Tom Brady names the only NFL player who ever scared him originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Tom Brady is staying busy in retirement. The seven-time Super Bowl champion holds a 5% minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, a franchise currently valued at $7.7 billion.
He’s already taking a hands-on role in their rebuild. During the NFL Combine, he even called into an interview with quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who the Raiders later took with the first overall pick.
Outside of the front office, Brady recently appeared in a video with fitness YouTuber Jesse James West, whose video “Living With Tom Brady For A Day” has already racked up nearly 871,000 views in just one day, for a gym session that gave fans a candid look at the GOAT’s world.
During the workout, West asked Brady if he ever feared a specific player. Brady didn’t hesitate to name Ray Lewis. He admitted the linebacker genuinely intimidated him.
“Yeah. Ray Lewis,” Brady said. “He was a pain in my ass. Because not only was he physically so gifted, talk about like the all day juice he would bring, he would inspire all his teammates to be just like him.”
This isn’t the first time Brady has singled out Lewis. On Logan Paul’s podcast, he placed Lewis at the top of the list of players he dreaded being hit by, alongside Ndamukong Suh, J.J. Watt, and Haloti Ngata.
Lewis’ stat backs up the respect. Over 17 seasons, Lewis earned 13 Pro Bowl selections and two Defensive Player of the Year awards. He remains the only player in NFL history with at least 40 sacks and 30 interceptions.
The 48-year-old even joked that a clean sack from Lewis in a 2009 playoff game is still responsible for his shoulder pain today.
Brady and Lewis have since moved past their on-field rivalry. During a Fox Sports broadcast in late 2025, Brady explicitly said, “Ray wouldn’t always say the nicest thing to me. I’m glad we’re friends post-career. Not someone I want on my bad side.”
Today, Lewis is a Hall of Famer who works as a businessman and motivational speaker. Since joining Fox Sports in 2017, he has been a regular guest on programs like Undisputed and The Herd. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, his first year of eligibility.
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