Oliver Perez had a long and successful career of 20 seasons in the Majors, playing for eight different teams. He recorded over 1,500 strikeouts, which is an impressive feat for a pitcher who had such longevity in the sport.

Perez had two distinct phases in his career, the first half as a starter and the second half as a reliever. He started his career in San Diego, then moved on to Pittsburgh, where he had an exceptional season in 2003, with a career-high of 239 strikeouts and a league-lead in SO/9 (11.0). He also had his best ERA (2.98) and WHIP (1.163) as a starter. However, he faced some control issues over the next few years. He did have a decent season in 2007 as a New York Met (15-10, 3.56 ERA, 174 K) and fanned 180 the year after. Perez struggled again, and the Mets released him after the 2010 season. In 2012, he made his way back to MLB, this time as a reliever in Seattle.

Perez's performance as a reliever was similarly inconsistent to his performance as a starter. He bounced around from team to team, going from the Mariners to Arizona, Houston, Cleveland, and then Arizona again. During this phase of his career, Perez finished 80 games with 5 saves. He won 74 games against 94 losses, with 1,546 strikeouts.

Despite his impressive career, Perez is unlikely to receive a Hall of Fame vote. However, it has happened before that a 20-year veteran is left off the ballot.

Mark Melancon played for nine different teams in the majors, which may make him seem like a journeyman. However, he was an exceptional relief pitcher and one of the best in baseball at times.

Melancon started his career with New York (AL), Houston, and Boston before having an outstanding season with a 1.39 ERA in Pittsburgh, where he became the Pirates closer. He won the Sporting News National League Pitcher of the Year in 2015, the Hoffman Award, and led the league in saves (51). Additionally, he placed eighth in Cy Young voting that year. Melancon added another All-Star appearance in 2016 when he was traded to Washington during the season.

In 2017, Melancon signed with San Francisco and was later traded to Atlanta in 2019. Although his time in Atlanta was decent, it did not reflect his performance in Pittsburgh. However, he had another fantastic year in 2021 with the San Diego Padres, where he earned his fourth and final All-Star Game appearance and led the NL in saves (39). Melancon played one last year with Arizona and finished his career with 262 total saves.

We have done profiles on athletes for our futures section before, and we know we didn’t have to explain their accolades, but with all due respect to those men, there is only one Tom Brady.

So, maybe you will forgive us if this seems a little brief.

You all know his story. Brady was a steal for the Patriots in the 6th Round of the 2000 Draft, and he took over the starting job early in the following season following an injury to Drew Bledsoe. TB12 did what no other Quarterback did, leading the Patriots to their first Super Bowl win.  Annually, he kept getting better, taking New England to five more titles, and late in his career, he defied the odds by leading Tampa Bay to their second Super Bowl win and a record seventh for Brady.

What couldn’t he do?  Brady rarely made mistakes; whenever they were down, his team was always in it, and countless times, he lifted them up to victory.  Not only does Brady have the most wins by far from any quarterback, but he also needs a U-Haul to transport his trophies.  Look at this list:

7 Super Bowl Rings

5 Super Bowl MVPs

3 AP MVPs

3 PFWA MVPs

1 Bert Bell Award

1 NEA MVP

1 Sporting News Player of the Year

2 AP Offensive Player of the Year Awards

2 PFWA Offensive Player of the Year Awards

2 Sporting News Player of the Year Awards

3 First Team All-Pros

15 Pro Bowls

He also left the gridiron as the all-time leader in Approximate Value (326), Completions (7,753), Attempts (12,050), Passing Yards (89,214), Touchdown Passes (649), Game-Winning Drives (58) and Comebacks (46). 

Brady is not just the GOAT among NFL Quarterbacks; he is the GOAT of the entire history of the league.

Taylor Lewan was the third Offensive Linemen taken in the 2014 Draft (11^th Overall), and he arguably has been more successful than the two (Greg Robinson and Jake Matthews) selected ahead of him.

Lewan would win the starting job at Left Tackle during his debut season, finishing as an All-Rookie, and he progressively got better, rattling off three consecutive Pro Bowls from 2016 to 2018.  Lewan holds a spot as one of the better Offensive Lineman in franchise history, even if his overall profile is not highly regarded out of Tennessee.