A career in pictures - The evolution of an NFL GOAT: New England Patriots' Tom Brady

The unimaginable has happened to New England Patriots fans: Arguably the 'Greatest Of All Time' NFL quarterback Tom Brady is moving on. Brady will be 43 when the next NFL season begins. He also brings with him six Super Bowl rings, four Super Bowl MVP trophies and three regular-season MVP awards. Simply put, he’s the most successful quarterback in pro football history. And he has left the Pats for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

"I am excited, humble and hungry," he said. "I'm starting a new football journey and thankful for the Buccaneers for giving me an opportunity to do what I love to do."

Brady? He could have retired 10 years ago and been a lock first-ballot Hall-of-Famer. He has won six Super Bowls and played in nine. Brady not only has an extremely accurate arm and a remarkably quick release, but he makes decisions under pressure in the pocket quickly and, almost always, correctly. His ability to seemingly always make the right decision, even with huge men bearing down on him, set him apart from other quarterbacks.

Boston has a plethora of sports icons: Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and David Ortiz in baseball; Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito in hockey; Bill Russell and Larry Bird in basketball. But Brady is the football hero. The Patriots had never won a Super Bowl before his arrival. And over the past two decades, Brady, who is among the most accomplished quarterbacks in the sport, and Bill Belichick, the greatest of NFL coaches, built a franchise that consistently outperformed all rivals.

Led by Brady and Belichick, the Patriots became the NFL's version of the Yankees, Duke basketball and the old Celtics - a team both revered and reviled. Brady was the perfect hero for the city and most of New England: handsome; an underdog (he was a sixth-round draft pick), and a player with a knack for dramatic finishes.

New England's first four Super Bowl victories were by a total of 13 points; its fifth was an overtime victory after they had trailed 28-3. It was the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.

Brady's golden-boy sheen was tarnished in 2016, when the NFL suspended him for four games for allegedly ordering footballs to be deflated to make them easier to grip.

In 2018, at the age of 41, he led the Patriots to a sixth Super Bowl victory. Last season, he found himself with a crippled receiving corps. Even so, the Patriots went 12-4 and won the AFC East title for the 17th time in Brady's 18 seasons as the starter; he missed 2008 after tearing a ligament in his knee during the season opener.

But the Pats lost this past season in the first round of the playoffs to the Tennessee Titans and and his New England days were over. It is almost impossible to think of Brady playing in another uniform - except for the fact that great quarterbacks often finish their careers with a team other than the one with which they gained their fame. That list includes Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Joe Montana and Peyton Manning. Now, Brady joins them. One thing is guaranteed, he will always be regarded as a true GOAT.

Being an NFL GOAT is not enough for Brady, as he has also embraced the celebrity couple lifestyle with supermodel wife Gisele Bundchen