On Sunday, February 7, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won Super Bowl LV giving Tom Brady his seventh championship ring. The game was largely one-sided with all of Kansas City’s scoring coming through field goals and the final score being 31-9. While it was just another victory for Brady, the result has the potential to affect not only the NFL itself but also his opponent, Patrick Mahomes, when he’s older.

Tom Brady is 43 years old, and with his new Super Bowl win, he has solidified a new standard for quarterbacks throughout the NFL. Brady is famous for following a strict diet of vegan based foods along with a lifestyle that includes a lot of water, going to bed at 9 pm, and no alcohol. A lifestyle like this might have seemed excessive to players in the past, but after witnessing Brady’s greatness and moreover his longevity in the NFL, players will have no choice but to accept that these kinds of decisions are necessary to extend their careers. In most people’s eyes, Brady has become the G.O.A.T. among quarterbacks and even the overall G.O.A.T. out of all positions. This puts Brady at the forefront of young, aspiring players’ minds and there is no doubt that they will remember everything he did to stay in the NFL for as long as possible and mimic him.

Brady’s influence over young players could start a new era in the NFL in which players, especially quarterbacks (who take the least hits), are expected to play longer and longer. Brady’s longevity, which is phenomenal by today’s standards, might be the accepted standard for quarterbacks in a few years. The younger Mahomes certainly admires Brady’s career, and I don’t doubt that he’ll be thinking about Brady’s lifestyle in 5-10 years, when most quarterbacks would be on their last legs. Just like how Stephen Curry revolutionized how basketball was played in the NBA with his 3-point shooting, I think Brady will raise the standard for quarterbacks and the length of their careers. 

This new standard set by Brady is even more important because his greatness is temporary. Whenever someone becomes the greatest in a sport, there will always be a little kid who becomes obsessed with them, copies them, and eventually cites them as their source of inspiration when they’ve accomplished even greater things in that sport years later. Brady’s new level of greatness will hopefully inspire future players and create an NFL with longer rivalries and dynasties led by quarterbacks.