Brady finished the season with 4,806 passing yards, 50 touchdown passes, eight interceptions, and a career-high 117.2 passer rating. It was unanimously voted the greatest passing season of all time by ESPN in 2013. His 50:8 touchdown to interception ratio was, at the time, an NFL record. He became the first quarterback to pass for 50 touchdowns. He led the Patriots to the first undefeated regular season since the 16-game schedule was implemented in 1978. He directed an offense that scored a then-NFL record 589 points and 75 total touchdowns. The team's 50 total touchdown passes is the fourth-most ever in a season. For his efforts, Brady was named the Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year. He was also honored by the Associated Press as their Male Athlete of the Year, the first time an NFL player earned the honor since Joe Montana won the award in 1990. He was named as a First-Team All-Pro and to his fourth career Pro Bowl as a result of his historic season.
Brady attended Junípero Serra High School in San Mateo, where he graduated in 1995. He played football, basketball, and baseball in high school. He played against Bellarmine College Preparatory rival Pat Burrell in both football and baseball. Brady began his football career as the backup quarterback on the Padres junior varsity team. At first, Brady was not good enough to start on the 0–8 Junior Varsity team, which had not scored a touchdown all year. Brady ascended to the starting position when the starting quarterback was injured. He became the varsity starter in his junior year and held the position until he graduated. By Brady's senior year, he was striving to be noticed by college coaches. He created highlight tapes and sent them to schools he considered attending. This led to strong interest from many football programs around the nation.
Brady played college football at the University of Michigan from 1995 to 1999. After redshirting in 1995, Brady spent the next two years as a backup quarterback, while teammate and future NFL quarterback Brian Griese led the 1997 Wolverines to an undefeated season, which was capped by a victory in the Rose Bowl and a share of the national championship. When he initially enrolled at Michigan, Brady was seventh on the depth chart, and he had an intense struggle to get some playing time. At one point, Brady hired a sports psychologist to help him cope with frustration and anxiety; he even considered transferring to the University of California, Berkeley to play for the California Golden Bears. He worked closely with assistant athletic director Greg Harden, who met with Brady every week to build his confidence and to maximize his performance on the field. Brady told 60 Minutes in 2014: "He will always be somebody I rely on for sound advice and mentorship. He has helped me with my own personal struggles in both athletics and in life. Greg really pushed me in a direction that I wasn't sure I could go."
Brady was also known as a great baseball player in high school. He was a left-handed-batting catcher with power. His skills impressed MLB scouts, and he was drafted in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft by the Montreal Expos. The Expos projected Brady as a potential All-Star, with then-GM Kevin Malone claiming he had the potential to be "one of the greatest catchers ever". The Expos offered him money typical of that offered to a late second-round or early third-round pick, but when Brady learned of the interest in his playing football, he chose football over baseball; Brady would later go on to become the last active athlete drafted by the Expos. Brady was recruited by Michigan assistant Bill Harris, signing to play for the University of Michigan in 1995. He finished his high school football career by completing 236 of 447 passes for 3,702 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also won All-State and All-Far West honors and the team's Most Valuable Player Award.
On September 28, 1996, Brady appeared in his first collegiate game after Michigan was up 35–3 against UCLA late in the fourth quarter. His first-ever pass attempt was intercepted by Phillip Ward and returned for a 42-yard touchdown.
During his first full year as the starter, he set new Michigan records for most pass attempts and completions in a season, for a total of 214. He set a school record for completions in a 31–16 loss against Ohio State in 1998, a season in which Michigan shared the Big Ten Conference title. Brady capped that season with a 45–31 win over Arkansas in the Citrus Bowl.
In the two seasons that Brady started at Michigan, he posted a 20–5 record, including wins at the 1999 Citrus Bowl and the 2000 Orange Bowl. Brady finished his career ranking third in Michigan history with 710 attempts and 442 completions, fourth with 5,351 yards and 62.3 completion percentage, and fifth with 35 touchdown passes. He graduated from Michigan in December 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies.
