Tom Brady
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons. He spent his first 20 seasons with the New England Patriots and was a central contributor to the franchise's dynasty from 2001 to 2019. In his final three seasons, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time.[1]
This article is about the American football player. For other people named Tom Brady, see Thomas Brady.No. 12
August 3, 1977
San Mateo, California, U.S.
6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
225 lb (102 kg)
- Junípero Serra
- (San Mateo, California)
Michigan (1995–1999)
2000 / Round: 6 / Pick: 199
12,050
12,050
7,753
64.3%
649–212
89,214
97.2
After playing college football at the University of Michigan, Brady was selected 199th overall by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, later earning him a reputation as the NFL's biggest draft steal.[2][3][4] He became the starting quarterback during his second season, which saw the Patriots win their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVI. As the team's primary starter for 18 seasons,[a] Brady led the Patriots to 17 division titles (including 11 consecutive from 2009 to 2019), 13 AFC Championship Games (including eight consecutive from 2011 to 2018), nine Super Bowl appearances, and six Super Bowl titles, all NFL records for a player and franchise.[b] He joined the Buccaneers in early 2020 and won Super Bowl LV, extending his individual records to 10 Super Bowl appearances and seven victories.[7] Beginning in 2024, Brady will be the lead color commentator for NFL on Fox.[8][9]
Brady holds many major quarterback records, including most career passing yards, completions, touchdown passes, and games started. He is the NFL leader in career quarterback wins, quarterback regular season wins, quarterback playoff wins, and Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, and the only Super Bowl MVP for two different franchises. Additional accolades held by Brady include the most Pro Bowl selections and the first unanimous NFL MVP. The only quarterback to win a Super Bowl in three separate decades, Brady is also noted for the longevity of his success. He was the oldest NFL MVP at age 40, the oldest Super Bowl MVP at age 43, and the oldest quarterback selected to the Pro Bowl at age 44.[10][11] Brady is the only NFL quarterback named to two all-decade teams (2000s and 2010s)[12] and was unanimously named to the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019.
Early years
Brady was born in San Mateo, California, on August 3, 1977, the only son and fourth child of Galynn Patricia (née Johnson) and Thomas Brady Sr.[13] Brady was raised as a Catholic. His father is of Irish descent, while his mother has Swedish, Norwegian, German, and Polish ancestry.[14][15]
In the 1980s, Brady regularly attended San Francisco 49ers games at Candlestick Park, where he was a fan of quarterback Joe Montana; Brady called Montana his idol and one of his inspirations.[16] At age four, Brady attended the 1981 NFC Championship, against the Dallas Cowboys, in which Montana threw "The Catch" to Dwight Clark.[17] As a child, Brady attended football camp at the College of San Mateo, where he was taught to throw the football by camp counselor and future NFL/AFL quarterback Tony Graziani.[18] Despite the rivalry between the two teams, Brady grew up as a Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics fan.[19]
Brady attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, where he graduated in 1995.[20] He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. He played against Bellarmine College Preparatory rival Pat Burrell in both football and baseball.[21] Brady began his football career as the backup quarterback on the Padres junior varsity team. At first, Brady was not good enough to start on the 0–8 junior varsity team, which had not scored a touchdown all year.[22] Brady ascended to the starting position when the starting quarterback was injured. He became the varsity starter in his junior year and held the position until he graduated.[23] By Brady's senior year, he was striving to be noticed by college coaches. He created highlight tapes and sent them to schools he considered attending.[24] This led to strong interest from many football programs.
