In 2022, The NFL Has Had To Wave Goodbye To One Of The Greatest Of All Time
No matter what you think about Tom Brady as a person, it is hard to deny that he is a one-of-a-kind player that will be missed now that he has retired.
Throughout his 22 years in the NFL, Brady has broken nearly every quarterback record out there, he has won a record seven Super Bowls and five Super Bowl MVP titles. Brady was an instrument to the Patriots Dynasty and even led the Bucs to their first Super Bowl in 20 years.
Today, we are going to take a look at Brady’s record-smashing career.
Tom Brady: A Career Retrospective
The College Years
Brady played as the backup quarterback for two years at the University of Michigan. He barely got any time on the field due to the dominance of Brian Griese.
When Griese graduated, Brady had hoped he would be able to start with no competition. However, every week Brady was forced to compete for the starting position with Drew Henson.
In his first season as a possible start, Brady broke Michigan’s record for most passes thrown and completed. That year he led the team to the Citrus Bowl and won it.
Despite all of this success, Brady was still made aware that he could lose his position at any moment to Henson if he didn’t perform.
In his final season, he led the team to the Orange Bowl and scored the winning points in overtime.
Brady ended his college career with a 20–5 record and multiple team records.
The Draft – 2000
Despite a successful college career, if not a decorated one, Brady was given an awful NFL Scouting Combine score.
He ended up being the seventh quarterback to be picked in the 2000 Draft, he was picked in the sixth round by the New England Patriots, and he was picked 199th overall.
This pick caused a huge amount of arguing in the Patriots camp, however, Brady is considered the greatest draft bargain of all time to this day. Check out Fanduel’s 2022 NFL Draft Odds
New England Patriots – 2000-2019
Tom Brady started his rookie year as the fourth quarterback on the Patriots team list, by the end of the season he was second. He played in one game that year.
By the time Brady had left the Patriots he had won six Super Bowls, nine Conference Titles, and 18 Divisional titles. He was named Super Bowl MVP four times and NFL MVP three times. He led the league in pass completed percentages (once), touchdowns (four times), and passing yards (three times). He set the NFL record for longest pass during this time period.
Brady won his first Super Bowl in his first year as starting quarterback for the Patriots (2001). He went on to win it again in 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, and 2018. He was involved in every Super Bowl victory that Patriots have ever had.
In 2007, Brady and the Patriots had a perfect season. It was the first one since 1972. They are the only team to post a perfect season and play 16 games in a season. They won their three playoff games that year but lost in the Super Bowl – Brady was named NFL MVP that year for the first time.
The most controversial moment in Tom Brady’s career was deflate-gate.
It was found that employees at the Patriots had been deflating footballs to make them easier for the players to throw and catch during the 2014 AFC Championship match. The report suggested that Brady was most likely aware of this happening and he was suspended for four games.
Brady appealed his suspension and it was eventually removed, he and the Patriots were fined and stripped of draft picks for the next two years.
In 2019-20, Brady announced that he was moving to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and stated that he planned to win the Super Bowl with the team.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 2020-2022
Brady became the starting quarterback for the Bucs in the 2020-21 season.
They ended the season with 13-4 and came second in their division. They sailed through the playoffs, won the NFC Championship, and eventually won the Super Bowl – they defeated the Washington Football Team 31-23 in the Wild Card Round.
This was coach Bruce Arians’ first experience of the Gatorade Shower.
In the 2021-22 season, Brady scored his 700th career touchdown, extending his lead on the most career yards record (he ended his career on 84,520 yards), also the record for most passes completed in a single season (485).
In his final season, Tom Brady led the league in the following categories: most passes completed (485), most attempted (719), most passing yards (5,316), and most touchdown passes (43).
Brady holds so many NFL records that we would not be able to fit all of them into this article, but here are some of the most notable:
Most Super Bowl wins: 7
Most Super Bowl appearances: 10
Most Super Bowl MVPs: 5
Most career quarterback wins: 243
Most career passing attempts: 11,317
Most career passing completions: 7,263
Most career passing yards: 84,520
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