Patriots

Tom Brady runs through list of NFL players he was afraid to get tackled by

"You remember him? He was about 340 pounds for the Ravens. He was massive.”

Tom Brady took his fair share of hits during his NFL career. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

May 7, 2025

2 minutes to read

Tom Brady took his fair share of hits during his 23 years in the NFL.

But speaking on Logan Paul’s “IMPAULSIVE” poscast this week, the Patriots legend acknowledged that there were a few players who separated themselves from the pack when it came to doling out pain on the gridiron.

Asked which players he feared most when it came to getting trucked over, Brady listed four former standouts on the defensive side of the ball.

“Ray Lewis was at the top,” Brady said. “Ndamukong Suh, I didn’t like getting hit by him. J.J. [Watt] wasn’t very fun to get hit by. Haloti Ngata, you remember him? He was about 340 pounds for the Ravens. He was massive.”

Brady’s most feared opponents on the football field have each accomplished plenty in their respective NFL careers.

Both Lewis and Ngata were cornerstones on a stingy Baltimore defense that gave Brady and the Patriots fits throughout New England’s dynasty.

Lewis, who won two NFL Defensive Player of the Year Awards in his career, was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, while Ngata earned five All-Pro honors during his years with Baltimore.

Watt is also destined for a spot in Canton in the coming years. The dynamic defensive end won the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award three times in the span of four years while recording 114.5 sacks over 12 seasons.

Suh, who played alongside Brady for two seasons in Tampa Bay, also secured five Pro-Bowl honors and three All-Pro selections over his 13 seasons in the NFL.

A hard-hitting safety like Bernard Pollard stands as a curious omission by Brady, considering that it was Pollard who cost Brady his 2008 season after tearing his ACL with a low hit during the Patriots’ season opener.

But even with the punishment that Brady took during his NFL career, a stringent training regimen and emphasis on conditioning prepped his body to withstand some of those bone-crunching tackles, he said.

“When you’re getting hit, there’s a discipline with your physical body that you need to take into account,” Brady said. “Because if you [expletive] around, you’re gonna get hurt. … You don’t mess around with your training, because you will pay the price when you got Aaron Donald chasing you.”