NFL 100: At No. 1, Tom Brady — ‘He’s the winner of all winners’

Welcome to the NFL 100, The Athletic’s endeavor to identify the 100 best players in football history. You can order the book version here. Today, the two-month-long project reaches its conclusion as we crown the No. 1 player.

Julian Edelman had never seen the board.

During the 2013 offseason, he uncovered Tom Brady’s greatest source of motivation. The teammates had been working out together in Los Angeles when Edelman saw a prominently displayed whiteboard in Brady’s home gym, scripted with a sole objective.

“Super Bowl XLVIII: Feb. 2, 2014, MetLife Stadium.”

At the time, Brady had three Super Bowl rings — modest, by his standard. That’s because Brady’s standard, as Edelman would find out in that moment, was well beyond the scope of anything he could imagine.

“Bro, how crazy is it that you’re going after Montana?” Edelman asked Brady.

“I ain’t going for Montana,” Brady responded with an unmistakable air of confidence. “I’m going for Jordan.”

For as long as anyone can remember, Brady has kept a Super Bowl countdown clock in each of his home gyms — Brookline, Mass., L.A. and now Tampa — as a way to remind himself of his eternal sacrifice. It’s been said the boards have been updated as early as the day after each year’s Super Bowl.

New year, new mission. Same chase.

It’s why Brady has a daily routine that makes other hard workers feel insufficient, why he sticks to a diet that many mock, why he pushes pliability over strength training, why he begins to scout his next opponent before even leaving the parking lot where he played that day’s game.

When Edelman first uncovered the whiteboard, Brady was nearing the end of a decade-long Super Bowl title drought. He didn’t ultimately match Joe Montana’s fourth ring that year at MetLife Stadium, but Brady persisted.

He updated the board. Year after year. Championship after championship.

Now?

“Super Bowl LVI: Feb. 13, 2022, SoFi Stadium.”

Now?

Seven titles and counting.

Now?

Michael Jordan — and his six rings — are in the rearview mirror.

“And he’s got a damn good chance, he might mess around and get No. 8 this year,” said Ty Law, a Hall of Famer who was Brady’s teammate for three titles in New England from 2001 to 2004. “When you talk about GOATs and the legends of the league, the alpha GOAT, that’s Tom Brady. That’s the alpha GOAT, and there should be no debate about it. He’s in the same breath as when you talk about Michael Jordan, LeBron, Wayne Gretzky. When you’re talking about the Mount Rushmore of sports, Tom Brady’s face is up there.”

Tom Brady in Super Bowl LV. (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)

The 44-year-old has more Super Bowl victories than any franchise, and there’s no mystery to his success. The drive for each Lombardi Trophy has consumed every moment of his life.

Rob Gronkowski got a taste of it during the 2014 offseason as he recovered from a torn ACL that kept him out of the playoffs.

“(Brady) knew he was going for it back in the day,” Gronkowski said of the Super Bowl record. “When I got injured, he wished I was out there in the playoffs, and he was excited for me to come back the following year. He was like, ‘You owe me a couple more Super Bowls.’ I’m like, ‘Why is that?’ He’s like, ‘Because you got injured this year. I need you out there.’ I’m like, man, this guy is incredible. He’s excited to have his teammates out there and to get to Super Bowls year in and year out.

“And it wasn’t like one Super Bowl. It was Super Bowls. Because I got hurt one year and couldn’t finish out the season. It clicked in my head. I was like, ‘I do, for sure.’”

Brady and Gronkowski have won four rings together since that conversation.

Brady’s whiteboard is as legendary as it is symbolic. He doesn’t need to be reminded of the date of the Super Bowl any more than he needs to remember to breathe.

It’s merely a glimpse into what makes him tick.

Brady didn’t become the greatest player in NFL history — a spot punctuated by his perch atop The Athletic’s NFL 100 — just because of a peripheral desire. That drive consumed him.

“It’s his inner soul,” Edelman said. “It’s his competitiveness. It’s his ability to go out and stay motivated year in and year out without letting acknowledgments, winning, adversity affect him. It’s unreal. It’s a killer instinct.

“When you hear about people talk about Michael Jordan, how competitive he was, Tom is just like that. Those special, special people have the chemical makeup for greatness, and that’s what Tom Brady has.”

