44 years old. 22 years in the game. Seven Super Bowl wins. Those are numbers everyone from seasoned pundits to casuals have come to associate with Tom Brady this past week as the legendary NFL quarterback officially announced his retirement – but the other numbers on his career stats only confirm his GOAT status.
The man was (and continues to be) unrivalled. Since debuting with the New England Patriots as the 2000 NFL Draft’s 199th overall pick, not only has he accrued enough bling to make Thanos green with envy, but excelled as a quarterback in every conceivable capacity. Although before we move on, it has to be mentioned: Tom Brady was more likely to make a Super Bowl appearance (45%) than the NBA’s all-time 3-point lead Steph Curry is to score a three (43.1%).
RELATED: In 1999, Tom Brady Wasn’t Sure He’d Make The NFL – Read His College Resume
In terms of career earnings, despite the fact Tom Brady was slow to get the ball rolling, the financial stats at full-time are no less impressive.
Franchises generally don’t break the bank for an athlete who was picked after 198 others, which meant TB12 didn’t earn more than $1 million* in a single season until 2002, receiving $3.8 million for his third. Excluding endorsements and side hustles – for which there are many – across his 22 seasons as an active player, Tom Brady banked a total of $292.9 million (salary, bonuses, other incentives) to become the highest-earning NFL player in history.
According to CNBC, that places him over $23 million ahead of fellow retiree Drew Brees (20 seasons), a touch under $26 ahead of another former superstar in Ben Roethlisberger (18 seasons), $26 million ahead of the Atlanta Falcon’s Matt Ryan (17 seasons), and approximately $30 million ahead of the Green Bay Packers’ Aaron Rodgers.
Yes, we know Kansas City Chief QG Patrick Mahomes currently holds the richest NFL contract (and history’s second-largest sports contract), exceeding the $500 million mark. But keep in mind a decent chunk of it still hasn’t been paid out yet. To date, if we’re to include 2022, Mahomes has only seen around $63 million of what he’s owed. No doubt Brady will be succeeded in this regard soon enough.
Check out some more endlessly impressive Tom Brady career stats below.
*Note: all $$$ mentioned = USD
Tom Brady Career Stats: 22 Years In The Game
- 22 NFL seasons (20 with the New England Patriots, two with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
- 243 career regular-season wins (most in NFL history)
- 35 career playoff wins, 19 more than any other quarterback (his childhood hero Joe Montana was second with 16) (also most in NFL history)
- 10 Super Bowl appearances & seven wins (most in NFL history)
- Five-time Super Bowl MVP (most in NFL history)
- Three-time NFL MVP (2007, 2010, 2017)
- Two-time NFL Offensive Player of thr Year (2007, 2010)
- 15-time Pro Bowl (2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009-2018, 2021)
- 624 touchdown passes (most in NFL history)
- 84,520 passing yards (most in NFL history)
- 5,316 passing yards & 43 passing touchdowns in his final season (most in NFL history)
- 92 different players caught a touchdown pass from Tom Brady (most in NFL history)
- All-time playoff leader in touchdown passes (86), passing yards (13,049), completions (1,165)
- First player to win NFL championships in three different decades
- First quartback to start a Super Bowl win for a team in both conferences
- Second quarterback to win Super Bowl in first season with team (Trent Dilfer was the first in 2000)
- With a total of seven rings, Tom Brady has more Super Bowl wins than any franchise all-time (New England Patriots & Pittsburgh Steelers have six each, San Francisco 49ers & Dallas Cowboys have five each)
