On the morning of February 1st, Tom Brady officially announced his retirement from the NFL, confirming what had been leaked a few days prior. Brady ended his career as the undisputed greatest to ever play football, holding records for the most passing yards and touchdowns, along with total and playoff wins.

His seven Super Bowl victories are more than any NFL franchise, and he is the only NFL player with a Super Bowl MVP in three different decades. He is also the only player to start and win a Super Bowl in both conferences. Brady ended his career far ahead of his competitors in both playoff success and longevity.

His record 35 playoff wins put him at more than double the next closest of 16, and his seven Super Bowl wins are three wins ahead of the next closest. Past the age of 40, Brady defeated the annual retirement speculation and was the oldest player to win both an MVP and a Super Bowl.

After leaving New England, Brady won another Super Bowl in his first season in Tampa Bay before leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns in his final year at the age of 44. His 22,938 passing yards in his 40s alone would place him top-100 all time. While Brady’s unparalleled success is certainly one of the most remarkable stories across all of sports, it is made all the more special considering his career arc.

Brady first played football as a backup quarterback on a freshman team that did not win a single game. He went on to play football at the University of Michigan, where he was a seventh stringer as a freshman and did not even have a full-time starting job in his senior year. Yet the Patriots saw past his dismal physical tools and drafted him 199th overall.

He began his tenure in New England as the fourth quarterback on the roster with the starter Drew Bledsoe, who signed a recent ten year extension. But when Bledsoe suffered a scary hit that knocked him out of a game against the Jets in Brady’s second year, Brady took over and led the team all the way to the franchise’s first Super Bowl victory in just his first year as a starter.

The rest is history, as Brady held on to his starting job when Bledsoe returned and brought five more super bowls in eight more appearances to New England. In a recent Instagram post, Brady said his goodbye to the NFL: “I have always believed that the sport of football is an all-in proposition … I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore … My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100% of me, but right now, it’s best that I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.”

Bill Belichick, head coach of the Patriots, referred to Brady as the “ultimate competitor and winner,” but also referred to him as “professional on and off the field” and a man that “carried himself with class, integrity and kindness.”

No other player has had quite the longevity and success as Brady has, as he ends a career that has inspired multiple generations of football players and fans.

This piece also appears in our February 2022 print edition.