Fans Give The Nod To The G.O.A.T
The 2021 Premier Player of Professional Football Trophy winner is Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady.
Part of me just wants to write the word GOAT and leave it at that, but that would be doing a disservice to the astonishing excellence of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. over the course of a career that – at this point – feels like it began around the same time as the dawn of the Super Bowl era. There is little to be said about Brady that hasn’t been said already – or you could alternatively just point to an NFL quarterback record book and not need to say any words at all – but the fact that Brady has won this award for his 2021 play at the age of 44 is just incredible.
Brady was exceptional in leading the Bucs to a 13-4 record in 2021. He finished the regular season with 485 completions on 719 passing attempts for 5,316 yards and 43 touchdowns. The Bucs are the No. 2 seed in the NFC because of Brady’s play to big-name playmakers to the unknowns. Brady broke Drew Brees record of most completions ever in a season and became just the third quarterback since 1991 (Peyton Manning in 2018 and Brees in 2013) to lead the league in all four major passing statistical categories. Brady also added a pair of rushing touchdowns.
Brady is basically defying Father Time at this point in his career, and defying doesn’t even feel like a strong enough word for what he is doing. Again, this Premier Player is 44 years old, so for some reason, the Bucs decided to lean on him more than ever before. He led the league with 751 dropbacks – increases to almost 800 with nullified plays taken into account – and he did so while seeing every single one of his top targets missing chunks of time through injury. A player that didn’t miss time through injury?
Tom Brady!
Brady’s skill and longevity also saw him hit several career milestones this season. A five-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski (who else could it have been) in the second quarter of a Week 14 game against the Bills captured his 7,143rd regular-season NFL pass completion. That took this record away from Brees and, depending on how long Brady plays on, it will be out of sight by the end of his illustrious career. Brady also became the first quarterback to reach the 700-touchdown plateau. The next highest active quarterback for touchdown passes is Aaron Rodgers. He is over 200 touchdowns behind Brady.
Tom Brady is a marvel. He is the perfect example of what hard work and a commitment to success can bring. Soak in his talent for as long as he continues to play because we may never see another Premier Player like him again.
Article by Premier Players Steve Wright