Analysis
2/1/23
4 min read
Tom Brady's Most Impressive Career Achievements, Statistics
Tom Brady said he is retiring "for good" from the NFL. In his 23 seasons, the former sixth-round pick from the University of Michigan put together one of the most impressive careers in league history.
Here's a breakdown of some of Brady's wildest stats and most impressive accomplishments:
Sustained Success
There's an argument to be made Brady could have qualified for the Hall of Fame with just his statistics from his 20s, 30s or 40s.
Brady in his 20s
21,564 passing yards, 147 passing TDs, 3 Super Bowl wins
Brady in his 30s
40,018 passing yards, 309 passing TDs, 2 Super Bowl wins
Brady in his 40s
27,632 passing yards, 193 passing TDs, 2 Super Bowl wins
Postseason Passing Stats
Brady’s 13,400 yards passing in the playoffs is not just an NFL record but more than the combined amount of the second and third-place holders (Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning). He also has more career postseason completions and attempts than Roethlisberger and Manning combined. His 88 postseason touchdowns are two short of the combined numbers of Joe Montana and Aaron Rodgers, who are tied at No. 2 on the all-time list with 45 TD passes.
Rewriting Record Book
Brady holds nearly every major quarterback record, including most career passing yards, completions, touchdown passes and games started. He has some distance from the next closest active player in those categories, including passing yardage where Matt Ryan trails Brady by 26,422 yards.
Elite Company
Brady has the distinction of being one of just three quarterbacks in NFL history to have multiple 5,000-yard passing seasons. Drew Brees and Patrick Mahomes are the others.
20 Division Titles
Brady spent 20 seasons with the Patriots, the most for any quarterback with any single NFL franchise, and won 17 division titles in New England. He followed that up with three seasons in Tampa Bay, where he won the NFC South all three years.
Ultimate Winner
Brady is the NFL leader in career regular season wins (250) and playoff victories (35), making him the winningest quarterback in league history. Not all these wins were easy to come by as an NFL-record 58 of them required game-winning drives.
Multi-Threat QB
Brady is just one of three players to record receiving yards after the age of 40. Jerry Rice had 2,169 yards compared to Brady's 6 and Brett Favre's minus-2. Brady punted twice in his career. Once in 2003 for 36 yards and once in 2013 for 32 yards. The former wound up inside the opponent's 20-yard line.
Dependable Connection
In the red zone or anywhere else on the field, Brady's favorite target for six during his career was tight end Rob Gronkowski. The duo combined for 105 touchdowns in the regular season and playoffs, which is second-most all-time behind only Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison (114).
More Trophy Space Needed
Brady earned three regular-season MVP awards to go with a record of five Super Bowl MVPs and a record seven Super Bowl wins. He retires as the only player in NFL history to have won a Super Bowl MVP with two different teams. He became the oldest player to win a regular-season MVP (40) and the oldest to win a Super Bowl MVP (43). He is also the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl in three separate decades.
Additional accolades include the most Pro Bowl selections in league history (15) and being the first unanimous MVP (2010).
Unfamiliar Territory
Brady did not have a losing campaign as a starter until his 23rd — and final — season in the league. The only season he missed the playoffs as a starter was in 2002. In 2021, Brady became one of four quarterbacks to defeat all 32 NFL teams, joining Brees, Favre and Manning.
Model of Consistency
In his 325 career starts, he is the only NFL quarterback to have three separate streaks of consecutive starts of more than 100 games.
WATCH: Brady Retiring for Good This Time
[bc_video video_id="6319600098112" account_id="6312875271001" player_id="default" embed="in-page" padding_top="56%" autoplay="" min_width="0px" playsinline="playsinline" picture_in_picture="" language_detection="" max_width="640px" mute="" width="100%" height="100%" aspect_ratio="16:9" sizing="responsive" ]
