Pictured Above: Mark Parker is a senior mass communications major.
Courtesy of Mark Parker
By Mark Parker
While Tom Brady has put up some incredible numbers over his 20-year career, the reason he is widely considered the best quarterback to chuck a pigskin is due to his seven championships.
Seven championships is more than any franchise has won in the 55 years of the Super Bowl.
Similar to how it works in the world of rock stars, success in the NFL brings turnover. Lesser known players look for a big raise and their time in the spotlight. Players that were already stars look to break the bank as championship-winning superstars.
This is a big reason NFL teams rarely win it all in consecutive years. In the last 55 years, only seven teams were able to accomplish this feat. The most recent team to go back to back was in 2003-2004, and was – you guessed it – Tom Brady’s New England Patriots.
This is because, unlike every other player of his magnitude, Brady has happily and repeatedly signed team-friendly contracts.
This offseason with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was no different. On March 12, right before the start of the league’s free agency period, Brady posted a picture of himself signing his new, restructured contract that will keep him in Tampa until 2022, and save the Bucs $19 million against their salary cap.
“In pursuit of 8… LFG @ Buccaneers we’re keeping the band together,” he tweeted.
One of the Bucs’ high profile free agents, defensive star Shaq Barrett, immediately tweeted back “Yessir.”
Thanks to Brady saving them $19 million off of his previous deal, the Bucs were able to re-sign fellow defensive stalwart Lavonte David and place the franchise tag on star wide receiver Chris Godwin, and still have money to pay free agents such as Barrett and Rob Gronkowski.
Sure enough, Barrett was able to secure his bag at four years and $68 million just days after Brady took a pay cut.
A championship winning team that is able to not only re-sign all of its established veterans, but also its up and coming stars is simply not heard of in today’s NFL. That is unless Brady is behind center taking snaps.
CBS Sports graded the Bucs’ free agency period an “A,” while calling it a “minor miracle” that they were able to re-sign their most important pieces.
A minor miracle, or Brady doing Brady things?
This is just another reason why Brady is the greatest of all time. He has achieved the pinnacle of his profession individually, and now does all he can to make sure his teammates and organization can achieve that same success.
It defies belief that no other quarterbacks have picked up on this. Sure, it may cost you some money in the short run, but so can bleeding your team dry. A good quarterback can look awfully bad when he does not have an offensive line to protect him, good receivers to throw to and a solid defense to preserve a lead.
A couple of bad years due to poor team construction can completely derail a quarterback’s career. That big payday does not mean much if you are cut or traded or reduced to being a backup in a couple of years.
Football is the ultimate team sport, and Brady is the ultimate team player.
Not to mention success breeds success, both in professional football and regular life.
This reminds me of one of my favorite sayings. While overused and possibly cliché, it still rings true and is important to remember in life:
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Courtesy of Tom Brady on Twitter
