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

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.