Incomparable
LOS ANGELES: Tom Brady forged a reputation as the greatest quarterback in NFL history in a career spanning 23 seasons that produced a host of records that may never be beaten.
The 45-year-old NFL icon said Wednesday he was “retiring for good” this time after reversing his decision to leave the game a year ago and playing a final season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady won seven Super Bowls, five Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards and three NFL MVP awards.
He also heads the all-time passing rankings, with 89,214 yards, nearly 9,000 yards clear of his nearest rival, the now retired Drew Brees.
Brady’s celebrity surpassed the world of sports — for 13 years he was married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen. The couple, who have two children, announced in November they were divorcing. Brady has another child from a previous relationship.
His longevity is all the more remarkable given the relatively short average career length of an NFL quarterback — around 4.4 years according to a 2019 study.
By the time he led the Bucs to an improbable victory in the Super Bowl two years ago, Brady had long since earned the right to be regarded as the greatest quarterback the NFL has seen.
His seventh Super Bowl win catapulted him into the pantheon of North American sporting greats, alongside the likes of Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Tiger Woods, Serena Williams and Wayne Gretzky.
The plot points of Brady’s career have become the stuff of NFL folklore.
He entered the NFL to little fanfare, chosen by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick in the sixth round of the 2000 draft.
Upon arrival in New England, he was ranked way down the Patriots’ quarterback pecking order, a gangly freshman with everything to prove.
Yet Brady soon showed the relentless work ethic and competitive spirit that would become the hallmarks of his career.
Patriots officials would get calls from puzzled security staff in the dead of night to inform them that Brady had arrived at the team’s training facility to work out alone.
When an injury to Drew Bledsoe in September 2001 saw Brady elevated into the starter’s jersey, he seized his chance.
He kept his place for the remainder of the season and led the Patriots to a first ever Super Bowl in February 2002.
That win marked the start of a two-decade reign in which Brady and coach Bill Belichick’s Patriots emerged as the dominant force in the NFL, encompassing eight more trips to the Super Bowl, five of them victorious.