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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Jordy McElroy

Former Patriots QB Tom Brady lands No. 1 on the 2022 NFL Top 100 list

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady isn’t just playing football at age 45, but he’s still doing it better than anyone else, according to his peers in the NFL Top 100 list.

The former longtime New England Patriot landed at No. 1 on the list featuring the best players in the NFL. Players around the league are polled on the rankings, and they ultimately decided to vault Brady all the way up to the top, again.

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If anything, it’s a constant reminder that the greatest player in NFL history clearly had more football in him before being rushed out of New England.

When history is written, it could be looked back on as coach Bill Belichick’s greatest mistake as the de facto general manager for the Patriots. Brady joined the Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl in his first season with the team in 2020.

And even last season, he came within a Matthew Stafford bomb of a touchdown throw to wideout Cooper Kupp of returning to the NFC Championship game. He threw for a career-high 5,316 yards, 43 touchdowns and only six interceptions.

The context of history isn’t necessarily written to be perceived as fair because of its black-and-white, factual nature. Belichick coached his butt off in 2021 and led a Patriots team with a rookie quarterback back to the playoffs, where they were ultimately bounced in ugly fashion by the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round.

But Brady was the GOAT when he left the Patriots, and he’s still the GOAT today. There are some things that never change and some that do.

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