Brady started 381 games (333 regular season, 48 playoff) in 23 seasons, the most for an NFL quarterback. His first 20 seasons were with the Patriots, which is also the most for an NFL quarterback with one franchise. He served as the primary starter in 21 of his seasons, holding a backup role during his rookie campaign and missing nearly all the 2008 season due to a knee injury. The 2008 season marks the only time Brady did not start because of injury. During his 21 seasons as the primary starter, he missed the playoffs only once in 2002 and had only one losing season in 2022. With the Patriots, Brady led the team to 17 AFC East titles. He led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 to a wild card berth, the only time his team did not make the playoffs as a division winner, and NFC South titles the following two seasons.
During summer break of 1998 and 1999, Brady was an intern at Merrill Lynch. He was inducted into the Junípero Serra High School Hall of Fame in 2003, joining fellow Serra High graduates Barry Bonds, Lynn Swann, Gregg Jefferies, and Jim Fregosi, among many others. When Brady visited the school in 2012, two weeks after Super Bowl XLVI, administrators announced that they named the football stadium Brady Family Stadium.
On the Patriots, Brady and head coach Bill Belichick formed the NFL's most successful quarterback–head coach tandem. They were consistently credited with the Patriots' dynasty from 2001 to 2019, resulting in the dynasty being named the Brady–Belichick era after them. The dynasty is regarded as one of the greatest in sports history, with Brady's successes helping the Patriots set the records for Super Bowl appearances (11) and wins (6, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers). During Brady's first season as the primary starter, the franchise won its first championship in Super Bowl XXXVI, with consecutive titles following in 2003 and 2004. The Patriots won an NFL-record 21 consecutive games (regular season and playoffs) during this period, while Brady won 10 consecutive postseason games (also his first 10 postseason games), another NFL record.
Brady attended the 2004 State of the Union Address as a special guest of then-President George W. Bush. He told ESPN The Magazine in 2004 that being a U.S. Senator would be his "craziest ambition".
Brady has been featured as a guest star on several popular television programs, hosting Saturday Night Live in 2005 and voicing himself in the 2005 The Simpsons episode "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" and the 2006 Family Guy episode "Patriot Games"; both football-themed episodes were broadcast within a week of that year's Super Bowl. In 2009, he appeared as himself in a sixth season episode of Entourage. In 2015, he had cameo appearances as fictionalized versions of himself in the Entourage movie and Ted 2.
In 2006, Brady led the Patriots to a 12–4 record and the fourth seed in the AFC playoffs. Brady finished the regular season with 3,529 yards and 24 touchdowns. He was not among the players initially selected to the Pro Bowl, although he was offered an injury-replacement selection when San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers was forced to withdraw. Brady ended up declining the invitation.
Brady began dating Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen in December 2006. In 2009, Brady said they had been set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. Brady and Bündchen married on February 26, 2009, in an intimate Catholic ceremony in Santa Monica, California. Together, they have two children: a son, Benjamin Rein Brady, born in December 2009, and a daughter, Vivian Lake Brady, born in December 2012.
Brady dated actress Bridget Moynahan from 2004 until late 2006. Brady and Moynahan ended their relationship in early December 2006, around the time Moynahan became pregnant. On February 18, 2007, Moynahan confirmed to People magazine that she was more than three months pregnant with Brady's child. Their son, John Edward Thomas Moynahan, was born in August 2007, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California.
Brady maintained the Patriots' status as perennial postseason contenders throughout his tenure, although they did not win another Super Bowl until a decade after their third. His next two appearances both ended in upset defeats to the New York Giants; the first loss in 2007's Super Bowl XLII also prevented Brady and the Patriots from obtaining a perfect 19–0 season. Brady returned to dominant postseason form in 2014 when he led the Patriots to their fourth title in Super Bowl XLIX. This was followed by Brady making three consecutive Super Bowl appearances from 2016 to 2018, which secured New England's fifth and sixth titles in Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LIII.
