Getty Tom Brady hoists the Lombardi Trophy with his daughter after the Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.
Tom Brady has a minor knee surgery ahead for the offseason after winning Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Head coach Bruce Arians said the knee surgery is “a clean up” per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
#GoBucs QB Tom Brady will have a minor surgical procedure on his knee, one that coach Bruce Arians described as “a clean up.”
Brady experienced discomfort in his knee, per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, but never missed time due to injury in the 2020 season.
#Bucs QB Tom Brady played most of the season with some discomfort in the knee he’ll have cleaned up with surgery soon, per source. Still won his seventh Super Bowl at age 43 — and celebrated (with a brace on) like it was his first.
“A source close to the situation,” said the surgery was planned ahead of time according to ESPN’s Jenna Laine. She also noted that Brady wore a left knee brace during the Bucs’ boat parade on Wednesday, a regular practice of his. Brady didn’t show any signs of his knee hurting at the parade, either.
NFL.com’s Nick Shook wrote that “the minor procedure is fairly routine for those dealing with some pain at the professional level.”
Brady’s Injury History
Brady has some knee injury history, tearing the ACL in his left knee in Week 1 of the 2008 season when playing for the New England Patriots. Media reports haven’t confirmed if this new knee “clean up” is related to the past ACL tear.
His ACL injury happened after his most historic Super Bowl loss when the New York Giants spoiled the Patriots’ shot at an unbeaten season. He talked about the injury with ESPN’s Chris Berman in 2009.
Aside from the ACL tear, Brady endured relatively few injuries in his 21 seasons — showing durability amid most of those injuries. He hasn’t missed a start due to injury since 2008 and started every game from 2002 to 2007.
Brady fractured a bone in his right foot during the 2010 season but kept playing per ESPN Boston. Then, he injured his ankle in 2014 and played all 16 games plus three playoffs games on the way to squeaking by Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX.
His postseason durability showed in the 2018 AFC championship game when he played with a hand laceration, part of his last Super Bowl-winning run with the Patriots. Brady also dealt with an elbow injury in 2019, which didn’t cause him to miss time in his final season in New England.
Age is a Number
Brady signed with the Bucs as a free agent in March 2020 after 20 seasons with the Patriots.
At 43 years old, he started in all 20 of the Bucs regular season and playoff games, winning the Super Bowl MVP in the Bucs 31-9 win over Kansas City. He threw for 4,663 yards and 40 touchdowns this season, and he went for 201 yards and three touchdowns in the Super Bowl, completing 72.4 percent of his passes.
The future Hall of Fame quarterback turned in his fourth-best season ever in terms of grading per Pro Football Focus.
Brady won his seventh Lombardi Trophy and fifth Super Bowl MVP. His seventh title means he’s won more Super Bowls than any NFL franchise, including the Patriots where he led them to six.
He transformed the Bucs franchise in his first season. The Bucs hadn’t won a playoff game in 18 years, their 2003 Super Bowl win, and failed to reach the playoffs the past 13 years. Not only that, the Bucs owned the lowest winning percentage of all NFL franchises going into the 2020 season per Forbes.
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