Tom Brady traveled to be Mexico and participated in a special event called ‘Exma 2023 Heroes and Doers’. During an interview with famous journalist, Antonio de Valdes, the former quarterback of the Patriots was asked if, after his retirement from the NFL, he liked to be called the greatest player of all time.
“The answer is no. I don’t. I never had any real attachment to that. I never wanted to be better than anyone else. I just wanted to be the best I could be. I wanted my team to beat the other teams. That’s for sure. In never thought about, ‘Hey, I want to be better than Peyton Manning. I want to be better than Brett Favre.’ Those guys were incredible. Those guys were unbelievable.”
Furthermore, the legend of the New England Patriots dedicated a very special message to Peyton Manning. Undoubtedly, the star of the Indianapolis Colts was a role model for him.
“After every season, you know what I did? I studied Peyton Manning, because he was the guy that I looked up to. He was my archrival. He was my nemesis. He was the guy that always kept me and our team from where we wanted to go. I studied him, because I thought he was so great.”
Tom Brady explains the great influence of Peyton Manning in his career
According to Tom Brady, Peyton Manning was crucial for him in the NFL. As the road to the Super Bowl always went through New England or Indianapolis, it was a rivalry for the ages.
“He was so great that I tried to look at their plays, see how they were running plays and try to bring them into our own offense. Because they were so prolific. I looked at all the great players around the league and the quarterback to try and learn something from them. We’re never too old to learn.”
Tom Brady and the new generation of quarterbacks
In this debate of greatest quarterback of all time, Patrick Mahomes is probably the heir of Tom Brady’s greatness. The seven-time Super Bowl champion also spoke about it.
“I still looked at a lot of young players. I couldn’t do a lot of things they were doing, but I tried some of the thing they did. I tried to throw the ball a little bit more like Aaron Rodgers. I tried to throw that sideline delivery like Patrick Mahomes. We can all learn from people a little older or little younger.”
Will Tom Brady come out of retirement?
The answer is no. Just a few months ago, Tom Brady officially announced his retirement from the NFL. Following a very disappointing season with the Buccaneers, the 45-year old quarterback said goodbye and this time there’s no turning back.
“I’m retiring. For good. I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so, I won’t be long-winded. You only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year. So, really thank you guys so much for supporting me.”
After his college career at Michigan, Tom Brady was selected by the Patriots with the famous 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. When Drew Bledsoe got injured, Brady received the opportunity by head coach Bill Belichick and the rest is history. Six Super Bowls won with New England and one more with Tampa to become the greatest player ever.