In 2007, Brady was a model for the Stetson cologne. Brady has endorsed brands including Uggs, Under Armour, Movado, Aston Martin and Glaceau Smartwater. According to Forbes, he earned about $7 million from endorsements alone in 2014. In 2016, he began appearing in a Beautyrest Black commercial campaign for Simmons Bedding Company. In 2016, he launched his own line of vegan snacks.
The winningest quarterback in NFL history, Brady won 251 regular season games and 35 postseason games for a combined 286 wins. Brady holds a .754 winning percentage, which is the highest among NFL quarterbacks who have started 100 games. He is the only NFL quarterback to win 200 regular season games and his 35 postseason victories are more than twice those of any other quarterback. Brady is also the only NFL quarterback to win all 16 regular season games, which he accomplished in 2007. In 2021, Brady became one of four quarterbacks to defeat all 32 NFL teams. Brady has the most Pro Bowl selections in NFL history at 15 and was named league MVP three times in 2007, 2010, and 2017. His 2010 MVP was awarded in a unanimous decision; the first time this distinction was achieved. Brady was also named Male Athlete of the Year in 2007, making him third NFL player to receive the award, joining Joe Montana. Brady, Montana, and Patrick Mahomes are the only players to win multiple NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP awards.
On October 18, 2009, under blizzard conditions, Brady set an NFL record against the Tennessee Titans for most touchdowns in a quarter, throwing five in the second quarter. Brady finished the game with six touchdowns, tying his career-high from the 2007 season, and 380 yards, completing 29-of-34 attempts, finishing with a nearly perfect passer rating of 152.8. The Patriots' 59–0 victory over the Titans tied the record for the largest margin of victory since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, and set a record for largest halftime lead in NFL history, which was 45–0.
On September 10, 2010, Brady signed a four-year, $72 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL. The extension included $48.5 million in guaranteed money.
Brady and baseball player Kevin Youkilis became brothers-in-law in 2012 when Youkilis married Brady's sister Julie. Brady's niece Maya Brady is a college softball player for the UCLA Bruins.
With a victory over the Denver Broncos, the Patriots clinched an eighth consecutive AFC East title and a seventh consecutive first-round bye in the playoffs, both NFL records. On December 20, 2016, Brady was named to the Pro Bowl for the eighth straight season and 12th time overall. Brady ended the regular season with 28 passing touchdowns and only two interceptions for the regular season, breaking the previous TD:INT ratio record of Nick Foles's 27:2 figure set in 2013 with the Philadelphia Eagles. Brady was named to the AP All-Pro Second Team. Brady was also ranked first on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2017 as the best player in the league, becoming the first player to be named as #1 twice since the listing began.
On February 25, 2013, Brady and the Patriots agreed on a three-year contract extension, which kept him with the team through 2017. Sportswriter Peter King called it an "amazing" deal and also noted that it reflected Patriots owner Robert Kraft's desire to make sure that Brady retired as a Patriot.
On May 6, 2015, the NFL published a 243-page report regarding the deflation of footballs used in the previous season's AFC Championship Game. The report concluded that, more likely than not, Brady was at least generally aware of the intentional deflation. On May 11, Brady was suspended for four games by the NFL for his involvement based on "substantial and credible evidence" that Brady knew Patriots employees were deflating footballs and that he was uncooperative with the investigators. That day, Troy Vincent—NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations—penned a letter to Brady that stated in part: "Your actions as set forth in the report clearly constitute conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of professional football." Brady, through the NFL Players Association, appealed the suspension on May 14.
On May 12, 2017, Brady was announced as the cover athlete for Madden NFL 18. In a CBS interview on May 17, Charlie Rose asked Brady's wife, Gisele Bündchen, if she wanted Brady to retire, despite the fact that he was playing at a high level. Bündchen mentioned that Brady suffered from a concussion in 2016, saying, "I mean he has concussions pretty much every—I mean we don't talk about—but he does have concussions. I don't really think it's a healthy thing for anybody to go through.” Following the Bündchen interview, the NFL released a statement: "We have reviewed all reports relating to Tom Brady from the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants and certified athletic trainer spotters who worked at Patriots' home and away 2016 season games as well as club injury reports that were sent to the league office. There are no records that indicate that Mr. Brady suffered a head injury or concussion, or exhibited or complained of concussion symptoms. Today we have been in contact with the NFLPA and will work together to gather more information from the club's medical staff and Mr. Brady". Brady's agent, Don Yee, said that Brady was not diagnosed with a concussion during the 2016 season.
