Tom Brady - Injury History

What You Need to Know:

• Brady will be 45 when the coming season begins. George Blanda is the only QB to ever play beyond that age to date. He accumulated 116 passing yards and 2 TDs on 7-of-22 passing across 3 seasons starting with his age-45 campaign.
• Pointing out the unprecedented nature of what Brady’s doing at this point isn’t all that relevant to projecting the Bucs QB. He has spent his career achieving unprecedented things. But it’s still at least worth noting.
• Brady merely beat the best previous age-44 passing numbers last year by 547 attempts, 4,364 yards and 37 TDs.
• Brady led the NFL in attempts, completions, passing yards and passing TDs in his 2nd season with the Bucs. Last year also marked just the 2nd time in his career that he has reached 6% passing-TD rate in consecutive seasons.
• Among 35 QBs with 200+ dropbacks last year, Brady ranked 2nd in Pro Football Focus passing grade.
• His adjusted completion rate checked in just 13th, but Brady delivered his best mark in that category since 2016 and 2nd best since 2010.
• Brady finished 8th in passer rating and 2nd in QBR.
• His average depth of target dipped by 1.6 vs. 2020. Brady’s 9.8-yard ADOT in his 1st Tampa Bay season was the 2nd-deepest number of his career, trailing only 2003. His 8.2 of last season ranked only 13th among Brady seasons.
• Brady’s average time to throw also dipped slightly, but PFF still graded Tampa Bay 5th-best in pass-blocking last season.
• The Bucs lost LG Ali Marpet to retirement this offseason but imported G Shaq Mason via free agency. Mason played with Brady for 5 years in New England. They also paid up to retain C Ryan Jensen in free agency.
• WR Chris Godwin – who led the 2021 Bucs in targets despite missing the final 3 games – tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee on Dec. 19. His return will bear watching through summer.
• The Bucs signed WR Russell Gage in free agency.
• As of this writing, Rob Gronkowski has not yet re-signed. Brady gave no insight into whether his buddy will return when asked about the subject in early June.

Draft Sharks Bottom Line:

Brady led the NFL in pass attempts last season because no team passed at a higher rate than the Buccaneers. Despite Bruce Arians’ departure and Chris Godwin’s knee injury, the offense appears similarly built. Tampa imported WR Russell Gage in free agency and spent a 3rd-round pick on RB Rachaad White, who stood out most for his receiving production among this year’s RB class. Brady showed no signs of reaching a cliff at 44, so there’s little reason to believe he’ll crash this season. The questions about Godwin and TE Rob Gronkowski (currently unsigned) add some downside risk. But his low-QB1 ADP accounts for that. Brady’s a decent option in that range.