Tom Brady is the quarterback who turned the New England Patriots into one of the greatest success stories in the history of the National Football League.
Brady is unlike any other quarterback that professional football has ever seen and is easily one of the most famous football players to date.
Although not everyone is on the Brady bandwagon, there’s no denying that this professional football player is of a higher caliber than many of the young faces entering the National Football League today.
Why Is Tom Brady Called The GOAT?
Tom Brady is called the GOAT because it’s an acronym that stands for “greatest of all time,” and fans of the legendary football player truly believe that his 22 years as a professional quarterback in the National Football League have earned him such a high distinction.
Over the course of two decades, Brady has played in 10 Super Bowls and has won seven of the championship games he’s played.
He has also been named the Super Bowl’s Most Valuable Player on five different occasions and has won the regular-season Most Valuable Player Award three times.
Tom Brady has been a part of the conference championship 14 times.
Over the course of his career, he has won 243 games in the regular season and an additional 34 playoff games as a starter.
Not only has Brady changed the history of football with his personal stats, but he has also set new records for the teams he’s played for.
After his first year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady set a new team record for completions, touchdown passes, and quarterback rating.
While the legendary quarterback was playing for Tampa Bay, he had 401 completions, 40 touchdown passes, and a quarterback rating of 102.2.
Brady has been known for his ability to completely change the fates of the teams he joins.
During his last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Brady broke his own record for completions and touchdown passes.
The new record for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is 485 completions and 43 touchdown passes.
Brady also took the Buccaneers’ record for single-season passing yards after finishing the season with 5,316 yards.
This legendary football star has raised the bar for future quarterbacks who hope to fill his place, but there may never be another player like Tom Brady.
Does Tom Brady Like Being Called The GOAT?
No, Tom Brady absolutely hates being called the “greatest of all time,” especially after he loses a game.
To this legendary quarterback, being called the GOAT should be reserved for someone who has finished their time in the sport and has accomplished all that they possibly could throughout their career.
In his own eyes, Brady is far from being done with professional football.
There is still plenty of time in his career for him to achieve even greater accomplishments and push himself further than he has ever gone before.
When he first began getting called the “greatest of all time,” it made him intensely unconformable.
Tom Brady hates the term “GOAT” so much that it physically makes him cringe every time he hears it.
This National Football League icon hates it when people shower him with unwavering praise and would prefer that people just talk about him or his team.
Brady would rather hear about the flaws in his gameplay so he can improve or have someone trash talk him so he can prove them wrong.
Part of what motivates Tom Brady to do as well as he does is to remind people that he went from being one of the least wanted rookies during the 2000 National Football League Draft to going down in professional football history as one of the most influential football players to ever enter the league.
Being called the “greatest of all time” means to Brady that those around him believe that he has reached his peak as a quarterback.
He may now be in his 40s, but he’s proving to the National Football League that older players can continuously rise to new heights just like the new recruits they bring in each year.
Is Tom Brady Retired?
No, Tom Brady has not retired and will be playing at least one more season before he begins to consider retiring again.
The reason so many people have been confused on whether or not Brady will be retiring is that he has previously stated that he was going to retire, but decided against retiring before the decision was final.
Tom Brady originally considered retiring because he felt that he was nearing a time when he wouldn’t be able to give his full effort while out on the field.
At the time, Brady felt that he should “leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.”
The legendary quarterback originally wanted to leave the professional league before he began to worsen or got seriously injured like he had watched many veteran players of the prior generations do.
He wanted to end his career of 22 years by reaching new heights and was worried that he wouldn’t be able to do it the following year.
By May of 2022, Tom Brady decided that he had at least another season left in him before he truly felt that he needed to retire.
Despite not retiring this year, Brady has an excellent post-retirement plan set up for himself.
Once the Tampa Bay quarterback decides his time on the field is over, he has a 10-year contract worth $375 million waiting for him with Fox Sports.
He will become the new lead analyst when he finally joins the broadcasting booth.
Not only will Brady be acting as the lead analyst, but he will also serve as an ambassador for the brand and do plenty of promotional work for Fox Sports.
Until that time comes, Brady plans to focus on taking the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl at least one more time.
What Was Tom Brady’s Best Season?
Tom Brady’s best season was the 2007 season, which he spent with the New England Patriots.