The process of recruiting was much different during Brady's time when athletes' rankings were not as prominent. In terms of recruiting in the 2000s, Brady would have been considered a three or four-star recruit.[25] He was a highly rated prospect.[26] Brady was also on Blue Chip Illustrated as well as a Prep Football Report All-American selection.[27] After his recruiting process, he narrowed his list to five schools.[28] "Probably the ones that we did hear from and ultimately pared the list to were Cal–Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Michigan and Illinois", his father said.[28] As a Cal-Berkeley fan, his father hoped that Brady would attend the nearby school, where Brady was a silent commit, and that he would be able to watch his son play.[29][30]
Brady was also known as a great baseball player in high school.[31] He was a left-handed-batting catcher with power. His skills impressed MLB scouts, and he was drafted in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos,[22][32] after the team brought Brady to Candlestick Park to work out with players, a very unusual decision.[33] The Expos projected Brady as a potential All-Star, with then-GM Kevin Malone claiming he had the potential to be "one of the greatest catchers ever".[34] The team offered him money typical of that offered to a late second-round or early third-round pick,[35] but Brady was recruited by Michigan football assistant Bill Harris, signing to play for the University of Michigan in 1995.[28][36] Brady would become the last active athlete drafted by the Expos.[37] He finished his high school football career by completing 236 of 447 passes for 3,702 yards and 31 touchdowns.[38] Brady also won All-State and All-Far West honors and the team's Most Valuable Player Award.[39]
During summer 1998 and 1999, Brady was an intern at Merrill Lynch.[40] He was inducted into the Junípero Serra High School Hall of Fame in 2003.[39] When Brady visited the school in 2012, two weeks after Super Bowl XLVI, administrators announced that they named the football stadium Brady Family Stadium.[41]
Professional career
Overview
Brady was a lightly regarded prospect coming out of college,[64] with an unimpressive NFL Scouting Combine performance reinforcing this reputation.[65] As a result, he was not selected until the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft by the New England Patriots, 199th overall, and was the seventh quarterback taken. Brady's success as a passer has been attributed to his work ethic, competitive spirit, pocket awareness, and intelligence.[66][67]
NFL
NCAA
WNBA
Media
Sports Emmy Awards
Other endeavors
Brady has been featured as a guest star on several popular television programs, hosting Saturday Night Live in 2005[557] and voicing himself in the 2005 The Simpsons episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" and the 2006 Family Guy episode "Patriot Games"; both football-themed episodes were broadcast within a week of that year's Super Bowl.[558][559] In 2009, he appeared as himself in a sixth season episode of Entourage.[560] In 2015, he had cameo appearances as fictionalized versions of himself in the Entourage movie[561] and Ted 2.[562]
In 2007, Brady was a model for the Stetson cologne.[563] Brady has endorsed brands including Uggs, Under Armour, Movado, Aston Martin and Glaceau Smartwater. According to Forbes, he earned about $7 million from endorsements in 2014.[564][565] In 2016, he began appearing in a Beautyrest Black commercial campaign for Simmons Bedding Company.[566] In 2016, he launched his own line of vegan snacks.[567]
On January 20, 2016, Brady announced the launch of his peak performance website TB12Sports.com. The site features Brady's training regimen information and includes a store to purchase TB12 equipment and merchandise.[568] On August 23, 2016, the TB12 brand expanded to offer a snack line.[569] The following month, Brady, alongside Boston Private and Robert Paul Properties, announced the formation of the TB12 Foundation, a nonprofit to provide free post-injury rehabilitation care and training to underprivileged young athletes.[570] In March 2017, Brady partnered with meal-kit startup Purple Carrot to offer TB12 Performance Meals. The meals utilize whole foods and focus on providing nutrients for workout recovery.[571][572] On September 19, 2017, Simon & Schuster published Brady's first book The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance. Within 48 hours, it had become a number one best-seller on Amazon.com.[573] The book also reached No. 1 on The New York Times' weekly Best Sellers list.[574]
Filmmaker Gotham Chopra filmed Brady during the 2017 off-season and regular season for a Facebook Watch documentary series entitled Tom vs Time. According to The New York Times, the documentary follows Brady as he "conducts his ongoing subversion campaign against the actuarial tables of quarterback longevity."[575] He launched a production company, 199 Productions, in 2020.[576]
In 2021, Brady and Richard Rosenblatt co-founded a sports-based NFT platform called Autograph.[577] Autograph reached a deal with DraftKings for exclusive distribution on Autograph's sports products, creating the DraftKings Marketplace.[578] In January 2021, Autograph announced it raised $170M in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins.[579] In 2023, the company announced layoffs for nearly a third of its workforce.[580]
Also in 2021, Brady, among other high-profile athletes and celebrities, was a paid spokesperson for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange. In November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy, wiping out billions of dollars in customer funds and Brady's stake in the company. He, alongside other spokespeople, is currently being sued for promoting unregistered securities through a class-action lawsuit.[581][582][583] In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media.[584] In 2023, it was reported Tom Brady owned 1,144,861 common shares in FTX, and he and his wife lost an estimated combined value of $45 million when FTX went bankrupt.[585]
Brady has participated in The Match—an exhibition and charity golf event featuring professional golfers and other athletes—in 2020, 2021, and 2022.[586][587][588]
On May 10, 2022, Fox Sports announced that he would join the network as the lead color commentator.[589] Brady's deal with Fox will reportedly pay him $375 million over 10 years, making Brady the highest paid sports commentator in history.[8] A week later, Netflix announced that Brady will be featured in a series of upcoming specials called "Greatest Roasts of All Time: GROAT." Brady is the executive producer of the series.[590]
On March 23, 2023, Brady purchased a minority stake in the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA from the team's majority owner Mark Davis. The same year, the Aces went on to win the WNBA Championship.[591] On August 3, 2023, he became a minority owner and chairman of a new advisory board at English club Birmingham City, in partnership with Knighthead Capital Management LLC.[592]
On September 6, 2023, it was announced that Delta Air Lines had hired Brady as a strategic advisor.[593] In January 2024, Brady agreed to merge his health and apparel brands with NoBull and to become its second largest shareholder.[594][595]