Most NFL fans can agree that Tom Brady is the best player to ever touch a football. A question that could potentially spark a more interesting debate would be: is Tom Brady the greatest athlete of all-time?
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It will be a sad day for the football world when Tom Brady hangs up his cleats. Unfortunately, it appears as though that day is looming. If the 44 year old does indeed call it quits this summer, it would bring an end to the greatest NFL career ever.
Brady has won seven Super Bowls, a record that will be hard to beat considering that the only players who have come remotely close have been his own teammates. He secured three league MVP trophies as well as five Super Bowl MVP distinctions, and holds virtually every passing record there is.
Whenever he decides to turn the page, he will certainly go down as one of the most influential athletes of all-time. But how does his career stack up against the very best from other sports? And is it even possible to compare?
According to Shannon Sharpe, HOF tight end for the Broncos and Ravens and current FS1 analyst, there are at least three sportspeople that he would say eclipse Brady.
Shannon Sharpe believes Tom Brady isn’t the GOAT because of a “lack of individual accomplishments”
Debating the matter with his co-host, Skip Bayless, Sharpe argued that compared to Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Wayne Gretzky, Brady has relatively less individual achievements.
Sharpe mentioned that Brady has only been named first team All-Pro three times which all happened to be in years where he won the league MVP, whereas the other three athletes have experienced more success on an individual level.
He did give Brady his props, however. Sharpe said that when it comes to team accomplishments, Brady and Bill Russell, who won 11 NBA championships, are in a league of their own.
It’s not a terrible argument to make but Sharpe certainly did leave some stones unturned. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who have completely dominated the world’s most popular sport for the last two decades, didn’t even get mentioned.
Since they started playing, nearly every individual award that the pair has been eligible for has gone to either of them. It’s something that the world of sports has never seen before, and will probably never see again.
Also, Sharpe chose to leave out athletes in individual sports, which definitely snubbed some stellar candidates like Tiger Woods, Usain Bolt, Serena Williams, or Michael Phelps.
