Tom Brady

Former American football player

• Born: August 3, 1977
• Place of Birth: San Mateo, California

SPORT: Football

Early Life

Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. was born to Thomas Brady, an insurance consultant, and Galynn Johnson, a former tennis pro. Brady, the youngest of four children and the only boy, grew up in a home of religion, academics, competition, and athletics.

When Brady was four, he and his dad attended the 1981 National Football Conference Championship game. He witnessed his lifelong hero, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana, connect with tight end Dwight Clark for the winning touchdown, a play known in football lore as “the Catch.” Brady dreamed of becoming the next Montana.

Brady attended Junipero Serra High in San Mateo, California, lettering in football and baseball. The Montreal Expos chose him in the eighteenth round of the Major League Baseball draft. However, he believed his future was in football. He earned scholarship offers to all the top national programs, eventually choosing the University of Michigan Wolverines. He lettered at Michigan for three years, posting a 20–5 record, but battled for his starting job throughout.

The Road to Excellence

After graduating from college, Brady was not a highly prized prospect. He was ultimately picked in the sixth round of the 2000 National Football League (NFL) draft by the New England Patriots. The Patriots had star quarterback Drew Bledsoe and two other quarterbacks on the roster, but Coach Bill Belichick liked Brady’s poise and loved his intelligence.

Brady made his first and only pass completion of his rookie year in a lopsided defeat to the Detroit Lions. He went to the 2001 training camp determined to improve and became Bledsoe’s backup. During a week-two loss to the New York Jets, Brady was pressed into action after Bledsoe was injured by a hit from Mo Lewis. Bledsoe sheared a blood vessel in his chest and was out indefinitely. Belichick believed Brady could not only substitute for Bledsoe but also be the starting quarterback. Brady, buoyed by Belichick’s vote of confidence, began to win games and show others what Belichick foretold.

The Emerging Champion

As Bledsoe healed, Brady improved as a player, causing a rift between the two friends. Even when Bledsoe returned, Brady remained the starting quarterback. In the playoffs, Brady and the Patriots were losing to the Oakland Raiders when Brady fumbled attempting a pass. The referees invoked the little-known “tuck rule,” which designated the fumble as an incomplete pass. The Patriots tied the game on an improbable field goal under blizzard conditions. Brady then completed eight straight passes to allow for the twenty-three-yard game-winning overtime kick. The game, significant in NFL history, became known as “the snow bowl” or “the tuck game.” The Patriots advanced to play Pittsburgh. Brady hurt his ankle in the second quarter, allowing Bledsoe to return and win the game.

Matched against the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots had a quarterback dilemma. Many fans wanted Bledsoe to play, but the team wanted Brady, who had led them throughout the season. Belichick chose Brady, who helped the Patriots to the first Super Bowl victory in franchise history. For his efforts, Brady earned most valuable player (MVP) honors for the game. Brady had officially established himself as the Patriots’ starting quarterback; Bledsoe was traded to the Buffalo Bills months later.

In 2002, the Patriots finished 9–7 and missed the playoffs. Brady required postseason shoulder surgery. In the first game of 2003, the team was shut out 31–0 against Bledsoe’s Bills. The Patriots rallied and won all fifteen of the remaining regular season games, however, fighting injuries and the weight of the winning streak. Brady drove his team through the playoffs to defeat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII, again earning the game’s MVP award. He had become a superstar and his team, a dynasty. Brady developed a knack for comeback wins, and comparisons to his childhood hero, Montana, abounded.

Brady and the Patriots maintained momentum into 2004, as the team cruised through the regular season to a victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX. In 2005 and 2006, Brady led the Patriots to the playoffs, but the team did not reach the Super Bowl.

Continuing the Story

In 2007, Brady was given his strongest complement of offensive players to that point and responded, setting the regular-season touchdown-passing record with 50 and winning the NFL MVP award. His Patriots became the first team in history to finish the regular season 16–0. However, the team was upset by the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

Brady's 2008 season ended abruptly in the first game when he sustained a season-ending knee injury. He returned for the 2009 season, eventually earning the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award. The Patriots reached the playoffs but lost in the first round. The 2010 regular season ranked as one of the best individual statistical performances of Brady's career. It began with him signing a contract extension that made him the highest-paid player in the game and ended with him being awarded the MVP award for the second time, becoming the first player to be unanimously selected since Lawrence Taylor in 1986. However, the Patriots lost in the divisional round of the playoffs. Brady continued to excel, passing for more than 5,000 yards in the 2011 regular season and leading the Patriots to a Super Bowl rematch with Eli Manning and the New York Giants. Once again, however, the Giants came out on top.