Thanks to the quarterback’s contributions, that same season is seen as the best season in the history of the New England Patriots.
Although Brady had been the 199th pick in the 2000 National Football League Draft, he quickly proved that he had what it took to be a professional quarterback during his first six seasons.
Going into the 2007 season, Brady had nearly 300 completions and about 25 touchdowns under his belt.
At this point in his career, he was averaging anywhere from 10 to 14 wins per season and an adjusted yards-per-attempt of somewhere between six and seven.
Tom Brady had three Super Bowl titles and was ready to go for gold in the upcoming season.
Many Brady fans look back at 2007 as the year that Tom Brady took his game to the next level and was achieving numbers vastly higher than ever before.
In that year alone, he hit 98 completions and increased his total to 398.
Brady wasn’t the only teammate doing his best that year, with his receivers catching 68.9% of his passes.
This was the same year that Brady had 50 touchdown passes and reached a National Football League high that has yet to be beaten to this day.
By the end of 2007, Brady had helped the New England Patriots win 16 games without a single defeat during the regular season in National Football League history since 1972 when the Miami Dolphins won 14 games without losing.
Despite the phenomenal regular season that the New England Patriots had that year, some Patriots fans still remember 2007 as a disappointment due to the team’s loss at the Super Bowl against the New York Giants.
How Does Tom Brady Compare To The Other Great Quarterbacks?
Although the majority of football fans will agree that Tom Brady is likely the “greatest of all time,” there are many people who argue that there were and are better players within the professional league.
When looking at the statistics of other great quarterbacks, Tom Brady is definitely among the best that the National Football League has ever seen.
Tom Brady has the second-highest touchdown-interception differential among the quarterbacks with 300 regular-season touchdown passes with +185.
The player with the highest touchdown-interception differential is Peyton Manning with +201.
Brady is also in second place for the most passing yards per game since 2006, averaging 270.9 yards per game.
Drew Brees is the only quarterback in the National Football League to have a higher average, with 298.9 passing yards per game.
Brady drops down to the fourth place for the most consecutive games throwing a touchdown, averaging about 32 games.
He was beaten by Brett Favre with 36 consecutive games, Drew Brees with about 43 consecutive games, and John Unitas with 47 consecutive games.
In 2011, both Drew Brees and Tom Brady set new records for most passing yards in a single season.
Brady had 5,235 passing yards and Brees had 5,476 passing yards.
Brady has the fourth-highest total quarterback rating since 2008, with a rating of 71.3.
Aaron Rogers once held a rating of 72.0, but even Rogers was beaten out by Brees’s rating of 72.8 and Peyton Manning’s rating of 77.8.
Tom Brady has the second most Super Bowl wins among starting quarterbacks with three wins, with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw both tying for first place with four Super Bowl wins apiece.
However, Brady and John Elway are the only quarterbacks to start in five Super Bowls.
How Has Tom Brady Gotten So Many Fans?
Tom Brady has been able to earn so many fans because his fans relate to his life and career story.
His fans love him for more than just his football career.
They appreciate his personality and all that he does for those around him.
When Brady first entered the National Football League, he was an underdog in whom nearly no one saw potential.
Rather than letting the pressure break him, Brady drew inspiration from the public’s disbelief and used it as motivation to do all he could to be better than they could ever imagine.
Many longtime football fans see many similarities between Brady and football legend, Joe Montana.
Between their shared cool-tempered nature and their shared offseason wins record with 16 wins each, some of Montana’s fans have turned to rooting for Brady.
Although a fiery spirit may be what leads some professional athletes to victory, part of the secret to Tom Brady’s success is how calm under intense situations he can remain.
It’s unusual for professional athletes to crack under pressure, but Brady rarely seems like he is worried about anything in the world when he’s on the field.
Recent fans of Tom Brady appreciate what his career has meant for the older athletes who are still in the professional league.
While many team executives see older players as fragile liabilities that could be put out of commission at any moment, Brady has proven that he hasn’t become a glass cannon in the later years of his career.
Fans and teammates of Brady especially appreciate the level of dedication he has for each of the teams he has played for.
Brady was with the New England Patriots for 20 years, never worrying about how big his next paycheck was and instead focusing on the needs of the whole team.
