Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today we are really
getting into it with, well, arguably the defining
figure of American pro football success, Tom
Brady. Absolutely. Seven Super Bowl titles. I
mean, a 23 season career. It's staggering. It
really is. And our mission here is to go. you
know beyond just the highlights the wins right
and really understand the context some of those
early struggles which might surprise you and
uh what's driving him now post playing and i
think it's crucial you have to start at the beginning
because the core of his story maybe still is
that he was the ultimate underdog okay let's
definitely unpack that that single fact that
just blows people's minds even now yeah the 2000
nfl draft he goes 199th overall Sixth round.
Sixth round. I mean, people call it the biggest
draft steal in NFL history. And it's hard to
argue, isn't it? No argument here. It completely
changed how teams thought about finding quarterbacks.
And that set up, what, 20 seasons with the Patriots?
Then those final three really interesting years
with Tampa Bay. And, yes, seven rings total.
But before the NFL, even getting on the field
at Michigan, that was a battle in itself. Our
sources show his time there, 95 to 99, was, well,
tough. Oh, incredibly tough. He shows up. finds
himself seventh on the death chart. Seventh.
Wow. And the sources, they really detail the
anxiety. He was actually thinking seriously about
transferring out. So it wasn't guaranteed he'd
even stick with football at that level. Not at
all. And that's where you see the mental side
starting to develop. He leaned heavily on a sports
psychologist, worked weekly with Greg Harden,
the assistant AD, just building confidence. So
that grit was there early. Absolutely. It paid
off. Once he finally got the starting job, he
went 20 and 5. Solid record. And that Orange
Bowl. The 2000 Orange Bowl against Alabama, that
feels like classic Brady before he was Brady.
Exactly. Down 14 points twice, leads them back,
wins it in overtime. That comeback kid thing,
it started right there, way before the NFL knew
him. Okay, so he gets drafted, lands in New England
in 2000, and basically disappears for a year.
Pretty much. Fourth string QB. Completed, what,
one pass all season? One pass, six yards. Basically
a ghost, statistically. Just waiting for a chance,
you know? Until week two, 2001. Drew Bledsoe
takes that massive hit from Mo Lewis, internal
bleeding, he's out. And suddenly, Brady's in.
Was it genius planning by the Patriots? Probably
more like depth chart necessity, right? Right,
just next man up, but he grabs that chance. He
really does. Goes 11 -3 as the starter, makes
the Pro Bowl that year. Just phenomenal. But
then the playoffs arrive, and boom, controversy.
Right away. Yeah, sets the tone, doesn't it?
The tuck rule game against the Raiders. Okay.
Refresh this quickly. What was the core issue
there? Why is it still debated? Well, the nutshell
version is Brady looks like he fumbles the ball
late in the game, potentially ending it. Right.
Raiders recover. Game over. But the refs review
it, and based on the tuck rule at the time, the
rule his arm was moving forward, making it an
incomplete pass, not a fumble. Ah, the tuck.
Got it. Kept the drive alive. Patriots win. Head
to the Super Bowl. It was... divisive. Super
Bowl, EPSA 66. They're huge underdogs, 14 points
against the Rams, the greatest show on turf.
And this is where you see that clutch gene again.
Game tied, clock winding down. Most people, even
John Madden on the broadcast, are saying, play
for overtime. Just run out the clock, yeah. But
Brady, no. Leaves them right down the field,
calm, precise. Sets up Adam Vinatieri for that
38 -yard field goal. Bang! Win. And he's, what,
24 years old? 24. Youngest QB ever to win a Super
Bowl at that point. The dynasty had officially
begun. And that dynasty, it just dominated the
sport for, what, almost two decades? The numbers
are kind of mind -boggling. They really are.
17 division titles with him, under center for
the Patriots, six Super Bowl wins during that
span. Yeah. In the salary cap era, that kind
of sustained success. It's almost unthinkable.
What made it work for so long? Was it just him?
