For the bulk of his legendary NFL career, Tom Brady deflected personal praise. Molded by the Patriots’ team-first mindset, the iconic quarterback always hyped up the group rather than himself.
But now retired, Brady is more willing to acknowledge he was a transcendent talent.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion boasted about his unparalleled success on the latest episode of the “Let’s Go!” podcast. After identifying Patrick Mahomes as the likeliest candidate to be “the next Tom Brady,” the future Pro Football Hall of Famer summed up how great he was behind center.
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“You know, people have to do it for a long time,” Brady said, as transcribed by FOX Sports’ Henry McKenna. “I did it for a long time. When I look at my career, I was able to do it every single year for basically every game. …Now, every game wasn’t perfect, but every game was pretty good. And most of the time, I never put our team in a position to lose. And there are very few guys like that, that I’m watching over and over and over.
“I think unfortunately, the way the game’s going, a lot of the guys are running the ball a lot more. You know, it just makes for a shorter career. …I don’t know. I believe that if someone does make it as long as I made it with the degree of success, then I give them a lot of respect. It would be an unbelievable accomplishment for them to do that, especially in today’s day and age.”
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Consistency truly was one of Brady’s strongest attributes across his 23-year career. It’s something Patriots fans probably took for granted from 2001 through 2019, and now something they’re longing for as the inconsistent Mac Jones tried to find his groove.
The Brady era in Foxboro, Mass. was one the NFL had never seen before, and it surely has become a span of time Patriots fans are appreciating more and more with each passing year.
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Featured image via Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports Images