On January 20, 2016, Brady announced the launch of his peak performance website TB12Sports.com. The site features Brady's training regimen information and includes a store to purchase TB12 equipment and merchandise. Later in the year, on August 23, 2016, the TB12 brand then expanded to offer a snack line. The snacks contain raw, vegan, and organic ingredients that are also free of gluten and dairy. The following month, Brady, alongside Boston Private and Robert Paul Properties, announced the formation of the TB12 Foundation. The purpose of the nonprofit foundation is to provide free post-injury rehabilitation care and training to underprivileged young athletes. In March 2017, Brady moved beyond his snack line and partnered with meal-kit startup Purple Carrot to offer his line of TB12 Performance Meals. The meals utilize whole foods and focus on providing nutrients for workout recovery. On September 19, 2017, Simon & Schuster published Brady's first book The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance. Within 48 hours, it had become a number one best-seller on Amazon.com. The book also reached No. 1 on The New York Times' weekly Best Sellers list, to be featured in the edition of October 8, 2017.
On February 29, 2016, Brady signed a two-year contract extension covering the 2018 and 2019 seasons. On March 3, the NFL appealed Judge Richard M. Berman's 2015 decision to vacate Brady's four-game suspension as punishment for his alleged role in the Deflategate scandal. At the hearing, the three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit questioned Players Association lawyer Jeffrey L. Kessler and NFL lawyer Paul Clement, with Circuit Judge Denny Chin stating that "the evidence of ball tampering is compelling, if not overwhelming."
Brady is a friend of former President Donald Trump; in 2017, Brady indicated he had known Trump "for 16 years". At a political event in New Hampshire on the day before the 2016 presidential election, Trump said he had received a call from Brady, and that Brady told him "Donald, I support you, you're my friend, and I voted for you." However, after his wife was asked directly on Instagram whether she and Brady backed Trump, Bündchen answered "NO!" After a Trump campaign "Make America Great Again" cap was photographed in Brady's locker, Brady said that Bündchen told him to not discuss politics anymore, which he thought was a "good decision". Brady did not join the New England Patriots in visiting Trump at the White House in April 2017 after their Super Bowl victory, citing "personal family matters".
In 2018, he endorsed Republican Helen Brady (no relation) for State Auditor of Massachusetts.
Brady holds nearly every major quarterback record, including most career passing yards, completions, touchdown passes, and games started. He is the NFL leader in career quarterback wins, quarterback regular season wins, quarterback playoff wins, and Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, as well as being the only Super Bowl MVP for two different franchises. Additional accolades held by Brady include the most Pro Bowl selections and the first unanimous NFL MVP. The only quarterback to win a Super Bowl in three separate decades, Brady is also noted for the longevity of his success. He was the oldest NFL MVP at age 40, the oldest Super Bowl MVP at age 43, and the oldest quarterback selected to the Pro Bowl at age 44. Brady is the only NFL quarterback named to two all-decade teams (2000s and 2010s) and was unanimously named to the 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019.
On August 4, 2019, Brady signed a two-year contract extension worth $70 million through the 2021 season; the terms of the contract allowed Brady to become a free agent after the 2019 season. Against the 2019 Patriots salary cap, Brady was the highest-paid player on the team at $21.5 million. Belichick was unwilling to offer a longer-term deal that Brady sought.
