Tommy Grady

Tommy Grady
No. 4
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1985-03-18) March 18, 1985
Huntington Beach, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight:245 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school:Edison (Huntington Beach)
College:Utah
NFL draft:2008: undrafted
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Career highlights and awards
  • ArenaBowl champion (XXXII)
  • 2× NAL champion (2017, 2021)
  • ArenaBowl XXXII MVP (2019)
  • 3× First-team All-Arena (2012, 2018, 2019)
  • 3× AFL MVP (2012, 2018, 2019)
  • 2× AFL Offensive Player of the Year (2012, 2018)
  • Second-team All-NAL (2021)
  • 4× AFL passing yards leader (2012, 2016, 2018, 2019)
  • 3× AFL passing touchdown leader (2012, 2018, 2019)
  • AFL record 142 touchdown passes, season (2012)
  • AFL record 5,870 passing yards, season (2012)
  • AFL record 507 passing completions, season (2012)
  • AFL record 743 passing attempts, season (2012)
  • AFL record 12 touchdown passes, game (2012)
Career Arena League statistics
Comp. / Att.:3,246 / 5,025
Passing yards:38,062
TD–INT:850–129
Passer rating:116.36
Rushing touchdowns:15
Stats at ArenaFan.com

Thomas Grady (born March 18, 1985) is an American former professional football quarterback who primarily played in the Arena Football League (AFL).

After a standout high school career at Edison High School, Grady signed with the University of Oklahoma to continue his football career. After a lack of playing time for two years, Grady transferred to the University of Utah. While at Utah, Grady saw limited action again, making only three starts in his career.

After going undrafted in 2008, Grady played for the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz of the af2 in 2009. He then played in the AFL from 2010 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2019 for the Yard Dawgz, Pittsburgh Power, Jacksonville Sharks, and Albany Empire. He played in the National Arena League (NAL) for the Sharks in 2017.

In 2013, Grady set single-season AFL records for touchdown passes (142) and passing yards (5,863), while also tying a single-game record with 12 touchdown passes. He won ArenaBowl XXXII with the Empire in 2019, and was also a three-time AFL MVP. He later led the Empire to the NAL title in 2021.

Early life

College recruiting information
Name Hometown School Height Weight 40‡ Commit date
Tommy Grady
QB 		Huntington Beach, California Edison High School 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 4.9 Jul 8, 2003 
Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    
Overall recruit ranking:   Scout: 5 (QB)    Rivals: 3 (QB), 9 (CA) 70 National
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "Oklahoma Football Commitments". Rivals. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  • "2003 Oklahoma Football Commits". Scout. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  • "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  • "2003 Team Ranking". Rivals. Retrieved November 5, 2012.

On July 8, 2003, Grady committed to Oklahoma.[1] Grady chose Oklahoma over offers from Florida State, Tennessee, UCLA, USC and Washington.[2]

College career

Oklahoma

Grady began his college career at the University of Oklahoma, He redshirted in 2003, and watched from the sidelines as starter Jason White won the Heisman Trophy. As White's backup in 2004, Grady completed 12 of 14 passes for 63 yards and one touchdown.

Utah

Grady transferred to the University of Utah in 2005. He saw limited action as a junior in 2006, completing 7 of 14 passes for 102 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. He entered his senior season as a backup, but took over as quarterback when starter Brian Johnson suffered an injury early in the year. Grady played in nine games, including six starts (4-2 record). He finished the season with 58 completions in 115 attempts, for a total of 681 yards, with four touchdowns and three interceptions. The highlight of the year for Grady was leading the Utes to a 44–6 rout over #11 ranked UCLA.

