When he retired after 23 seasons in the NFL, Tom Brady won seven Lombardi trophies in 10 Super Bowl appearances and recorded numerous records that could never be matched or surpassed, including all-time passing yards, touchdown passes, and victories as a quarterback during his time with the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, for his part, is on the brink of breaking the NBA all-time scoring record currently owned by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But for Hall of Fame basketball star Charles Barkley, the 45-year-old Brady has better career accomplishments than James when asked during an interview on the Dan Patrick Show.
“I think that it we should appreciate Tom Brady more. Number one, you know 10 Super Bowls is incredible, but the thing that's crazy why I put football accomplishment ahead of basketball accomplishments is you know every game in the NFL is a one-game you out, and you're done,” Barkley said, per transcript of his YouTube interview.
Barkley said in the NBA that superstars like Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and James could afford to lose one, two, or three games, while every playoff game in the NFL is considered Game 7.
“No matter how great your regular season was, to have every game be the end of your season and for this man to make it to 10 Super Bowls and win seven, it's one of the greatest accomplishments in history,” Barkley pointed out.
The former NBA Most Valuable Player also called Brady’s career “unparalleled” and praised him for being humble and kind. “He is the most humble cool goat (greatest of all time) I've ever been around,” added Barkley, who, in a previous interview, said he was smitten by Brady’s charm whenever he’s around the Hall of Fame-bound quarterback.
As for Brady, he will first spend quality time with his family before taking on his new job as an analyst for Fox Sports, per TMZ Sports. When he first retired last offseason, Brady signed a 10-year deal worth $375 million to become Fox Sports’ football analyst. However, Brady put it on the back burner when he decided to return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for another tour of duty.
Will Bucs move up to draft a quarterback?
Now that Brady has retired, the Buccaneers have Kyle Trask as the only quarterback under contract for next season. The Buccaneers selected Trask in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft to become an heir-apparent for Brady. However, Trask never lived up to that billing, as he failed to edge out Blaine Gabbert for the backup job in the past two seasons.
With that, Luke Easterling of USA Today said that it’s possible that the Buccaneers could move up in the 2023 NFL Draft to take a signal-caller. Currently, the Buccaneers are at No. 19, but they could move up to select Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud as their next starter.