Brady and the Patriots had another excellent season in 2012 but were upset in the playoffs by the Baltimore Ravens. Though the 2013 Patriots season began tumultuously, the team still reached the playoffs. Though they lost, Brady passed Brett Favre for most career playoff games for a quarterback. In the 2014 season, the Patriots reached the Super Bowl again, and this time beat the Seattle Seahawks. Brady was named Super Bowl MVP. The victory earned him his fourth Super Bowl ring, tying Montana and Terry Bradshaw for the most by a quarterback.

Meanwhile, Brady endured a lengthy period of frustration and tribulation as he and the Patriots were the center of a major NFL scandal. After the Patriots had defeated the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014 season AFC championship game, the Colts alleged that the Patriots had knowingly tampered with the amount of air in the footballs they used in the game, giving them an unfair advantage. The NFL launched an investigation, and the media closely followed the controversial story, which came to be known as "Deflategate" (a play on the well-known Watergate political scandal). Accused of being aware of the underinflated game balls, Brady was also charged with failing to cooperate with the league's investigation, especially when his cell phone turned out to be broken around the same time that the NFL was requesting information from him. In May 2015, the NFL announced that Brady would be suspended for four games of the 2015 regular season for his role in the affair. While the Patriots also accepted a loss of a first-round draft pick as punishment, Brady challenged the league's ruling regarding his suspensions and maintained both his and his team's innocence. However, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld the decision.

Still refusing to accept the suspensions, and supported by many fans as well as the players' union, Brady appealed the ruling at the federal level, marking the beginning of a drawn-out legal process. In early September 2015, Judge Richard Berman ruled that Brady's four-game suspension should be overturned due to the quarterback receiving inadequate notice of his alleged misconduct and discipline as well as his inability to question one of the league's lead investigators. This allowed Brady to take the field for the first game of the 2015 season on September 10. Though the NFL then immediately appealed the judge's decision, keeping the issue in the courts, Brady was still able to play out the rest of the season. He led the Patriots to the AFC championship game once again, where they faced off against the Denver Broncos, quarterbacked by another superstar in Peyton Manning; the game was the seventeenth time the two quarterbacks had met. The Patriots ultimately lost in an upset.

In April 2016, a federal appeals court ruled to reinstate Brady's initial four-game suspension, to be applied to the 2016 season, on the grounds that Goodell had properly exercised his authority according to the collective bargaining agreement. With fans, the media, and Brady himself weary of the longest courtroom battle in NFL history, Brady ultimately decided not to continue appealing the sentence by July, officially bringing the case to a close. Therefore, when the Patriots' regular season started on September 11, 2016, the team faced the Arizona Cardinals without their star quarterback; per the conditions of his sentence and suspension, Brady was not allowed even to attend the game. Though backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo led the team to victory in the first game, fans remained anxious for Brady's return, especially after Garoppolo was injured in Week 2, forcing the Patriots to turn to their third-string quarterback for the next two games. There was a great amount of press and attention surrounding Brady's return to the field in the fifth game of the season against the Cleveland Browns, during which he led the Patriots to a 33–13 victory. He went on to win all but one of the team's remaining regular-season games, and then defeated the Texans and Steelers in the playoffs to secure yet another AFC championship.

Facing the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in February 2017, the Patriots fell behind by twenty-five points early in the second half. However, Brady helped pull off the greatest comeback and upset in Super Bowl history, keeping the Falcons from scoring any further points and eventually tying the game in the final minutes. In the first instance of overtime in Super Bowl history, after winning the coin toss and getting first possession, the Patriots scored a touchdown to win the game. Brady was named Super Bowl MVP for a record fourth time.

Despite Brady's great success, rumors of turmoil within the Patriots began to emerge, especially after Garoppolo—once seen as Brady's heir—was traded away in November 2017. Some commentators suggested that Brady's age was beginning to catch up with him and that the team could not expect him to continue to perform at an elite level. Still, Brady and the Patriots were able to finish the 2017 season with a 13–3 record and reach the Super Bowl yet again. Though they lost Super Bowl LII to the Eagles, Brady ultimately earned the NFL MVP Award for the third time. He remained a top quarterback in the 2018 season, throwing for 4,355 yards and 29 touchdowns. Once again, Brady led the Patriots into the postseason, beating the Los Angeles Chargers in the divisional round and the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship to set up a third consecutive Super Bowl appearance. Despite Brady not throwing for a touchdown, the Patriots won Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams 13–3, which marked the lowest-scoring Super Bowl game in history. With the win, Brady became the first player in history to earn six Super Bowl rings, and the Patriots tied the Steelers for most Super Bowl victories.

