Everyone knows who the great Tom Brady is, whether it is for his talent in football, the fact that he is the oldest football player in the NFL (at the age of 44) or as a personal favorite: how many times he has retired and unretired from the National Football League.
Little known fact about Brady: Britannica states that he “excelled in football and baseball. He entered the Major League Baseball draft in 1995 and was picked by (the) Montreal Expos.” Soon realizing that he liked football more, Brady attended the University of Michigan for football and in 2000 was drafted into the NFL by the New England Patriots. Brady made his first Super Bowl appearance in the 2001 season after the Patriots’ starting quarterback, Drew Bledsoe, was injured. The team went on to beat the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI; where Brady was named MVP.
The Patriots returned to the Super Bowl in 2004, taking down the Carolina Panthers with Brady earning another MVP award. 2005 was nothing but deja vu for Brady where he helped carry his team to another Super Bowl Champion title against the Philadelphia Eagles. The most controversial Super Bowl win in football history was the New England Patriots’ upset against the Seattle Seahawks. Although Tom Brady was one of the players behind the ball deflations and was ultimately suspended for four games in the upcoming season, he still won his third MVP award. In 2018, Tom made his third consecutive Super Bowl appearance; helping the Patriots take down the Los Angeles Rams.
This is where things started to get interesting. In March 2020, he sent the sports world into a frenzy when he announced that he was signing a two-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This ended his 20-year streak with the New England Patriots. Proving that a team does not make his talent, Brady led the Buccaneers to his seventh Super Bowl Championship over the Kansas City Chiefs.
After a 31-9 Super Bowl win over the KC Chiefs in 2021, Brady announced he was retiring from football, saying he wanted to “focus his time and energy on other things that require his attention.” Retirement did not last long for Brady, as he soon announced his return to the Buccaneers for the upcoming season.
2022 was no different; Brady announced his retirement again after an upset against the Los Angeles Rams. As if it were a repeat of 2021, Brady unretired after less than six weeks. The MVP football star will return to the Buccaneers to play his 23rd NFL season.
It is no mistake that Tom Brady is one of the most talented American football players in history. After winning a total of seven Super Bowls and three MVP awards, he deserves the recognition he gets. Sportrac reports that Tom Brady in 2022, will earn a base salary of $8,925,000 and a roster bonus of $1,470,588, while carrying a cap hit of $20,270,588 and a dead cap value of $15,000,000. Depending on “Passer rating, touchdown passes, pass yards, completion percentage and yard per attempt”, an extra $562,500 is tacked on to his salary.