After playing college football at the University of Michigan, Brady was selected 199th overall by the Patriots in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, later earning him a reputation as the NFL's biggest draft steal. He became the starting quarterback during his second season, which saw the Patriots win their first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXVI. As the team's primary starter for 18 seasons, Brady led the Patriots to 17 division titles (including 11 consecutive from 2009 to 2019), 13 AFC Championship Games (including eight consecutive from 2011 to 2018), nine Super Bowl appearances, and six Super Bowl titles, all NFL records for a player and franchise. He joined the Buccaneers in 2020 and won Super Bowl LV, extending his individual records to ten Super Bowl appearances and seven victories. Beginning in 2024, Brady will be the lead color commentator for NFL on Fox.
Brady has participated in The Match—an exhibition and charity golf event featuring professional golfers and other athletes—in 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Filmmaker Gotham Chopra filmed Brady during the 2017 off-season and regular season for a Facebook Watch documentary series entitled Tom vs Time. According to The New York Times, the documentary follows Brady as he "conducts his ongoing subversion campaign against the actuarial tables of quarterback longevity." He launched a production company, 199 Productions, in 2020.
When Brady signed with Tampa Bay in 2020, the team had not reached the postseason since 2007 and had not won a playoff game since 2002. Brady helped end both droughts en route to the Buccaneers winning Super Bowl LV. During the 2021 season, he set the season record for completions and led the league in passing yards and touchdowns. His passing yards during the season were also a career-high. In his final season, despite finishing with a losing record for the first time in his career, Brady broke his single-season completion record and set the season record for attempts. One of the NFL's most decorated and accomplished players, Brady is widely cited as the greatest quarterback of all time. He is likewise considered one of NFL's greatest players of all time and one of the greatest athletes in sports history.
On March 17, 2020, the day before his contract with the Patriots expired, Brady announced that he would not re-sign with the team for the 2020 season, ending his 20-year tenure in New England. After Brady signed with Tampa Bay, billboards thanking Brady for his services were posted alongside the Massachusetts Turnpike, a mile from Gillette Stadium, and ten other locations around New England.
Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on March 20, 2020. The two-year contract was worth $50 million in fully guaranteed money, with up to $4.5 million each year in incentives. The deal also included a no-trade and a no-franchise tag clause. Although his career number of 12 was assigned to Chris Godwin, Godwin offered it to Brady as a sign of respect and switched his number to 14. In April 2020, Brady was reunited with former Patriots teammate Rob Gronkowski when the tight end came out of retirement and was traded to the Buccaneers. Head coach Bruce Arians stated that it was Brady who was adamant for the team to trade for Gronkowski.
In an interview with Howard Stern on The Howard Stern Show in April 2020, Brady explained that Trump had reached out to him to speak at the 2016 Republican National Convention, and that he declined, saying, "It was uncomfortable for me because you can't undo things, not that I would undo a friendship, but political support is totally different than the support of a friend." He said that he has known Trump since 2001 and that Trump asked him to be a judge in the Miss USA pageant, after Brady led the Patriots to victory in Super Bowl XXXVI. Brady explained that Trump used to come to Patriots games and would call him and golf with him occasionally. However, Brady said that he did not see the benefit of getting involved in an event as polarizing as a presidential election. Brady reiterated in 2022 that he had not spoken with Trump in "years" and that his relationship with Trump had been mischaracterized by the media.
Brady and his family previously resided in the Boston suburb of Brookline, Massachusetts during his playing career with the Patriots, as well as New York City. They own several homes together and spend time during the summer at the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana, and at their home at Silo Ridge in Amenia, New York. When Brady signed with the Buccaneers, he rented a mansion in Tampa, Florida, owned by retired baseball player and former Miami Marlins owner Derek Jeter. In December 2020, Brady and Bündchen reportedly bought a home in Indian Creek, Florida.
Also in 2021, Brady, among other high-profile athletes and celebrities, was a paid spokesperson for FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange. In November 2022, FTX filed for bankruptcy, wiping out billions of dollars in customer funds and Brady's stake in the company. He, alongside other spokespeople, is currently being sued for promoting unregistered securities through a class-action lawsuit. In February 2022, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a lawsuit against Bitconnect that the Securities Act of 1933 extends to targeted solicitation using social media. In 2023, it was reported Tom Brady owned 1,144,861 common shares in FTX, and he and his wife lost an estimated combined value of $45 million when FTX went bankrupt.
