Tom Brady: GOAT of the NFL

Can we call Tom Brady the greatest of all time before he retires?

Tom Brady was born on 3 August 1977, in San Mateo, California. Little did anyone know that possibly the greatest NFL player of all time had just been born.

Today, we will be exploring how the Quarterback who led his high school football team to a winless season became a 7-time Super Bowl champion and one of the greatest players of all time.

High school and college career

Throughout middle and high school Brady played Baseball, Basketball, and Football before he settled on the latter at the end of high school.

In his first year as a high school Quarterback, Brady led his team to a winless season. The team ended on 0-8. This unimpressive performance really didn’t help his career as he moved to college.

Brady played for the Michigan Wolverines. When he joined the team he was 7th on the depth chart and played backup quarterback to Brian Griese. For his first two seasons in Michigan Brady struggled to get any game time. In these two years, Brady scored no touchdowns and only completed 15 passes.

Things changed after Griese graduated, however. Brady became one of two starting quarterbacks. In his final two years, he scored 30 touchdowns and completed 380 passes. He also scored the winning points at the Orange Bowl in 2000. The team also won the Citrus Bowl in 1999.

20 seasons with the New England Patriots

In the 2000 draft, Brady was picked 199th by the New England Patriots. Many consider this drafting the greatest ‘bargain’ of all time.

Brady spent the entirety of his first season with the Patriots on the bench. That season he played 1 game and passed for a total of 6 yards.

Tom Brady was playing for the Patriots as their first backup quarterback for the first game of his second season, then an injury in the team meant that he was bumped up to the starting quarterback. This season didn’t start off well for Brady but by the time he started the 4th game he had hit his stride. That year he led the Patriots to a Super Bowl championship and was named the MVP of the match.

This was the first of 6 Super Bowls that Brady won with the Patriots. In total, Brady led the team to 10 Super Bowl matches. During this time he was named Super Bowl MVP 4 more times and he was named the NFL MVP in 2007, 2010, and 2017.

Brady puts his success down to his hard work and strict diet. Brady spends hours working out and training every day and has even created his own diet called the TB12. He is open about the fact that he wants to keep playing football and his body healthy for as long as possible.

The one controversy that Brady has to his name is ‘DeflateGate’. In 2014 the Patriots were accused of deflating balls in the Super Bowl to make them easier to throw and catch. Brady was suspended for 4 games, the Patriots were fined, and they lost a pick at the next year’s Draft.

2020 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

There were many people who thought we had seen the last of Brady when he left the New England Patriots for a team that hadn’t won the Super Bowl in over 20 years. Even we were shocked to hear that he was joining the Bucs (of all teams?!).

However, yet again, Brady exceeded our expectations and shocked us all. Brady ended the season with a 7th Super Bowl Championship and a 5th Super Bowl MVP award. All while being the oldest quarterback to ever play in the NFC.

Brady and the Bucs had a middling regular season. They went 11-5 in their games, Brady scored 40 touchdowns, and Brady passed for over 4600+ yards in the season.

However, they did not win their division, they were beaten by the Saints. This meant that the only chance the Bucs had to make the playoffs was through the wild card round. This was a success for them and the Bucs played in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years.

The Bucs had a clean run through the playoffs – beating Washington, the Saints, and the Green Bay Packers – becoming the NFC champions in the process.

In the Super Bowl, the Bucs were playing at home against the Kansas City Chiefs. The game resulted in a landslide victory for Brady and the Bucs – ending 31-9 to the home team.

This result made the Bucs the first team ever to play at a home Super Bowl in 52 years and the first team to ever win one. This was their first Super Bowl victory in the 21st century and Brady’s 7th during that time.

Think Brady could win an 8th Super Bowl, check out Fanduel’s player props and bet on it.