23 Things That Didn't Exist When Tom Brady Entered The NFL: Tesla, Bitcoin, iPhones, Social Media And More

Tom Brady has announced his retirement from the National Football League after 23 seasons in the league. 

Brady previously announced his retirement from the league in February 2022 before deciding one month later that he would return.

Brady said in his retirement video on social media on Wednesday that this time he is stepping away from playing "for good." 

Brady was the oldest player in the NFL for the 2022-2023 season. Drafted 199th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft on April 6, 2000, a lot has changed since Brady first entered the league.

Here’s a look at 23 things that weren’t around when Brady joined the NFL.

Cryptocurrency: Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin BTC/USD was founded in 2009, following a white paper released the previous year. The market capitalization of Bitcoin is more than $400 billion and one of many cryptocurrencies that are now readily available to trade by consumers, including on the FTX app endorsed by Brady.

Twitter: Social media platform Twitter Inc was founded in March 2006. Brady has 2.8 million followers on the social media platform as of today.

Facebook: Social media platform Facebook, which is owned by Meta Platforms inc META, was founded in 2004, two years after Brady joined the NFL.

Instagram: Photo and video sharing social media platform Instagram, which is owned by Meta Platforms, launched in 2010. Brady has more than 13 million followers on Instagram, but trails his ex-wife, model Gisele Bundchen at 20.5 million.

iPhone: Now one of the most popular smartphones in the world, the iPhone wasn’t launched until 2007 by Apple Inc AAPL. Brady couldn’t own an iPhone until his eighth season in the NFL.

Netflix Streaming: Now used by hundreds of millions of people worldwide, the ability to stream movies and television shows from Netflix Inc NFLX wasn’t a reality when Brady joined the league. Netflix launched in 1998 as a DVD by mail service and would later add streaming in 2007.

Amazon Prime: E-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc AMZN launched in the 1990s before Brady joined the NFL. The popular Amazon Prime service, which offered free two-day delivery and additional perks to members, launched in 2005 and is now a staple of the company’s business.

Uber and Lyft: Ride-share companies Uber Technologies Inc UBER and Lyft Inc LYFT launched in 2009 and 2012, respectively. When Brady needed to get around in the NFL during his early years, he was likely tasked with driving himself or finding a taxi, as the top two ride-share companies didn’t exist yet.

Tesla Roadster: In 2008, electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc TSLA released its first vehicle with the Tesla Roadster. Two years later, the company held its IPO and has been a strong performer over the past 12 years for investors.

Houston Texans: The year before Brady joined the NFL, the Cleveland Browns were reinstated as a franchise taking the number of NFL teams to 31. In 2002, the Houston Texans became the 32nd team in the league joining as an expansion team. Brady’s NFL career is older than one of the current NFL teams.

Legal Sports Betting: When Brady joined the league and led the Patriots franchise to many successful seasons and to Super Bowls, consumers could head to Las Vegas to bet on the success of Brady and the team or take action at illegal offshore operations. A ruling in 2018 gave the power to each state to determine if they would legalize sports betting.

Spotify: Music streaming platform Spotify Technology SA SPOT launched in 2006, several years after Brady joined the league and was already winning Super Bowls.

Related Link: 5 Things You Might Not Know About Tom Brady 

Lord of the Rings Movies: One of the most successful movie franchises of all time is the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with movies in 2001, 2002 and 2003. The movies grossed more than $1 billion domestically and were all released after Brady joined the league.

Harry Potter Movies: Similar to the Lord of the Rings movies, the Harry Potter franchise was extremely successful. The first Harry Potter movie was released in 2001, four years after the book was released and one year after Brady was drafted by the Patriots.

Crocs: Comfort shoe brand Crocs, Inc. CROX was launched in 2002 after Brady joined the NFL.

YouTube: Type "Tom Brady" into YouTube and you’ll get thousands of results for videos ranging from highlights, interviews or commentary about the NFL quarterback. When Brady first joined the NFL, the video platform founded in 2005 and now owned by Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL wasn’t a thing yet.

Roomba: When Brady joined the league and later had millions of dollars to use on home furnishings, he couldn’t buy a robot vacuum from iRobot Corporation IRBT just yet. The product was introduced in 2002.

American Idol: One of the longest-running reality shows is the singing competition “American Idol,” which premiered on Fox, a unit of Fox Corp FOX two decades ago. Brady’s NFL career is older than the show that launched in 2002.

Call of Duty: While Brady could play the popular Madden NFL video game franchise from Electronic Arts Inc. EA every year of his NFL career, he had to wait a couple of years until Call of Duty from Activision Blizzard, Inc. ATVI was playable, with the first game in the popular franchise coming out in 2003.

PlayStation 2: Speaking of video games, when Brady entered the NFL, people in North America and Europe could only buy the first PlayStation console from Sony Group Corp SONY. The popular PlayStation 2 wouldn’t be available until October 2000, several months after the draft and shortly after the 2000 NFL season began.

Airbnb: Every NFL season, fans of teams flock to road games, often booking hotels in the cities of the NFL team. Another popular option is renting a home through home rental service Airbnb Inc ABNB. The company launched in 2008.

Yeti: NFL fans who tailgated at Patriots games during his first few seasons had to look for brands other than Yeti Holdings Inc YETI as the popular cooler and lifestyle brand wasn’t launched until 2006.

Grey’s Anatomy: Brady would likely be hard-pressed to find many sitcoms that he started watching when he began his NFL career which are still on television today. One show that comes close, but is still younger than Brady’s NFL career is “Grey’s Anatomy,” which premiered in 2005.

Related Link: Tom Brady Has Plans For When He Eventually Retires

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