Tom Brady’s original plan was to play until he was 45 years old. It looks like he’ll pull up seven months short of his goal.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Sunday the legendary quarterback is set to step away from the game after 22 seasons, seven Super Bowl wins, and one of the most illustrious careers in all of sports. If true, it will close the books on one of the most unlikely runs to glory the NFL has ever seen.
Every team in the league passed on the chance to draft Brady in 2000; some did it six straight times. The gangly Michigan quarterback fell all the way to the 199th pick of that spring’s NFL Draft before being snapped up by the New England Patriots as a backup and possible successor to entrenched starter Drew Bledsoe. He sat for a year before Bledsoe’s Week 2 chest injury threw the young quarterback into the spotlight for a franchise that had, before 2001, been defined by a general malaise and lack of success.
Brady was an immediate force as a starter in New England. Though his numbers were modest behind a run-first offense and a litany of short passes, he engineered a turnaround from a 1-3 start to the team’s first NFL championship. He guided the Patriots, a 14-point underdog, to a stirring last-second win over the powerhouse St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI,
That began a journey that led the once-overlooked quarterback to stardom. Brady added two more Super Bowl wins over his first four years behind center as New England rose from also-ran to dynasty behind Brady, head coach Bill Belichick, and a smothering defense. He teamed up with Randy Moss and Wes Welker to engineer the league’s first 16-0 regular season in 2007, though his quest for a perfect season was ultimately undone by the New York Giants in another epic title game.
After a relative lull of good, but not great teams, Brady emerged as the engine for another epic run in Foxborough. He and Belichick won three Super Bowls between 2014 and 2018, erasing a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to topple the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX and unleashing a world of misery upon the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI — a game that only needs two numbers to define its place in sports history: 28 and three.
Brady left the Patriots in free agency after six Lombardi Trophies and three regular season MVP awards. This did not cull his legacy. The 43-year-old led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to prosperity in his first season in Florida, leading them to a decisive victory in Super Bowl 55 over the then-defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. His 2022 postseason run was cut short by the Los Angeles Rams, but not before he led the Bucs back from a 27-3 deficit to tie the Divisional Round playoff game in its final minute.
If this is indeed the end for Brady, he’ll leave behind a legacy few could approach. He’s won more Super Bowls than anyone in the league. He’s thrown for more passing yards and touchdowns than anyone who has ever played the game. He started 35 different playoff wins (and only lost 12).
Brady had an unparalleled run of success and longevity in the NFL. He is the yardstick by which all other quarterbacks will be measured. Perhaps the only knock on his accomplishments is that he fell short of his own, arbitrary, age 45 goal.
Not bad for the 199th pick out of Michigan.