Tom Brady Loves Working With Charities
Tom Brady understands the level of star power and influence he has on the youth, which has led him to work with a variety of charities since first joining the National Football League.
He has helped a variety of causes gain the necessary recognition they need to make a change.
One of the organizations that Brady has had the honor of working with is Best Buddies International, which is an organization that helps people with developmental and intellectual disabilities make friends and find jobs within their community.
Over the past 20 years, Brady has helped raise $46.5 million for the organization.
He served as the honorary co-chair for the organization’s annual biking, running, and walking event for 16 years and became the organization’s global ambassador in December of 2019.
During his free time, Brady is a vocal activist who is trying to help fight poverty in Africa.
Brady was inspired to support the cause after a 2004 trip to Ghana and Uganda through an organization called Debt AIDS Trade Africa, better known as DATA.
The celebrity quarterback was able to visit medical clinics, schools, and other public areas.
His goal was to learn how the United States could best support Africa’s struggling communities.
By 2015, Brady had worked with enough charity organizations that he was ready to start his own.
The TB12 Foundation is a health organization that helps athletes reach their goals and also provides healthcare for low-income families or athletes who may not be able to afford the resources they need.
The organization has plans to take their healthcare across the world and have an annual marathon to raise money for healthcare.
The TB12 Foundation was able to raise more than $125,000 during its last marathon.
Brady also believes he’s “privileged” to work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
How Much Has Tom Brady Been Paid Through Contracts?
Tom Brady has been paid $329.36 million in total, and he will be making even more money after they announce what his 2023 season contract is going to be priced at.
Brady was the ninth highest-paid athlete in 2022, according to Forbes.
When Tom Brady first entered the National Football League as the newest member of the New England Patriots in 2000, his rookie three-year contract was only worth $860,000.
That meant that Brady had an annual salary of about $286,700.
By the time Brady was ready to sign his second contract with the New England Patriots in 2002, he had earned himself a five-year contract with a value of $30.5 million.
Before the five years were up, the Patriots quickly signed Brady to a new contract that would earn him $60 million over the course of six years.
Tom Brady would earn his highest paying contract in 2010 when he signed on with the Patriots for an additional four years at a cost of $72 million.
However, things took a shocking turn in 2013 when Brady agreed to a three-year contract worth only $27 million.
The reason Brady decided to agree to the lowball contract while other quarterbacks were getting paid more than ever before was that he felt that his time was limited, and he was willing to do whatever it took to stay with the New England Patriots until the end of his career
After his 2013 contract was up, the Patriots were still willing to keep Brady around and the quarterback agreed to $41 million for a two-year contract in 2016.
During his final year with the Patriots in 2019, he earned $23 million.
Tampa Bay has only offered Brady yearly contracts, with him earning between $8.925 million and $41.075 million.
Does Tom Brady Follow A Strict Diet?
Yes, Tom Brady follows an incredibly strict diet, which he calls the TB12 diet.
This quarterback’s diet dictates when he eats, the kinds of foods he can eat, and the portions of different types of nutrients the professional football player consumes.
The TB12 diet allows for three meals per day and occasional snacks throughout the day.
Due to the strictness of his diet, Brady typically eats similar types of meals every day.
To start his day off right, Tom Brady enjoys some electrolyte-infused water before having a fruit smoothie with some nuts and seeds for breakfast.
He’ll follow breakfast with a workout and chase the workout with a protein shake made with almond milk.
The TB12 diet does not allow followers to eat dairy products, gluten, GMO, MSG, corn, soy, overly processed foods, sugar or artificial sweeteners, nightshade vegetables or fungi, coffee, alcohol, trans fat, and saturated fats.
Brady’s diet insists that followers consume mostly vegetables, some fruits, whole grains, beans, lean proteins, and the TB12 branded protein powders or protein bars.
The majority of the football star’s lunches and dinners consist of locally sourced and organic vegetables.
Those who follow the diet and enjoy it appreciate that the diet consists of plenty of whole foods, is allergen-safe, perfect for athletes, and promotes weight loss.
However, those who struggled with the diet have warned those who want to try it that it is overly restrictive, lacks scientific evidence for many of the food choices, and it is not sustainable.
Whether it has been his dedication to his career or his unique diet pushing him forward, there’s no denying that Tom Brady is willing to do whatever it takes to reach his maximum potential.
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