By: Ansh Patel

Thomas Patrick Edward Brady, primarily known as Tom Brady, is a former American footballer who was one of the greatest National Football League (NFL) Players ever. He set many records over his 22-year career with the toughest one of them being the all-time total touchdown passes record. He established this record during the 2020-2021 season when he made a successful pass to Drew Brees for the record. After that, he became the only NFL player ever to have 600 touchdown passes. Will anyone break this record?

Only 8 NFL players have reached 400 touchdown passes, which is a landmark for most QBs. Only one of the 8 is currently active, Aaron Rodgers, who needs 175 to break the record. However, Rogers turned 40 years old after returning from a season-ending ACL tear. The 7 other quarterbacks; Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, Philip Rivers, Dan Marino, and Ben Roethlisberger existed in their late 30s or early 40s when they achieved 400 touchdown passes.

Bearing this into consideration, it would take virtually a whole career to reach the milestone of 400 touchdown passes, let alone the 600 Brady has accomplished.

When comparing Brady to the 7 other players, most played for 15-20 seasons, compared to the 23 seasons that Brady played before retiring at the end of the 2022 season at an astonishing 44 years old.

This exhibits how exemplary Brady was during his time playing in the NFL. Numerous players would not be able to play 15 to 20 seasons due to the portion of injuries and declining skill over time in a competitive league. When observing the teams that Brady had, he consistently had a suitable team every year that repeatedly made it to the playoffs as well as leading the league in scoring almost every year, which most quarterbacks would have wished for.

When monitoring the numbers, for a player to even have a chance to compete for the record while playing for 23 seasons like Brady has, that player would have to average 30 touchdowns each year for 22 years. This presumed quarterback would likewise have to be willing to work day and night, keep constant form, be fortunate enough to not suffer from severe injuries, and have a team that could constantly make the playoffs to gauge more playing time even to have a chance at breaking the record that Brady has established.

The inquiry at hand is if someone can break Brady’s record. One of the most likely to break this record is Patrick Mahomes, who currently has 216 touchdown passes at only 28 years old. As he enters the prime years of his career, he would have to average 27 touchdowns over the next 16 years to have a chance to break Brady’s record. While the chances are slim to none, Mahomes has thrown 30+ touchdowns in the past 4 years which means there might be a chance for Tom Brady’s record to be beaten.

Sources

• Pro-Football-Reference.com