On the eve of Super Bowl XLIX, as the Patriots walked through their final preparations for the Seahawks, Brady and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels anticipated an added dose of man-coverage looks as they got closer to the goal line. So they added a new play design — one they never got a chance to practice.

It nearly worked the first time. With the Patriots trailing 24-14 midway through the fourth quarter, Edelman was singled up against cornerback Tharold Simon at the 4-yard line and broke loose on an in-and-out route, but Brady’s throw was high and incomplete.

“After the one we didn’t complete,” Edelman said, “Tom gave me that big deep breath and that, ‘My bad, bro.’ You could tell that hurt him. I remember sitting next to him (between possessions), and him saying, ‘We’re getting a lot of man coverage. I’m going to come back to you, babe. We’re going to get that again.’

“His attitude and his charisma right before those big drives – growing up, you heard about how Joe Montana was always so calm, cool and collected. Tom was calm, cool and collected, but he had a fierce (look) in his eye. You saw that killer instinct in his eye.”

Brady indeed called the play again on the next series, and he connected with Edelman for the winning touchdown.

Tom Brady and Julian Edelman won three Super Bowls together in New England. (Harry How / Getty Images)

Brady’s 230 regular-season victories are the most ever. His 34 playoff wins more than double Montana’s mark for the most all time. He’s a three-time MVP, including the first to win it unanimously. He is the all-time leader in passing touchdowns (581) and will set the record for passing yards this season, barring injury. And he has played in 10 Super Bowls during his 19 seasons as a full-time starter.

There’s been so much history between his first confetti shower – when a still-green 24-year-old had the “aww, shucks” gaze of disbelief as he clasped his hands to his head – and the last, when the 43-year-old raised the Lombardi with the assuredness of a gladiator and his sword.

“That’s just confidence,” Edelman said. “That confidence isn’t false confidence. That confidence is earned confidence.”

There were the records, the comebacks and the iconic moments. It was the Snow Bowl, the drive against the Rams in New Orleans and the duels with Peyton Manning. It was the defiance of time, be it 28-3 or the postseason masterpieces against a (much) younger Patrick Mahomes.

It’s not supposed to look this easy. But that’s because Brady handles the difficult stuff out of sight.

“It’s his competitiveness and determination,” Gronkowski said. “It’s his commitment. It’s not just his commitment to the game. It’s his commitment to himself, his discipline, taking care of himself, eating the right way, getting the body treatment. That’s hard to do, no doubt about it. It may look easy because it’s him doing it. But to be just as good as you were the day before, and be able to recover and wing it again the next day, it’s not easy to do. That’s why the average NFL career is 3.5 years. You’ve got to figure out a system to be ready to go the next day or the next game. He’s mastered that to a T. He’s 44 and still doing it. That’s what makes him so great.”

So many have marveled along the way.

Former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia: “You just stand there (on the sideline) and say, ‘Wow, this guy is really good.’ He’s had the kind of career that no one has ever had.”

Former Patriots defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel: “When you talk about what he’s been able to do in his career, I don’t know that anyone will be able to do it again.”

Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians: “He’s a winner. Everywhere he goes, he wins. He’s not the biggest, fastest, all that stuff, but he’s the winner of all winners. He has a burning desire in him to compete at 44 like most 24-year-olds.”

Law: “Look, I’m in the (Hall of Fame) club, and I’ve still got to pinch myself to this day. But if there is any time that you bend the rules, you do that for Tom Brady. Give him his gold jacket while he’s still playing. That’s how great, that’s how dominant he’s been.”

It’s gotten to the point that Brady is the undisputed greatest of all time. And it’s playing out in real time, with Brady maintaining his stranglehold on the NFL.

Tom Brady has pursued this title for so long, crossing the likes of Joe Montana and Michael Jordan off his list.

What’s left for him to do?

“It’s something,” Law said, “we’ll probably never see again in our lifetime.”

But it feels inevitable that others will create their own version of the whiteboard, and Brady’s name will be at the top.

So again, what’s left for Brady to do — why, at his age and as the greatest ever, is he still playing? He’s padding the lead.

Tom Brady didn’t spend a lifetime chasing this title just to give it back.

(Top illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)