Tom Brady has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated 21 times. He also has six SI Super Bowl Commemorative Issue covers. Check out all of the Brady covers through the years.
2001 Super Bowl Commemorative Issue
April 15, 2002
February 9, 2004
2003 Super Bowl Commemorative Issue
September 9, 2004
September 18, 2004
December 12, 2005
February 7, 2005
2005 Super Bowl Commemorative Issue
November 7, 2005
October 22, 2007
February 4, 2008
September 1, 2008
June 1, 2009
September 20, 2010
January 24, 20111
January 9, 2012
January 30, 2012
February 9 - 16, 2015
Super Bowl XLIX Commemorative Issue
September 14, 2015
January 25, 2016
February 1, 2016
January 23, 2017
Tom Brady is once again gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated. This time, it's for the magazine's NFL Preview issue. Brady is cast in a Gulliver's Travels-like pose, with Lilliputian-like players from the other teams in the league trying to climb atop him and take him (and the Patriots) down. The Patriots, apparently, are SI's pick to win the Super Bowl again.
This would have been a great cover, had it been THE cover for the whole country. However, SI made four regional covers with the same concept applied to all four, thus diluting what was a fantastic idea.
At least Patriots fans will be happy to read why SI believes New England will repeat at NFL champs this season.
"I searched for the courage to pick against New England," the writer explains, "but common sense kept getting in the way. A team that went 17–2 one year ago has gotten better on both sides of the ball, even if you consider Julian Edelman's ACL tear."
Speaking of Edelman, The Providence Journal agrees with SI in a column stating that Edelman’s loss won’t derail the Patriots’ 2017 season.
"If any team was built to move on from a loss of its top receiver, it's this year's Patriots," the author asserts in part. "In a typically fortuitous Bill Belichick move, the coach/GM's biggest offseason deal came in trading two draft picks to New Orleans for receiver Brandin Cooks. It's unclear how smoothly the 23-year-old Cooks will mesh with Brady but he's already opened eyes with an uncanny ability to stretch opposing defenses."
Meanwhile, a NESN.com post offers options for filling Edelman’s roster spot in New England.
On WEEI.com, you'll find a piece detailing the troubled state of New England’s AFC East rivals.
"The Patriots' competition," says this particular writer, "is continuing its quest to hand over the division before Week 1 even begins."
Elsewhere, an ESPN blog post speculates that LB Dont'a Hightower could be the Patriots’ answer at a thin defensive end position.
Finally today, it wouldn't be late August without yet another 53-man roster projection. The MassLive website provide's today's Patriots prognostication.
