanted to don the pads and helmet for at least one more season in the hope of leading his Tampa Bay Buccaneers team to a second Super Bowl victory with him under center.
But after a below par 8-9 season, which did see the Bucs just about win the NFC South, Tampa were well beaten in the Wildcard Games by the Dallas Cowboys losing 31-14 at Raymond James Stadium.
The moment the whistle blew to signify the end of the Bucs season, speculation began on whether Brady would come back for his 24th year in the NFL, or whether the 45-year-old would call it a day.
Now we have our answer; Tom Brady has officially retired. Again.
The Brady Legacy
For many, many decades, a debate raged about who was the greatest NFL superstar of all-time.
Joe Namath, Sammy Baugh, Dick Butkus, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Marino, John Elway, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor, Steve Young, Johnny Unitas, Peyton Manning, Earl Campbell, Brett Favre, Ray Lewis, Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, LaDainan Tomlinson, Tony Gonzalez, Roger Staubach, Bart Starr, Drew Brees and even Aaron Rodgers ti name but a few Canton enshrined legends all had their backers in the debate.
Now, no such debate exists; Brady is the best ever.
And it is not even close.
Brady’s GOAT Career
Beginnings
Born in San Mateo, California, Brady attended Junipero Serra High School and excelled both at baseball and at football.
Incredibly, Brady was drafted in the 1995 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round (507th overall) but chose not to sign, instead focusing on his forthcoming college football career with the Michigan Wolverines.
He joined Michigan in 1995 and was at the university for four years. He was initially seventh on the depth chart at quarterback.
Eventually Brady got on the field and his first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown against UCLA.
However in his final two years, he became the starter for Michigan, beating out Drew Henson and finishing his college career with a 20-5 record and wins in the Citrus and Orange Bowls in 1999 and 2000.
Brady wasn’t ranked as one of the top prospects in the 2000 NFL Draft but many felt he would be a second or third round pick, but he would fall much further than that in what was a tough day for the young QB.
The 2000 NFL Draft
A rather lacklustre scouting combine performance meant that Brady hardly enhanced his reputation with the college scouts ahead of the draft and in the end, he had to wait until the 199th pick, held by the New England Patriots, to be selected.
Brady started his rookie season with New England fourth on the depth chart, but by the end of it, he was second to starting QB Drew Bledsoe and he had made his first successful NFL pass, a six-yard toss to tight end Rod Rutledge in November 2000.
Brady would come to the fore in his second year as a professional. After losing their opening game, the Patriots starting QB Drew Bledsoe went down with an injury and Brady took over. He could not lead the team to victory but was named starter for the next game where he began to show signs of his greatness.
That season, he led the Patriots into the post-season following that 0-2 start and then incredibly led them to the Super Bowl with a 20-17 victory over the much fancied St Louis Rams team of the era.
Brady became the youngest QB to ever win a Super Bowl, as well as being named Super Bowl MVP.
Drew Bledsoe would soon be traded away to the Bills as Brady began what would be a 20-year partnership with the Patriots and head coach. Bill Belichick.
New England Patriots
Apart from the 2008 season, during which he sustained an ACL injury in the first game that ruled him out for the year, Brady played almost every game fir New England, missing just four games, through suspension, in the 2016 season.
During that 20 year run, he never posted a below 0.500 season. He became the first QB to lead his team to a 16-0 regular season (and almost a perfect season). That 2007 season is widely regarded as the best ever by a quarterback in history.
He led New England into the playoffs in every season (bar 2002 and 2008) and won 30 of 41 playoff games including an incredible six Super Bowls (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018) and he would also lose three times in the Super Bowl (2007, 2011 and 2017).
In Super Bowl LI, he engineered the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history when beating the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime after the Patriots had trailed 28-3 in the third quarter.
His 62 attempts and 43 completions in that game remain Super Bowl records to this day.
He also threw for a Super Bowl record 505 yards in the loss to Philadelphia in the Super Bowl a year later
By 2020, Tom Brady’s time in New England had come to an end. He was already the Greatest of All Time and a Patriots Legend, but the 43 year old still wanted to play and a fresh challenge lay on the horizon with a team building a squad of veterans looking to win now.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Brady was one of a number of veterans that signed up with the Buccaneers seeking to land a Super Bowl win within the next couple of years.
It was a strategy that paid off.
In his first season at QB, Brady led the Bucs to an 11-5 record in the NFC South and then won three post-season playoff games to reach the Super Bowl. There the Bucs beat the Kansas City Chiefs to claim their second Super Bowl victory and Brady’s seventh of his career.
Brady was even better a year later in the regular season, leading the Bucs to a 13-4 record, but they were eliminated in the Divisional Round in the playoffs, and this year the team finished 8-9 and still won the division, but went out in the Wildcard round to the Cowboys.
Brady finishes with 335 games, 333 as starter with 7,753 passing completions from 12,050 attempts, all of which are NFL records, as are his 89,214 yards passing and 649 touchdown passes.
In 48 post season games, he has a 35-13 record, with 1200 completions from 1921 attempts and 13,400 yards passing, which also includes 88 touchdowns. All of which are NFL records.
What Now For Brady?
Next up for Tom Brady is a career in the commentary booth with a reported $350m contract with Fox Sports already signed for Brady to become one of their NFL commentating team.
Brady’s NFL Records & Accolades
Outlined below are just a small number of the records and accolades that Brady now owns in the history of the NFL.
- Most NFL Championships by Player – 7
- Most Super Bowl MVP Awards – 5
- Only player to win a Super Bowl with an NFC and AFC Team.
- Most Passing Yards in Super Bowl history – 3039
- Most Passes Completed in Super Bowl history – 277
- Most Super Bowl Appearances – 10
- Oldest QB to start a Super Bowl – 43 years, 6 months and 4 days.
- Oldest QB to win a Super Bowl
- Most Divisional Titles won by a quarterback – 19
- Oldest Quarterback to win both the AFC and NFC Title Game- (41 + 43)
- Most Games Won by a Player – 251
- Fourth QB to beat all 32 NFL teams.
- Best Quarter Back Rating in a single season – 87.0 in 2007
- Most Regular Season wins by a QB – 16
- Most Career passing yards – 87,852
- Most Career touchdown passes – 640
- 9x AFC Champion
- 1x NFC Champion
- 5x AFC Offensive Player of the Year
- 2x NFL Offensive Player of the Year
- 1x NFL Comeback Player of the Year
- 3x First Team All Pro
- 3x Second Team All Pro
- 15x Pro Bowl Selections
- NFL 2000s All Decade Team
- NFL 1990s ALL Decade Team
- NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
With the Bucs picking at 19th in the NFL Draft in 2023, finding a replacement quarterback for the greatest player of all time won’t be easy and we are pretty sure that the Buccaneers odds of winning the NFC South next season, as per bet365 Sport, won’t be quite as strong as they were with Brady at the helm.
Tags: bet365 Sport NFL Tom Brady
Worried about your gambling?