College statistics

Season Passing Rushing
Comp Att Yards Pct. TD Int QB rating Att Yards Avg TD
Oklahoma Sooners
2004 12 14 63 85.7 1 0 147.1 1 9 9.0 0
Utah Utes
2006 7 14 102 50.0 1 3 91.9 3 0 0.0 0
2007 58 115 681 50.4 4 3 106.4 12 -28 -2.3 0
NCAA career totals 77 143 846 53.8 6 6 109.0 16 -19 -1.2 0

[3]

Professional career

Grady was rated the 35th best quarterback in the 2008 NFL draft by NFLDraftScout.com.[4]

Pre-draft measurables
Height Weight Vertical jump Broad jump
6 ft 7+1⁄4 in
(2.01 m) 		240 lb
(109 kg) 		27 in
(0.69 m)		 8 ft 5 in
(2.57 m)
All values from Utah Pro Day[4]

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

In 2009, Grady played for the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz of af2. In 2010, Grady was re-signed by the Yard Dawgz. He was the starter for the Yard Dawgz in its only season in the Arena Football League (AFL). He led the team to a 6–10 record.

Grady had a tryout with the Miami Dolphins in early August 2010 but was not signed.[5][6]

Utah Blaze

In 2011, Grady signed with the Utah Blaze of the AFL. In the 2011 season, he led the Blaze to a 9–9 record, and threw for over 100 touchdowns.

He re-signed with the Blaze for the 2012 season.[7] Grady led the Blaze to a 12–6 record, with a playoff berth. During the season, Grady set a single-season record for touchdown passes with 142, breaking the previous mark of 117 set by Chris Greisen.[8] Grady's play during the season landed him the Arena Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award.[9] Grady also broke Greisen's record of passing yards in a single season, with 5,870.[9] During a July 13 game against the Cleveland Gladiators, Grady threw 12 touchdown passes, tying an AFL single-game record.[10]

Grady re-signed with the Blaze on November 1, 2012 to a three-year maximum.[9]

Pittsburgh Power

Grady was assigned to the AFL's Pittsburgh Power on September 6, 2013 after he was selected in the dispersal draft of the Chicago Rush and Blaze players.[11] The Power folded after the 2014 season.

Jacksonville Sharks

On January 20, 2015, Grady was assigned to the Jacksonville Sharks of the AFL.[12]

On October 14, 2016, Grady was assigned to the Washington Valor during the dispersal draft after Jacksonville chose to leave the AFL. However, on November 29, 2016, Grady elected to remain with the Sharks in the newly created National Arena League (NAL) for the 2017 season.[13][14] He suffered a season-ending foot injury on April 24, 2017, against the Monterrey Steel.[15][16] Grady played in five games for the Sharks in 2017, completing 71 of 113 passes for 1,060 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 1 interception.[17] On August 14, 2017, Grady signed with the Sharks for the 2018 season,[18] but left the team during the preseason.[19]

Albany Empire

On April 2, 2018, Grady returned to the AFL with the expansion Albany Empire.[20] He led the team to the best regular season record while earning AFL MVP and All-Arena honors, but lost in the semifinals to the two-win Washington Valor. He stayed with the Empire for the 2019 season and defeated the Philadelphia Soul in ArenaBowl XXXII, giving Grady his first ArenaBowl championship. He was named the ArenaBowl XXXII MVP after completing 16 of 25 passes for 200 yards and five touchdowns.[21] After his victory in the ArenaBowl, Grady was the subject of jokes and comparisons to the similary named NFL quarterback, Tom Brady, who also won the Super Bowl in 2019.[21][22] The AFL folded after the 2019 season.

Grady returned to Albany when a new version of the Empire joined the NAL in 2021. In the 2021 season, Grady completed 70.3% of his passes for 2,050 yards, 50 touchdowns, and eight interceptions, garnering All-NAL second-team recognition. He also led the Empire to a victory in the 2021 NAL championship game. Following the season, he claimed the new organization had not paid his championship bonus, that the experience off-field was the worst of his career, and considered himself retired.[23] He was subsequently suspended indefinitely by the league because of his public statements about the team, which the league claimed to be false.[24][25]

