Tom Brady explained his ‘superpower’ as an NFL QB.

As arguably the best player in Super Bowl history, Tom Brady joined Colin Cowherd ahead of Sunday’s big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles to talk about what makes quarterbacks great, specifically his own superpower as an NFL Legend. In that conversation, Brady mentioned what made him great, and it wasn’t anything about his physical build, per Warren Sharp on X.

“My last Super Bowl I was a part of, I was two weeks of watching film,” Brady said. “Friday night, I was just going through the film. I knew Kansas City’s defense better than they knew themselves. I knew their body movements, the way their linebackers moved, the way their safeties moved, Tyrann Mathieu, [Daniel] Sorensen, Charvarius Ward, I knew everything they were doing. I got out there on the field, I’d look up as I was walking to the line of scrimmage and say, ‘Okay, they’re blitzing.’ And then I was dealing with it right away. I walked up, I said, ‘Okay, they’re going to bail to Cover 2.’ Ball was snapped, Cover 2. It was like, I had the answers to the test. That’s where I was great. That’s where my magic superpower was.”

 

Preparation for the game is what made Brady special. No matter what defenses tried to do, Brady could diagnose them instantly, knowing exactly where the ball was going before he even snapped it.

And while fans love bringing up clips of Tom Brady’s NFL Combine, the physical attributes of what he brought to the game wasn’t what made him arguably the greatest quarterback of all time.

“It wasn’t how fast I could run,” Brady said candidly. “It was how fast I could diagnose what they were doing. What’s the special quality? What’s the internet speed of me as a quarterback? Fast as s**t. I was Starlink before Starlink.”

Now, some could consider these comments from Brady as cocky, but he’s simply explaining what made him great. As a quarterback who ran a 5.28 40-yard dash in the 2000 NFL Combine, it’s fair to say people weren’t expecting him to be a quarterback who could dominate defenses with his athleticism.

 

No, no, Tom Brady beat defenses with his mind, not his body.

And it’s an art form that Brady believes is no longer as prominent in the NFL as it was when he was slinging the rock.

“Now, other guys — if it’s a slow processing speed — well, he’s gonna get you. And the reality is that I could figure out what they were doing before they did it because that’s how I learned to play the game. And that’s how I believe most quarterbacks should play the game. Unfortunately, as we’ve talked about, most quarterbacks aren’t playing the game like that anymore. They’re fast when they get out of the pocket, when they have to make decisions. But, I didn’t snap the ball unless I knew what they were doing and if my guy’s going to be open.

 

“One benefit you have as a quarterback — before you snap the ball — you know where everybody on your team is running. If you have five eligibles out in a route, I know where all five are going. If I look at the defense and say none of my guys are going to be open based off this coverage; we didn’t design the play for this coverage, I don’t need to snap the ball. I can run something different. I can check to a run. I can check to a screen. I can signal to a receiver and change a route. And then, that would just change the route to a route that I thought would be open. I’d catch the ball, I’d throw it, and it’d be a 15-yard gain.

 

“Everybody would be like, ‘God, it just looks so easy.’ And I’m like yeah, it’s easy because you’re not paying attention to the right thing. What’s going on in [my head] is what my superpower was. That was Peyton Manning’s superpower. That was Drew Brees’ superpower. Those were the guys that I tried to be like. That’s what we did a great job of so that part of the game is what I’m really fascinated by. And when I see players play like that, those are the guys that I think have the most upside.”

Now, although Brady doesn’t see this type of quarterbacking in the NFL anymore, it’s because the game has evolved drastically.