Although there were many rumors that Brady would retire after Super Bowl LIII, he announced in early 2019 that he would continue playing. He later signed a new deal with the Patriots, though Belichick was reportedly unwilling to commit to a long-term contract (Brady had become known for taking pay cuts and restructuring his contract to allow the team to sign other players). While Brady and the Patriots managed to end the 2019 regular season with a 12–4 record, both he and the team fought against a debilitating number of injuries and struggled more than usual. After losing to the Miami Dolphins in the last game of the regular season in December, the Patriots were forced to play in a wild card playoff game for the first time since 2010. Their season was brought to an end with a loss to the Tennessee Titans in that game.

Rumors had swirled throughout the 2019 season that a rift had opened between Brady and Belichick and that the quarterback was considering moving on from the Patriots for the first time since he started his NFL career. Indeed, on March 17, 2020, Brady indicated that he would not be signing with the Patriots again, and he officially became a free agent the following day. By March 20, he had formally announced that he had signed a two-year contract to become a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that had struggled over the previous few seasons but had an array of talented pass catchers for him to work with. The move was considered major news in the football world and many observers felt it immediately made the Buccaneers Super Bowl contenders. Additionally, Brady helped convince his longtime Patriot teammate Rob Gronkowski, one of the best tight ends in NFL history, to come out of retirement and join the Buccaneers as well.

In his first season with the Buccaneers, Brady continued to prove that he had what it took to be an elite quarterback, even as the 2020 football season took place with extra public health precautions in place due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. He started every regular-season game and, despite some early team struggles, the Buccaneers finished with an 11–5 record and secured a wild card playoff spot. There they beat the Washington Football Team before moving on to also defeat the New Orleans Saints and then the Green Bay Packers to claim the NFC Championship title. With that win, Brady had the chance to add a seventh Super Bowl victory to his legacy, and he and the Buccaneers faced off against young superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in Super Bowl LV in February 2021. Tampa Bay dominated both offensively and defensively, winning 31–9 to claim the championship. In addition to gaining a historic seventh Super Bowl ring, Brady was crowned Super Bowl MVP for the fifth time.

In March 2021, Brady and the Buccaneers agreed to extend his contract by one year, including three years that could be voided. That July, it was revealed that Brady had undergone surgery for a torn MCL. Despite the injury, he entered the 2021 season strong. In the opening game, he and Gronkowski became only the second passer-receiver duo to successfully make 100 career touchdown passes. Brady later became the second player in NFL history to record 80,000 career passing yards and the first to record 600 career touchdown passes. He closed the 2021 season by leading the league with 485 completed passes over 719 pass attempts for a career-high 5,316 yards. He also led the league with 43 completed touchdown passes. During the postseason, Brady led the Buccaneers to a victory against the Philadelphia Eagles during the wild card game. However, the team lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round.

On February 1, 2022, Brady announced his retirement from the NFL after twenty-two seasons. Then, just six weeks later, he announced that he was not ready for retirement and that he would return to play in Tampa Bay for the 2022–23 NFL season. Securing yet another record in December 2022, in a tough game against the Saints, he claimed the lead in the league's history for the most career fourth-quarter comebacks with forty-four. Then, on February 1, 2023, Brady announced his second and final retirement from the sport. At the time of his retirement, many considered Brady the greatest quarterback of all time.

Brady married supermodel Gisele Bündchen in 2009, and they later had two children together. Brady also had a child from a previous relationship. The couple divorced in 2022. In 2023, Brady produced and played himself in the sports comedy film 80 for Brady. The following year, Brady was featured in the documentary series The Dynasty: New England Patriots and Netflix's comedy special The Roast of Tom Brady.

In May 2024, Brady made his debut as an NFL broadcast analyst with Fox. The following month, Brady became the thirty-fifth player inducted into the Patriot's Hall of Fame on 12 June 2024. The twelfth day was chosen to reflect his jersey number, and June, the sixth month, represents the number of Super Bowl championships he won.

Summary

Tom Brady is one of the most famous and successful football players of all time. He was the core of the New England Patriots dynasty of the 2000s and 2010s that made an unprecedented nine Super Bowl appearances, winning six times. He was the first player to earn six Super Bowl rings, and added to his record with a seventh championship as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2020 season. Brady set many other records as well during his career, both individually and with his many dominant teams. He is widely recognized as the greatest quarterback ever to play football.

Bibliography

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