Tom Brady ‘100,000 Career Passing Yards’ 2022 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Game Used Football

Sotheby’s is proud to present, directly from his personal collection, a game used football from the game where he eclipsed 100,000 career passing yards across the regular and postseason.

On November 23, 2000, rookie quarterback Tom Brady threw his first career passing yards in the National Football League. That milestone came on a 6-yard throw to tight end Rod Rutledge during garbage time in a Detroit Lions blowout win over the New England Patriots. It was Brady’s only completion of his rookie season. 

Nearly 22 years later, on November 6, 2022, that one-time 6th round, 199th overall draft pick backup quarterback reached a thoroughly different milestone. While hundreds of quarterbacks have gotten to cherish that first career completion, Brady sits alone at this football mountaintop. 

In the Week 9 game of the 2022 season between the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady surpassed 100,000 total career passing yards (including regular season and playoffs) -  something never before accomplished, and perhaps, never to be repeated. The milestone, which must have been unthinkable as Tom came off the field in 2000 after completing just one of three pass attempts, was achieved with a 15-yard completion in the fourth quarter to running back Leonard Fournette that set up a 50-yard field goal by Kicker Ryan Succop. The Buccaneers would go on to win the game 16-13. 

The 2022 season would be Brady’s last under center. He ended his illustrious career with 102,614 total passing yards, which is far and away the NFL record. The second highest on the list is Drew Brees, who finished his career with 85,724 yards. Brady also holds the record for most regular season passing yards, postseason passing yards, and passing yards in the Super Bowl over the course of a career, demonstrating not only his longevity but also his effectiveness when the lights were brightest. He also set the record for the highest number of different receivers to complete a pass with, connecting with a staggering 98 different players over the course of his career. This football saw Brady cross yet another threshold, and perhaps the most important one, on his path to all-time greatness. 

The ball is accompanied by letters from MeiGray in regards to photomatching and Tom Brady in regards to provenance. 

Going Deeper - Tom Brady

Humble Beginnings and the Road to Greatness

There are only a few athletes who are near-universally accepted as the greatest in their sport: Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky, Babe Ruth—and Tom Brady.

While most of them entered their respective sports as highly touted prospects, Brady’s journey began as an unassuming sixth-round pick of the New England Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft.

During ESPN’s segment covering the 199th pick, resident draft expert Mel Kiper remarked, “[Brady] throws a very catchable ball.” Watching the segment today, there is little evidence Kiper realized he was talking about the player who threw perhaps the most catchable ball in the history of the sport. Brady holds the record for the most passing yards, completions, and touchdowns in NFL history.

Kiper would go on to talk about Brady’s perceived weaknesses: “The question is going to be mobility. He only runs a 5.25 forty [yard dash] and of course when you have those edge pass rushers, you have to avoid the initial defensive end, the initial pass rusher. Can he do that at the pro level?”

Brady’s seemingly pedestrian 2000 NFL Combine performance (his 40-yard dash was on par with some offensive lineman) and the now infamous photo of his less-than-strapping, unathletic physique, have become part of the lore for what many consider the best draft pick of all time. Every year come draft time, that photo of Brady gets circulated through social media as teams hope to strike gold again as the New England Patriots did in the year 2000.

Brady would acknowledge as much when he posted the picture to his personal Instagram years later, with the caption:

“19 years ago today the @patriots took a chance on the guy in this photo: Me (199) 😂. Thank you to EVERYONE who’s helped me to prove them right! PS: Did they stop taking these photos after mine?? 🤣🤣”

What followed, of course, is legend. Brady would go on to join the Patriots as their fourth-string quarterback and was, by no means, a lock to even make the team. By the following season however, he was thrust into a starting role after veteran starter Drew Bledsoe sustained an injury in week two. That opportunity was all Brady needed. He would lead the Patriots to a 20-17 victory in Super Bowl XXXVI that year and become the youngest Super Bowl MVP.

Brady would win five more Super Bowls with the New England Patriots as well as one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on his way to becoming the best quarterback, and arguably player, in the history of the sport. No NFL player has ever come close to being as good for as long. If you split Brady’s career into segments, you would find two, maybe even three, Hall of Fame resumes.

In 2024, Brady began the next chapter of his storied career in a new arena as the primary color commentator for FOX’s Sunday NFL broadcasts.