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Tom Brady explained why he struggled to make friends during his NFL playing days, which included a contentious bond with fellow quarterback Peyton Manning.
“When I look back on my relationship with Peyton Manning, my respect, admiration, and appreciation for him as a competitor has grown with each passing year,” Brady, 47, wrote in his 199 newsletter on Monday, July 21. “It was always there, don’t misunderstand, but while we were competing against each other I couldn’t let that get in the way of the fact that he was my enemy, that he didn’t respect me, that he thought he was better than me because he was a #1 pick from an SEC school — or at least that’s what I made myself believe.”
He added, “Convincing myself that those things were true created a sense of urgency within me to prove him wrong, and it provided the extra bit of energy and motivation necessary to lock in and focus and execute just that much more so that I could beat him more often than he beat me.”
Manning, 49, was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts. Brady was selected in the sixth round, 199th overall, by the New England Patriots in the 2000 NFL Draft.
Considered two of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, Manning won two Super Bowls during his career — one with the Colts, one with the Denver Broncos — while Brady collected seven Super Bowl rings, six with the Patriots and one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady acknowledged that his attitude led to “some hurt feelings for a while,” but it’s what he needed to do.
“That’s why the greats like Michael Jordan didn’t have friends during the season,” Brady explained. “Kobe Bryant wasn’t collabing with anyone who wasn’t in purple and gold. Tiger Woods didn’t have friends on tour. Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens would throw at their moms if they were in another team’s jersey.”
He continued, “For my part, I didn’t have any real friends on any other teams when I played. I had the guys on my team and that was it.”
With both men having retired from their playing careers, Brady now calls his rivalry with Manning “a gift.”
“I maybe didn’t fully know it at the time, but I needed someone to look up to, who inspired me to be better, and who gave me a target to aim for,” Brady wrote. “Now when I see him, the only thing I can say is thank you. Thank you for challenging me to be the best I could be, to dig deep in March and April and May when nobody was watching, and to have expectations for myself that were above and beyond what others thought was possible.”
