There is no disputing Tom Brady’s legacy as he decides to end his NFL career.
He holds all the major career passing records. He has more rings than can fit on one hand, and more than any other NFL franchise, let alone player. In his 23 seasons as an NFL quarterback, he never had a losing record. His postseason stats alone would represent a solid regular-season career for some NFL quarterbacks.
His wildly successful career started as the ultimate underdog story, a late draft pick that had to overtake a successful starter under center in order to kick off his NFL career.
As Brady heads into retirement, Sporting News takes a look back at his NFL career, where it started, the numerous trips to the Super Bowl and how it ended.
Tom Brady career timeline
Michigan career
Brady made the decision to go to Michigan instead of local offers like Cal-Berkeley, UCLA and USC, but he decided to play for the Wolverines to leave the southern California area in which he grew up. It took him some time before coach Lloyd Carr named him the starter with Brady sitting deep on the depth chart in his first season. His first pass in college was intercepted, and he remained a backup for all of his first two seasons at Michigan. He competed with top recruit Drew Henson for the starting job in 1998, but ultimately won the job.
He finished his first year as the starter with 2,427 passing yards with 14 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, and posted similar numbers in his final season, with 2,217 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. That final year, he led the team to a comeback win against rival Ohio State to send the Wolverines to the Orange Bowl. He won both the Citrus Bowl in 1999 and the Orange Bowl in 2000.
First Super Bowl
Much like how Brady took over for Bledsoe due to injury, so too did Bledsoe replace Brady in the playoff run. A knee injury knocked Brady out of the AFC championship game against the Steelers in the second quarter and the Patriots leading 7-3. Bledsoe led the team to another score on the drive and helped the team win the game 24-17. But it was Brady who was named the starter in Super Bowl 36 against the Rams, who were known then still as the “Greatest Show on Turf.”
With heavyweight names like Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Orlando Pace and Isaac Bruce, St. Louis was heavily favored to win the Super Bowl. The Patriots got off to a 17-3 lead, but Warner helped the Rams to tie the game with 1:30 left in regulation. Instead of playing for overtime, Brady completed 5-of-8 passes to drive the Patriots down the field 53 yards down the field to set Vinatieri up for the game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired to seal the first Super Bowl ring in Brady’s career.
Lone playoff miss
To start the 2002 season, Bledsoe was traded to the Bills, solidifying Brady’s spot as the starter. Brady would never again be challenged for the starting quarterback position.
However, he and the Patriots had their first taste of just how hard repeating success would be in 2002. With the target on their back as reigning Super Bowl champions, the Patriots went just 9-7, losing a tiebreaker to the Browns for the playoffs. Brady set a then-career-high with 3,764 passing yards, 28 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions, the latter of which remains to this day tied for the most he’s thrown in a single season.
Two straight Super Bowls
It didn’t take long for Brady to return to the playoffs and once again summit the mountain. He led the Patriots to a 14-2 record to claim the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2003 and earn him a third-place finish in MVP voting. The Patriots then beat the Titans in the divisional round and tooko out Manning and the Colts in the conference championship to set up a clash with the Panthers in the Super Bowl. Carolina tied the game at 29 with 1:13 left. The kickoff went out of bounds, giving Brady the ball at the Patriots’ 40.
After an incompletion, he completed six straight passes — though one was negated due to an offensive pass interference — to bring New England up to the Carolina 23-yard line. Vinatieri kicked the go-ahead field goal with nine seconds left, and the Panthers could not return the kickoff for a touchdown, delivering Brady another ring. Brady threw for 354 yards and three touchdowns with only one interception in the win.
Two early playoff losses
The Patriots’ run of Super Bowls came to an end in 2005. Brady had his first 4,000-yard passing season and the Patriots beat the Jaguars in the wild-card round, but the Broncos intercepted Brady twice in the divisional round to win the round and advance to the AFC Championship, where they would lose to Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, en route to Big Ben’s first Super Bowl title.
The next year, it was Manning’s turn to take a trip to the Super Bowl. The Patriots beat the Jets and the Chargers in the wild card and divisional rounds, but were stumped by the Colts on the road in the conference championship as Manning threw for 349 yards and Joseph Addai scored a last-minute touchdown to give the Colts the 38-34 win against New England. Manning went on to win his first Super Bowl, helping fuel his rivalry with Brady as the AFC’s top two quarterbacks.
Perfect season (almost)
Brady had the rings and three Pro Bowl appearances, but he had yet to post a dominant statistical season. That changed in 2007. Brady and the Patriots were an offensive force like few had ever seen. In his age 30 season, Brady set NFL records with 50 touchdown passes and a 50:8 touchdown to interception ratio, while passing for 4,806 yards and posting a 117.2 passer rating. Brady earned his first MVP trophy. New England posted the first — and to this day, only — 16-0 regular season and still hold the record for the largest season point differential of all time, having outscored their opponents by 315 points.
