Tom Brady

Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. (born August 3, 1977) is an American former professional 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 played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback of all time.

After playing college football for the Michigan Wolverines, 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. 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, 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. He joined the Buccaneers in 2020 and won Super Bowl LV, extending his individual records to ten Super Bowl appearances and seven victories. In 2024, Brady became the lead color commentator for the NFL on Fox and a partial owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

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. Brady is the only NFL quarterback named to two all-decade teams (2000s and 2010s) and was unanimously named to the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019.

Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. was born on August 3, 1977, in San Mateo, California, the only son and fourth child of Galynn Patricia (née Johnson) and Thomas Brady Sr. Brady was raised Catholic. His mother has Swedish, Norwegian, German, and Polish ancestry, while his father is of Irish descent; Brady has said his father is 100% Irish.

In the 1980s, Brady regularly attended San Francisco 49ers games at Candlestick Park, where he was a fan of quarterback Joe Montana; Brady has called Montana his idol and one of his inspirations. Aged four, Brady attended the 1981 NFC Championship, against the Dallas Cowboys, in which Montana threw "The Catch" to Dwight Clark. Brady attended football camp at the College of San Mateo, where he was taught to throw by camp counselor and future NFL/AFL quarterback Tony Graziani. Despite the rivalry between the teams, Brady grew up as a Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics fan.

Brady attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, where he graduated in 1995. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. He played against Bellarmine College Preparatory rival Pat Burrell in football and baseball. Brady began his 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. Brady ascended to the starting position when the main quarterback was injured. He became the varsity starter in his junior year and held it until he graduated. 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. This led to interest from many football programs.

The process of recruiting then very different, athletes' rankings were not as prominent. In the 2000s, Brady would have been considered a three or four-star recruit, and a highly rated prospect. Brady was on Blue Chip Illustrated and a Prep Football Report All-American selection. After his recruiting process, he narrowed his list to five schools. "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. As a Cal-Berkeley fan, his father hoped Brady would attend the nearby school, where Brady was a silent commit, and that he would be able to watch his son play.

Brady was also known as a great baseball player in high school. 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, after the team brought Brady to Candlestick Park to work out with players, an unusual decision. The Expos projected Brady as a potential All-Star, with then-GM Kevin Malone claiming Brady had the potential to be "one of the greatest catchers ever". The team offered him money typical of that offered to a late second-round or early third-round pick, but Brady was recruited by football assistant Bill Harris, to play for the University of Michigan in 1995. Brady became the last active athlete drafted by the Expos. He finished his high school career by completing 236 of 447 passes (53%) for 3,702 yards and 31 touchdowns. Brady won All-State and All-Far West honors and the team's Most Valuable Player Award.