Brady announced his retirement on February 1, 2022, after 22 seasons. In Brady's first two years with Tampa, the Buccaneers posted a regular season record of 24–9, which were the two most successful back-to-back seasons in franchise history. Their 13–4 regular season record in 2021 was the best result in franchise history, eclipsing the 12–4 record of the 2002 Super Bowl winning team. Prior to Brady's arrival, the franchise had an all-time playoff record of 6–9; at the time of Brady's retirement, the all-time playoff record for Tampa Bay stood at 11–10. He was ranked first by his fellow players on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2022, his fourth time being ranked first.
In 2021, Brady and Richard Rosenblatt co-founded a sports-based NFT platform called Autograph. Autograph reached a deal with DraftKings for exclusive distribution on Autograph's sports products, creating the DraftKings Marketplace. In January 2021, Autograph announced it raised $170M in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins.
On February 11, 2021, it was revealed that Brady had knee discomfort through most of the 2020 season and would require a minor arthroscopy for a routine cleanup. Brady signed a one-year contract extension through the 2022 season with the Buccaneers on March 12, 2021. On July 15, it was revealed that Brady had a torn MCL in the knee that had to undergo surgery, an injury that had plagued him for the entire 2020 season. The NFL declined to comment on the Buccaneers' failure to disclose this injury.
Brady and his family adhere to his controversial, strict diet, the TB12 Method. He advocates a daily water intake in ounces of half of one's body weight in pounds and personally consumes "a couple hundred ounces" daily. He avoids most fruits, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, coffee, Gatorade, white sugar, flour, gluten, dairy, soda, cereal, white rice, potatoes, and bread. In 2022 Brady said he prefers a diet consisting of organic food saying, "You've got to see the process of food being grown [...] If I need nutrients, I need that from soil."
While there has been speculation that Brady would run for political office, in a 2015 interview he stated he had no interest in doing so. He reiterated in 2022 that he would avoid a political career because, "I don't think anyone's fond of politics these days."
On March 13, 2022, just 40 days after initially announcing his retirement, Brady announced he would return to the Buccaneers for the 2022 season. In the Buccaneers' season-opening game against the Dallas Cowboys, Brady became the oldest quarterback to start a game in NFL history. In Week 3 against the Green Bay Packers, Brady became the first quarterback in NFL history to reach 85,000 career passing yards. Brady and the Buccaneers lost in Weeks 6, 7, and 8, dropping the team to 3–5. It was the first three-game losing streak for Brady since his 2002 season with the Patriots.
On May 10, 2022, Fox Sports announced that following Brady's playing career, he would join the network as the lead color commentator. Brady's deal with Fox will reportedly pay him $375 million over 10 years, making Brady the highest paid sports commentator in history, eclipsing the $18 million per year ESPN was reportedly paying to Troy Aikman. A week later, Netflix announced that Brady will be featured in a series of upcoming specials called "Greatest Roasts of All Time: GROAT." Brady is the executive producer of the series.
In October 2022, the couple announced on Instagram that they had finalized a divorce, ending 13 years of marriage. Brady and Bündchen's marriage had been the subject of various tabloid rumors and speculation earlier in the year after Brady came out of retirement and Bündchen voiced her concern about the violent nature of football on Brady's long-term health.
On February 1, 2023, Brady announced on social media he was retiring, "for good". He would file his retirement papers to the NFL and NFLPA nine days later, making him eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame starting in 2028.
On March 23, 2023, Brady purchased a minority stake in the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA from the team's majority owner Mark Davis.
On May 11, 2023, Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced on NFL Network's Good Morning Football that the franchise would officially honor Brady with a homecoming appearance during the Patriots' week one game of the 2023 season, which will include a special halftime ceremony. Kraft also stated that "it will be the beginning of many celebrations to honor [Brady] and say thank you for what he did for us in 20 years playing for the [Patriots]."