The Jaguars and Chargers were both taken down in the AFC playoffs as the Patriots returned to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2005. But another Manning, this one Eli Manning, and the underdog Giants stunned the Patriots and ended the campaign for the perfect 19-0, Super Bowl-winning season, when Eli Manning hit Plaxico Burress for a 13-yard, go-ahead touchdown with 35 seconds left to give New York the 17-14 win.
Lost season
Brady did not have a chance to rebound after losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl. During the first quarter of the season-opener to the Chiefs in 2008, Brady was hit by Bernard Pollard and had to exit the game. It was later discovered that he had torn his ACL and MCL and he would miss the rest of the season. Without Brady, the Patriots still went 11-5, but missed the playoffs.
Giant obstacle
Brady’s numbers continued to pile up in 2011, when he passed for 5,235 yards, his first of two 5,000-yard passing seasons, with 39 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The Patriots earned another first-round bye and beat the Broncos 45-10 before edging out the Ravens 23-20 in the AFC Championship.
New England was again favored in the Super Bowl over Eli Manning and the Giants, and the Patriots got off to a 17-9 lead at one point. However, the Giants scored 12 unanswered points, capped off by an Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown rush with 57 seconds left to put the Giants ahead 21-17, a score by which they would end winning.
Final showdown with Peyton Manning
New England finished the 2015 with a 12-4 record as Brady tore through the league with 4,770 passing yards, 36 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. The Patriots had a first-round bye in the playoffs and beat the Chiefs in the divisional round, setting up a match at Mile High Stadium against Manning and the Broncos. Though Manning was coming off by far the worst season of his career, having thrown only nine regular-season touchdown passes with 17 interceptions, he and the Denver defense out-dueled Brady in a 20-18 win to send the Broncos to the Super Bowl, where Manning would end his career with a win against the Panthers.
Deflategate suspension and revenge tour
The NFL wasn’t done with Brady and Deflategate just yet. The vacation of Brady’s suspension was overturned on April 25, 2016, and despite efforts to have it appealed, Brady eventually accepted his four-game suspension. He missed the first four regular season games, during which time the Patriots went 3-1.
Third MVP, second NFC East wall
Brady was back in peak form in the 2017 season. He led the Patriots to a 13-3 finish as he threw for 4,577 yards with 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions. The season was rewarded with his third MVP selection. During the year, he won his 187th game, making the most regular-season wins for an NFL quarterback.
Final New England Super Bowl win
But the Patriots weren’t done with Brady just yet. New England finished the 2018 season with an 11-5 record and again skipped the first round of the playoffs. It beat the Chargers 41-28 and Brady out-dueled Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs for the first time in a 37-31 overtime finish.
New England was back in the Super Bowl, and just as Brady’s career began, it was against the Rams, who were now in Los Angeles. Unlike the matchup against the Eagles, this was a low-scoring game, with a field goal from each team marking the only points through the first three quarters. Sony Michel rushed for a touchdown against the Rams with seven minutes left to put New England up 10-3, and Stephen Gostkowski kicked a field goal with 1:12 left to seal the 13-3 win for the Patriots and give Brady his sixth Super Bowl ring.
Last dance with the Patriots
Coming off the Super Bowl win, the Patriots signed Brady to a two-year extension with an out after the 2019 season. Brady led the team to a 12-4 finish with 24 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions and his third straight season with at least 4,000 passing yards (4,057). During the season, he surpassed Brett Favre and Peyton Manning on the all-time passing yards list, trailing only Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who remained in the NFL.
But the campaign came to a screeching halt in the playoffs against one of Brady’s former teammates, Titans coach Mike Vrabel. The Patriots got off to a 13-7 lead, but running back Derrick Henry put the Titans on top 14-13 before the end of the first half. The Patriots were given the ball at their own 1-yard line with 15 seconds left in the game, still down by that score. The first play of the drive was a pick-six by Brady to another former teammate Logan Ryan, who returned the ball nine yards for the touchdown to make it a 20-13 game. The following kickoff was fumbled and the Titans won the game.
On March 17, 2020, Brady announced that he would be leaving New England. Three days later, he inked a two-year contract with the Buccaneers.
Retirement and legacy
Brady announced his retirement on Feb. 1, exactly one year after his first retirement announcement. In a short video posted on social media, Brady said he was retiring “for good” and thanked everyone for the support over the years.
Brady retires holding regular season records for passing yards (89, 214) and passing touchdowns (649). Including playoffs, Brady has a record 67 game-winning drives and 51 fourth-quarter comebacks, seven Super Bowl rings, and 277 wins. He has been named the MVP three times.