Belichick. It was a complex dynamic, wasn't it?
You had Brady's individual brilliance, obviously,
three NFL MVPs, that first ever unanimous MVP
in 2010. Right. And the 2007 season going 16
on the regular season. Just perfection. But it
was also the system, the ability to adapt, often
fueled by this internal tension, maybe, that
us against the world thing. Which brings us to
the controversies. And we have to touch on Deflate
Jade. We'll stick to the facts reported in our
sources here. Keep it neutral. Okay. So after
the 2015 AFC Championship game, the investigation
happens. The report comes out 243 pages and finds
it was more likely than not Brady was, quote,
generally aware of footballs being intentionally
deflated. And the league suspends him. Four games.
Commissioner Goodell upholds it on appeal. specifically
citing that Brady destroyed his cell phone, which
they felt hindered the investigation. Which led
to this whole legal battle, right? Federal court,
appeals court. Huge back and forth. A judge initially
overturned the suspension, but then an appeals
court reinstated it. Eventually, Brady just accepted
it, sat out the first four games of the 2016
season. But the story didn't really end there,
did it? There were later reports questioning
the whole thing. Exactly. Years later, 2022,
Mike Florio reported allegations suggesting the
NFL might have... maybe fudge some data or hid
information. The claim was that most of the Patriots'
footballs were actually within the expected pressure
range, according to the ideal gas law. So the
science itself became part of the debate. It
highlights how messy and maybe politically charged
it all was. And for Brady, you could argue it
just hardened that resolve, that chip on his
shoulder. And the proof was kind of on the field
that very next Super Bowl, wasn't it? Super Bowl
hell -eye against Atlanta. Oh, absolutely. That
game is maybe the ultimate Brady performance,
down 28 -3. 28 -3. Mid -third quarter, it looked
completely over. And he just engineers the biggest
comeback in Super Bowl history, forces the first
-ever Super Bowl overtime, wins it 34 -28, just
refused to lose. That's the definition of clutch.
So after 20 years, the Patriots' dynasty finally
ends. He leaves in 2020. Big shock. Signs with
Tampa Bay. Massive move. Huge guaranteed contract.
Two years, $50 million. And it felt like a statement,
didn't it? Proving he could win without Belichick,
without the Patriot system. And he reunites with
Gronk. Yep, gets Gronk out of retirement. And
wouldn't you know it, first season in Tampa.
Super Bowl LV wins it again. Just incredible.
Takes his total to seven rings. Ten Super Bowl
appearances overall. The numbers just become
astronomical. And he starts setting records tied
to other players too, right? Yeah, he joins Peyton
Manning as the only QBs to win Super Bowls with
two different teams. But crucially, Brady's the
first to win Super Bowl MVP with two different
franchises. Cementing his legacy as independent
of any one team. I think so. And at the same
time, he's just demolishing age records. He was
43 in that Super Bowl win. 43. Oldest QB to start
a Super Bowl, play in one, win one, and be named
MVP. Yay. Defying age completely. Plus, the Bucs
became the first team ever to play the Super
Bowl in their home stadium. A nice little bonus.
Right. Everything just clicked that year. And
the physical aspect is stunning, too. We learned
later he wasn't even fully healthy that season.
Yeah, sources revealed he played their entire
2020 championship season on a torn MCL. Needed
surgery right after the Super Bowl. Which just
loops back to that mental toughness you mentioned
from his Michigan days. Absolutely. And he didn't
slow down. The next year, 2021, at age 44, he
leads the entire NFL in passing yards. Oldest
ever to do that. Just kept pushing the boundaries.
Then came the brief retirement. 40 days. 40 days.
Then he's back for the 2022 season, his final
season. And that last season is, well, it's kind
of paradox, isn't it? It really is fascinating
because individually, he's still putting up huge
volume, set single season records for completions,
pass attempts, breaks Peyton Manning's record
for career game winning drives, just massive
output. But the team results. They finished 8
-9. It was actually his first losing season ever
as a starting quarterback. Wow. After all that
winning. It's a really interesting insight, maybe,
into the limits of longevity, even for the GOAT.
