After 22 seasons in the NFL, Buccaneer Tom Brady announces his retirement with a huge legacy he left behind.

The 44-year-old quarterback announces his retirement this morning on Twitter and posted multiple statements about saying thank you to everyone that supported him throughout the years and was excited about what the future holds after football. Here is one of the tweets he posted.

Brady was born on Aug. 3 1977 in San Mateo, California University of Michigan, and was the youngest and only son of his siblings of three sisters. In his childhood, Brady regularly attended San Francisco 49ers games and watch Joe Montana who is Brady’s idol. When he was four, he watch the 1981 NFC Championship game between the 49ers and Cowboys where Montana threw “The Catch” to Dwight Clark in the right corner of the end zone with 51 seconds left.

While watching the 49ers regularly, Brady was playing quarterback in flag football at St. Gregory’s Elementary School during recess and after school. He felt love for football because of the strength, speed, and quickness of the game.

"Football has so many elements of sports,” Brady said. “It's strength, and its speed, and its quickness. It's endurance. It's toughness. It's so fast. It's a great game to watch. It's a great game to play."

In San Mateo’s Junipero Serra High School, Brady played football and basketball where around his junior year, he was a noticeable scouted talent by college and pro scouts in both sports. While Brady started for his football team, he recorded 236 of 447 passes (52.8%) for 3,702 yards and 31 touchdowns. He won the All-State and Al-Far West honors because of his performance.

He was known as a great baseball player and got drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 1995 MLB Draft. Brady almost chose baseball until he learned about his football play in high school and was recruited to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor by then-Michigan assistant Bill Harris in 1995.

During Brady’s time with the Michigan Wolverines, he was the backup to future NFL quarterback Brian Griese (sharing the honors of winning the 1997 National Championship) and Scott Driesbach for two years until he finally becomes the starter in 1998, his junior year. Since Brady started in Michigan, he earn an All-Big Ten Conference honorable mention, a 3.3-grade point average resulting in an Academic All-Big Ten Pick, and records in most passing attempts (350) and completions (214) in one season. This led Michigan to win the 1999 Citrus Bowl by beating the University of Arkansas 45-31 and he won the 2000 Orange Bowl versus Alabama 35-34.

Brady would finish his career with Michigan with the stats of playing 29 games, 30 touchdowns, 4,773 passing yards with 638 attempts to 395 completions (61.9), and a quarterback rating of 134.9. Along with his accomplishments in the field for Michigan, he graduated with a bachelor of general studies with an emphasis in economics and business.

Brady enter the 2000 NFL Draft combine with an unimpressive performance in throwing, leaping ability, and especially running. Additionally, he wasn’t the most talked about prospect then other quarterback prospects like Chad Pennington. Brady would have to wait till the sixth round pf the NFL draft to be selected 199 to the New England Patriots.

After being drafted by the Patriots, he was the fourth-string quarterback, but didn’t complain about it and started to study the team’s playbook and bulk up when Brady eventually starts for the Patriots. He eventually change his weight from 204 lbs. to 220 lbs with his 6-foot-4 height.

Brady only played one season which he completed one pass and the Patriots ended the season the bottom of the AFC East with a record of 5-11. In the offseason, he work improving his game and impress the the coaching staff at the 2001 training camp which results in Brady becoming the backup to the Patriot’s starter Drew Bledsoe. On Sept. 23, 2001, during the second game of the season versus the New York Jets, Bledsoe received a hard blow to the chest and a nervous Brady, who didn’t expect to play, end up playing the rest of the game. The Patriots would lose the game at the end of regulation.

As Brady continue to feel comfortable within his role as the starter, he eventually took the Patriots the Patriots to Super Bowl 35 against the St. Louis Rams which they won 20-17 and Brady won the Super Bowl MVP. Since then, the Patriots continue to appear in multiple appearances in playoffs and Super Bowls. The most noticeable run that took the Patriots to 20 years of dominance was versus the Raiders in the 2001 AFC Divisional Round.

This was followed by multiple other moments with the Patriots.

Two decades later, Brady played his last season with the Patriots after the loss to the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card Playoffs. He eventually became a free agent and decided to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a two-year deal worth $50 million.

This was the time that Brady want to prove that head coach Bill Belichick wasn’t the reason for his success. Although the Buccaneers started slowly with Brady as the quarterback, the team eventually went to Super bowl 51 and defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. Brady won his seventh championship, fifth Super Bowl MVP, and
Buccaneers’ second championship since winning it in 2002.

The following season, unfortunately, Brady wasn’t able to take the team to a consecutive Super Bowl and fall short to the Los Angeles Rams 30-27 despite coming back from a 24-point deficit.

By the end of the 2021 season, Brady ultimately retires.

Brady had a phenomenal career with NFL teams like the Patriots and Buccaneers where he accumulated career stats of 84,520 passing yards (the most), 624 touchdowns (the most), and only 203 interceptions Brady’s career. Also, he has 7,263 completion (the most) in 11,317 attempts (the most) and a total quarterback rating of 97.6 (eighth all-time) according to ESPN.

With those stats, Brady accomplishes a lot in his career:

-Seven Super Bowl championships (the most)

-Five Super Bowl MVPs (the most)

-The most quarterback wins (243)

-15-time Pro Bowler

- Two Offensive Player of the Year

-NFL Comeback Player of the Year (2009)

-On the NFL 2000s All-Decade Team

-Four-time NFL passing yards leader

- Tied with the longest touchdown pass (99 yards)

-Five-time NFL touchdown leader.

Brady has left a legacy that football fans might never see again and left a lasting memory for the fans to remember for years to come.