23 years of Tom Brady: How has the NFL evolved since TB12 entered the league?

Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday after 23 years of representing the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Brady was selected by the New England Patriots with the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft and won a record seven Super Bowls during his storied career. He won six with New England before winning his final Super Bowl with the Buccaneers in 2020.

Brady announced the decision to retire after a disappointing 2022 season, in which he re-joined the Bucs after originally announcing his intention to retire a year ago. Tampa Bay, which won the NFC South despite an 8-9 record, was eliminated by the Dallas Cowboys in the wild-card round in what would be TB12’s final NFL game.

In his 23 years, the league has evolved, with players, teams and officials all passing by as Brady remained ever present from 2000 to 2023.

How has the NFL evolved since Tom Brady entered the league?

For starters, the NFL divisions were completely different when Brady entered the league in 2000. Back then, there were only six divisions: AFC East, AFC West, AFC Central, NFC East, NFC West and NFC Central.

To an avid NFL fan, these divisions look strange, with the AFC Central containing a mammoth six teams and the Seattle Seahawks being a part of the AFC West as opposed to the NFC West as they are in 2022.

For context, see below an image of the division standings during Brady's rookie year.

NFL Division standings during the 2000 season

These divisions remained like this for another two years, until the founding of the Houston Texans in 2002, and the divisions have remained the same ever since.

Tom Brady has been in the league two years longer than the Houston Texans, who have won six AFC South titles and four playoff games.

What rules have changed since Brady entered the NFL?

Many of the rules today simply weren’t around when Brady was drafted in 2000.

In 2002 it became illegal to hit a quarterback helmet-to-helmet during a change of possession, and the horse-collar tackle wasn’t prohibited until 2005.

As well as that, the "Tuck Rule" only came to light after a controversial playoff clash between Brady’s Patriots and the Oakland Raiders in 2001. Raiders cornerback Charles Woodson hit Brady, causing him to fumble the ball, which Oakland recovered. However, after initially ruling it a fumble, the officials reversed the call and New England went on to win in overtime.

According to the NFL Rule 3, Section 22, Article 2, Note 2: When (an offensive) player is holding the ball to pass it forward, any intentional forward movement of his arm starts a forward pass, even if the player loses possession of the ball as he is attempting to tuck it back towards his body. Also, if the player has tucked the ball into his body and then loses possession, it is a fumble.

Despite this rule being in play before Brady was drafted (1999), most NFL fans didn’t have much knowledge of this before – or after this incident.

How has the NFL evolved since Tom Brady entered the league?

Offensive explosion

Since Tom Brady entered the league, offenses have consistently taken their game to the next level.

By 2000, only one quarterback had ever passed for over 5,000 yards – Dan Marino in 1984 – but since then, that’s become the norm. In TB12’s 23 years, there have been 14 quarterbacks who have passed for over 5,000 yards in a season. Brady accomplished this twice, in 2011 and 2021.

While no wide receiver has yet to top 2,000 receiving yards in a season, we have seen some of the best wideouts of all-time during Brady’s 23-year stint in the NFL. Names such as Calvin Johnson, Antonio Brown, Randy Moss and Julio Jones are just some of the wide receivers to leave their marks on the NFL. Brady threw passes to the latter three of them, which can only have helped the wideouts.

The league continues to be in good hands, with more and more elite talent being drafted every year, with studs like Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase taking the NFL by storm week-by-week.

Ageless wonder

Tom Brady has been a part of the NFL furniture for so long that many current players were born after TB12 was drafted by the Patriots in 2000.

Travon Walker, who the Jacksonville Jaguars selected with the first pick of the 2022 draft, was born in December 2000, just months after Brady made his NFL debut.

The 45-year-old has been playing for so long that some of his former teammates have sons playing in the NFL today, such as Asante Samuel, whose son now stars for the Los Angeles Chargers.

Brady’s age hasn’t slowed him down either, as he managed to lead the entire NFL in passing yards and touchdowns in 2021 as a 44-year-old.

Records

It goes without saying that Tom Brady retires as the undisputed GOAT, having won more Super Bowls than any franchise in league history. Not only that, he also holds multiple NFL records, including:

· Most career quarterback wins: 251

· Most career passing attempts: 12,050

· Most career passing completions: 7,753

· Most career passing touchdowns: 649

· Most career passing yards: 89,214

· Most pass completions in a season: 490 (2022)

· Most pass attempts in a season: 733 (2022)

He also retires with three MVPs, seven All-Pro nods and a record 15 Pro Bowl selections.

It’s likely that we will never see a player like Tom Brady again, and he will no doubt be a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.