Mack's individual effort doesn't always equal
team success anymore, perhaps. But he still retires,
holding basically every major career passing
record. Yards, completions, touchdowns, wins.
Untouchable numbers, truly. So he retires for
good in 2023. But he's hardly fading away, is
he? The Patriots immediately honored him. Instantly.
They waived the usual waiting period for their
team Hall of Fame. Inducted him in June 2024.
Retires number 12 jersey. Massachusetts even
declared June 12th Tom Brady Day. Proper recognition
for someone who defined that franchise for two
decades. Totally appropriate. And a statue is
coming, too, I think. Yeah, a 12 -foot one in
2025. But he's already pivoted hard into his
next career, media and sports ownership, that
Fox deal. Record -breaking stuff. Yeah. Reportedly
$375 million over 10 years to be their lead NFL
commentator, the highest -paid sports analyst
contract ever. Well, there are strings attached,
right, because of his other ventures. Yeah, it's
interesting. Because he's also pursuing minority
ownership in the Las Vegas Raiders, the NFL put
restrictions on his broadcasting role. He can't.
like access team facilities or talk to coaches
and players in that media capacity during the
season. Trying to keep those lines clear. Exactly.
And that ownership portfolio is growing fast.
He's got stakes in the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces.
Who just won the championship. Right. Also, Birmingham
City Football Club in England, and even an E1
electric boat racing team, Team Brady, which
also won his championship. So he's building this
global sports brand. Diversifying, absolutely.
And of course, there's the TB12 method. His health
and wellness brand. The book was a bestseller.
It's almost as famous as his playing career.
Almost. Known for that very specific diet. No
tomatoes, no mushrooms, no peppers thing. And
other pro athletes have actually adopted parts
of it. It shows his influence extends way beyond
just football strategy. But not all his business
ventures have been smooth sailing. The FTX connection
caused real problems. Yeah, that's a big contrast
to the on -field success. He was a very public
spokesperson for FTX, the crypto exchange. Got
paid a lot for it. Exactly. But then FTX collapses,
files for bankruptcy, and Brady, along with other
celebs, gets named in a class action lawsuit,
accused of promoting unregistered securities.
And he personally lost money, too. Sources report
he and his former wife, Gisele Bundchen, lost
somewhere around a combined $45 million in FTX
shares they held. A really tough outcome from
that endorsement deal. OK, lastly, just to round
out his public profile, we should touch on his
connection to politics, which he generally tried
to keep separate. Right. He's acknowledged a
longstanding friendship with Donald Trump. Going
back to like 2001. But he stayed out of the political
arena itself. Mostly. Yeah. He turned down an
invite to speak at the 2016 Republican National
Convention. He made a point of saying, you know,
supporting a friend is different from political
endorsement. And he eventually just stopped talking
about politics publicly. Yeah. Pretty much after
Gisele publicly stated back then that she didn't
support Trump. It seemed like a deliberate move
to keep his public brand focused on sports and
business. Keep it neutral. Hashtag tag outro.
So when you look back at the whole journey, it's
just this arc of constant adaptation, isn't it?
From that overlooked sixth round pick to the
undisputed GOT, navigating the dynasty, the controversies,
pulling off that second act in Tampa. And now
this shift into being a major media figure and
owner. It really is. The theme is always that
relentless drive, that high volume output. You
know, that leads us back to that fascinating
paradox from his final season. He retires with
all these untouchable records. Yet that last
year, he sets records for attempts and completions,
peak individual volume, but gets his first losing
record. So maybe the provocative thought for
you, the listener, is this. If even Tom Brady,
pushing himself to the absolute max, couldn't
guarantee a winning season in today's NFL at
the end, what does that signal about the real
challenges and maybe the limits of athletic longevity
now? And how will that idea of winning translate
for him as he builds this next empire off the
field.