Tom Brady’s Secret Injuries Revealed by Julian Edelman: The Untold Story of ‘Broken Feet

The year was 2020. Tom Brady had just gotten off what is still considered one of the finest football league careers in the history of the NFL with the Patriots. Yet, he wanted to prove himself more, and the year presented him with the opportunity to accomplish a rare feat- playing a whole season with a torn MCL.

20 games on a torn MCL, including the 40 regular-season touchdowns (second-highest single-season total of his GOAT-worthy career), starting all 20 games, taking all but 49 of the Bucs’ 1,347 offensive snaps, winning his seventh Super Bowl and fifth Super Bowl MVP, all while being 43-years-old. Fans had considered this to be one of his finest feats of toughness until his former teammate Julian Edelman revealed that there were undisclosed injuries that Brady played through as well.

“Kind of like NASCAR,” Edelman full of praise for Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski

On his podcast Games with Names, Edelman sat down with former Patriots teammate Matthew Slater to discuss the Rams vs Patriots Super Bowl LIII game. During their lengthy discussions, they mentioned how another NFL icon, Rob Gronkowski delivered for the team when they needed him. Edelman said, “When the team needed it, Gronk always showed up no matter what. You know even when he wasn’t himself and that’s that’s how you know if you’re playing with great players.” He then brought up Tom Brady playing through injuries while bringing in a NASCAR reference.

Edelman added, “It’s kind of like NASCAR you know you always hear the drivers talking about like how’s the car running the car is running great today. There’s sometimes the car ain’t running good, and you still got to win the race right and that’s what guys like Gronk guys like Tom. Tom had so many injuries that no one knew about like broken feet and sh*t. He tried to play with the ACL we all watch the doc.” Edelman and Brady started the Super Bowl LIII game against the Rams, which saw the Patriots come out on top. Those two along with Slater won three Super Bowls as part of one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties.

He then praised the professionalism of Brady and said, “To be able to adjust your game and still be able to perform at a high level is the ultimate sign of being a professional.” Brady has a history of battling through injuries and powering through. This was evident in the 2020 game between the Bucs and Buffalo Bills when Brady separated a shoulder but carried on.



Last year, Brady on his “Lets Go” podcast while talking to Bills QB Josh Allen revealed, “In a quarterback sneak when we played when I was in Tampa, I separated my shoulder on a quarterback sneak on the goal line.” Despite the injury, Brady finished the game as the Bucs came out on top 33-27 in OT. He also said that the injury bothered him for the rest of the season but at that moment he had to make the decision to gain that one yard, highlighting his commitment.

Brady has played through a stress fracture in his right navicular bone more than once, among a host of other injuries. But no matter how bad they were, they could not stop him from giving his best on the gridiron.

Relationship between Brady and his injuries

No matter how hard Brady’s injuries tried, they couldn’t keep him off-field. Like In Super Bowl XXXVI, which Brady played merely 7 days after injuring his knee because of a dirty hit. Or like when he played with three broken ribs and a broken right ring finger in Week 13 of the 2009 season. And Brady playing through the latter part of the 2002 season, and the whole of the 2003 season despite suffering a first-degree shoulder separation to his right throwing shoulder cannot be forgotten.

In 2016, Brady’s ex-wife Gisele Bundchen reported that Brady had suffered major concussions in his career. All of this, and yet Brady stays the only 43-year-old in the history of the NFL to start 16 games.

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