Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been the model for many things during his legendary NFL career.
His preparation, consistency, commitment, and above all else, winning ability, are unparalleled. Brady has also showcased longevity in a physically demanding sport that few can only dream of.
Outwit, outplay, outlast. Brady has certainly done all of that, especially the last part. And as the 45-year-old nears the end of his 23rd NFL season, he continues to push back against Father Time.
Brady’s been playing professional football for over half his life — that’s not an exaggeration — and that still doesn’t seem to illustrate perfectly his incredible longevity, which is why we looked at 12 of his teammates throughout the years to paint a better picture of how long Brady has played in the NFL.
Mike Vrabel
Brady was teammates with Vrabel for eight seasons from 2001-08 as the two won three Super Bowl titles together. Vrabel’s playing career ended over a decade ago and he moved on to his next venture as an NFL head coach. Vrabel has guided the Tennessee Titans for five seasons and now sees Brady as an opponent rather than a teammate.
Bruce Armstrong
Armstrong comes from a different era of football as he was a star on the offensive line for the Patriots starting in the late 1980s. The six-time Pro Bowler became a teammate of Brady’s in 2000, the year in which Brady entered the league. That was Armstrong’s final season as he never got to experience first-hand the magic Brady created the following season.
Logan Hall
Not many NFL fans will know much about Hall, since the second-round pick got his feet wet with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a rookie in the 2022 season. But at just 22 years old, Hall is actually younger than Brady’s NFL career. Hall was born April 22, 2000. Brady’s career got going when he was drafted No. 199 overall on April 16, 2000.
Willie McGinest
To a generation of football fans, McGinest is an analyst for the NFL Network and nothing more. But the Patriots Hall of Famer can lay claim to being teammates with Brady as well. McGinest, who the Patriots drafted in 1994, spent six seasons with Brady from 2000-05 and shared some tremendous moments, especially in the postseason.
Rob Gronkowski
Gronkowski put together a Hall of Fame career. Retired. Came back and won a Super Bowl with Brady and the Buccaneers. And then retired again while Brady kept on playing. It’s wild that Gronkowski, while enduring several injuries Brady never had to go through, entered the NFL 10 years after Brady and stopped playing twice with his quarterback soldiering on.
Jason Pierre-Paul
Brady still has to have memories of Pierre-Paul and the New York Giants defense getting after him in Super Bowl XLVI. But fast forward nine years after that and Brady and Pierre-Paul joined forces to bring a championship to Tampa Bay. It’s crazy how enemies can become co-workers when you play in the NFL as long as Brady has.
Adam Vinatieri
Brady has to be thankful he wound up on the same team as Adam Vinatieri and his clutch right leg. Vinatieri, whose NFL career started in 1996, was a vital difference in helping lift Brady to stardom in the early 2000s with his game-winning kicks in the Super Bowl. Vinatieri ended up being a showcase of longevity, too, playing 24 seasons before retiring in 2019.
Junior Seau
Seau was making plays on Sundays before Brady even entered high school. Seau, who was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 1990, already had a stellar career prior to the Patriots drafting Brady. And then the two became teammates on the Patriots for Seau’s final four seasons in the league as Seau became another Hall of Famer who Brady shared a locker room with.
Terry Glenn
Ever need a Brady-centric trivia question at a bar, then utilize Terry Glenn. Brady threw his first career touchdown pass to Glenn in Week 5 of the 2001 regular season. Glenn only caught seven more passes from Brady as his tenure with the Patriots ended in 2001 with the wideout going on to finish out his career with the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.
Antoine Winfield Jr.
Brady played against Antione Winfield Sr., who enjoyed a 14-year NFL career starting with the Buffalo Bills, and then became teammates with his son in 2020. That’s quite the display of longevity when Brady can go up to the younger Winfield in the locker room and explain what it was like to play against his father. Brady probably sees similarities between the two as well.
Wes Welker
Add together Welker’s playing career and coaching career as currently constituted — he just wrapped up his sixth season as an assistant coach after 12 seasons as a player — and it still comes up short of how long Brady has suited up in the NFL. Brady and Welker were a sensational pair together from 2007-2012 and while injuries forced Welker into a new career, Brady kept chugging along.
Adrian Klemm
Klemm and Brady entered the NFL together as part of the Patriots’ 2000 draft class. Klemm didn’t nearly have to wait as long as his future teammate to hear his name called on draft day with the Patriots selecting the offensive lineman with the 46th overall pick. But then Klemm flamed out of the league after five seasons while Brady reached unprecedented heights.