AFL statistics

Year Team Passing Rushing
Cmp Att Pct Yds TD Int Rtg Att Yds TD
2010 Oklahoma City 363 597 60.8 4,307 81 17 104.87 23 -28 1
2011 Utah 382 580 65.9 4,365 107 11 120.01 30 44 5
2012 Utah 507 743 68.2 5,870 142 21 119.67 38 62 7
2013 Utah 310 541 57.3 3,570 67 28 86.73 17 32 1
2014 Pittsburgh 429 710 60.4 4,717 115 17 109.72 17 30 1
2015 Jacksonville 402 598 67.2 4,684 95 12 121.96 7 -17 0
2016 Jacksonville 400 587 68.1 4,495 94 7 125.39 3 10 0
2018 Albany 228 341 66.9 2,957 81 6 126.19 9 -12 0
2019 Albany 225 328 68.6 3,097 68 10 125.47 1 -1 0
Career 3,246 5,025 64.6 38,062 850 129 116.36 145 120 15

Stats from ArenaFan:[26]

References

  1. ^ "Tommy Grady". www.rivals.com. Yahoo!. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  2. ^ "Tommy Grady". www.scout.com. MSN. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  3. ^ "Tommy Grady". www.sports-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Tommy Grady". DraftScout.com. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  5. ^ Corley, James (July 30, 2010). "Yard Dawgz: Tommy Grady headed to Dolphins camp". The Oklahoman. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  6. ^ "Tommy Grady at Miami Dolphins Camp". OurSportsCentral.com. August 2, 2010. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  7. ^ Blaze sign QB Grady
  8. ^ Jack Wang (July 13, 2012). "Utah Blaze's Grady thriving after college career on bench". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  9. ^ a b c Kyle Goon (November 1, 2012). "Utah Blaze sign QB Tommy Grady to 3-year deal". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  10. ^ "Utah Blaze Throttle Gladiators 83-63". www.kutv.com. CBS. July 14, 2012. Retrieved November 5, 2012.
  11. ^ "Pittsburgh Power Assigned 2012 AFL MVP Quarterback Tommy Grady". www.oursportscentral.com. OurSports Central. September 6, 2013. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  12. ^ Chad Cushnir (January 20, 2015). "Sharks sign QB Tommy Grady". www.firstcoastnews.com. First Coast News. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  13. ^ "All-Arena QB Tommy Grady returns to Sharks". news4jax.com. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  14. ^ "ALL-ARENA QUARTERBACK TOMMY GRADY RETURNS TO SHARKS". jaxsharks.com. November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  15. ^ Elliott, Jeff (April 29, 2017). "QB Fleming helps keep Jacksonville Sharks undefeated". jacksonville.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  16. ^ Shotola, Steven (April 26, 2017). "Sharks Stunned Steel 60-21 in Mexico - Jacksonville becomes the only undefeated team in the NAL". nationalarenaleague.com. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  17. ^ "Jacksonville Sharks". thestatguys.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2017.
  18. ^ "ALL-ARENA QUARTERBACK TOMMY GRADY RETURNS TO SHARKS". jaxsharks.com. August 14, 2017. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
  19. ^ "Without QB McPherson, Sharks sink against Columbus". jacksonville.com. July 8, 2018.
  20. ^ "Team Transactions". arenafan.com. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2018.
  21. ^ a b DeCosta-Klipa, Nik (August 13, 2019). "Tom Grady was named the MVP of this year's Arena Bowl. Yes, you read that right". Boston.com. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  22. ^ McCarriston, Shanna (August 13, 2019). "Tom Grady wins Arena Football League Championship MVP and the Tom Brady jokes commence". CBS Sports. Retrieved May 30, 2025.
  23. ^ "Quarterback says Albany Empire was 'worst experience' last season". Times Union. October 13, 2021.
  24. ^ "National Arena League suspends Tommy Grady for ripping Albany Empire". Times Union. October 15, 2021.
  25. ^ @AlbanyEmpireNAL (October 15, 2021). "Official statement from the Albany Empire and the NAL" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  26. ^ "Tommy Grady". arenafan.com. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
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