Tom Brady Retires After Twenty-Three Years in the NFL
Image Courtesy of Sports Illustrated
On Wednesday, February 1, 2023, Tom Brady announced that he is retiring for the second time after playing quarterback for twenty-three years in the National Football League (NFL).
The New England Patriots drafted Brady in the 2000 NFL Draft. He was the 199th pick in the sixth round and would spend the 2000 NFL season being a backup quarterback for Rod Rutledge. Brady would play in his first NFL game on November 23, 2000, when he completed one of three passes for six yards in the fourth quarter during a game against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. In 2001, he replaced Drew Bledsoe in the fourth quarter in a game against the New York Jets after Bledsoe left the game with a concussion. The following week, he would make his first career start against the Indianapolis Colts. This would help him send the Patriots to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. Brady would play his first career playoff game on January 19, 2002, against the Oakland Raiders. He would take the Patriots to Super Bowl XXXVI, and win his first Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams.
Since Brady made his first start for the Patriots in 2001, he helped the Patriots win five more Super Bowls. Brady became the only player to win more than five Super Bowls and has been named Super Bowl MVP five times. He leads the league in career passing yards and touchdown passes and has won league MVP three times. Brady holds the all-time NFL records for regular season wins, Super Bowl appearances, and playoff game appearances. He leads the league in playoff game wins, yards, and postseason touchdowns. With these record setting statistics, he has earned the nickname the G.O.A.T (Greatest of All Time). He and Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, have become one of the most successful quarterback-coach duos of all time. With 249 wins, Brady and Belichick lead the league in quarterback-coach wins.
Freshman mechanical engineering major Christopher Crognale gave his comments about Tom Brady’s career.
“Besides his legendary stats, Tom Brady should be regarded as the greatest football player of all time for his coolness under pressure and his innate way of rising to the occasion in clutch-time situations,” Crognale said. “Many players in the history of the National Football League have had their success in making it to the postseason, but none have capitalized on these successful seasons as much as Brady has. Many players crack under pressure when the lights shine their brightest, but not Brady.”
One of the biggest controversies of Brady’s career was the incident known as the Deflategate. During the 2015 American Football Conference (AFC) Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts when the Colts equipment manager, Brian Seabrooks, felt that the Patriots footballs were soft, tacky, and spongy. Eleven Patriots footballs were tested during halftime and measured below the legal air-pressure threshold of 12.5 psi. The footballs got re-inflated before the second half. After the Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl, an investigation was launched to see how many footballs were deflated during the AFC Championship game. While the investigation was going on, Brady would win his fourth Super Bowl that year against the Seattle Seahawks. He would be suspended for the first four games of the season and receive a $1 million fine in 2015.
Five years after the Deflategate, he would become a free agent in the 2020 offseason until he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on March 20, 2020. While playing with the Buccaneers, he would send them to their first Super Bowl since 2002. The Buccaneers would win their second Super Bowl title, and Brady would win his seventh Super Bowl. Brady’s Super Bowl victory with the Buccaneers would make him the oldest quarterback to win the Super Bowl at the age of 43. On January 29, 2022, Brady announced that he would retire. Forty days later, he then decided that he was going to play another season with the Buccaneers. After Brady’s last season with the Buccaneers, he announced on February 1st that he would officially retire at 45. In 2024, he plans to join Fox Sports and join Kevin Burkhardt in the broadcast booth replacing Greg Olsen.
Sophomore art studio major and marketing minor, Joseph Broom gave his comments on Brady’s retirement.
“I think people should remember Tom Brady as a brilliant player whose unparalleled resilience and leadership fueled one of sports’ greatest dynasties for almost 20 years,” Broom said. “He should be remembered as the only player to win a Super Bowl in three different decades. I think that even if you hate him, even if you think he’s the devil, it should be uncontroversial to say that he is the greatest NFL player of all time. And as a New Englander, I think he should always be remembered as a Patriot first and foremost.”
