Thomas Grady (born March 18, 1985) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who primarily played in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL). After a standout high school career at Edison High School, Grady signed with the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

to continue his football career. After a lack of playing time for two years, Grady transferred to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. While at Utah, Grady saw limited action again, making only three starts in his career. After being passed on in the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

, Grady signed with the

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgs The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an arena football team. The team began play as a 2004 expansion team of the Arena Football League's minor league af2 before becoming a member of the AFL in 2010. Formerly a tenant of the Ford Center from 2004 ...

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

in 2009. When the Yard Dawgs transitioned into the

, Grady was re-signed and led the Yard Dawgs to a 6–10 record. In 2011, Grady signed with the

Utah Blaze The Utah Blaze was a professional arena football team based in Salt Lake City, Utah and competed in the West Division (AFL), West Division of the Arena Football League. Home games were played at the EnergySolutions Arena. In 2013, the team did ...

, where he threw for 107 touchdowns while leading the Blaze to a 9–9 record, just missing the playoffs. After re-signing for the 2012 season, Grady posted the greatest single season for a quarterback in AFL history. He set single season records for touchdown passes (142) and passing yards (5,863), while also tying a single-game record with 12 touchdown passes against the

Cleveland Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

. He re-signed with the Blaze in 2013 to a three-year maximum contract.

Early life

On July 8, 2003, Grady committed to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. Grady chose Oklahoma over offers from

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

College career

Oklahoma

Grady began his college career at the

, He redshirted in 2003, and watched from the sidelines as starter Jason White won the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

. As White's backup in 2004, Grady completed 12 of 14 passes for 63 yards and one touchdown.

Utah

Grady transferred to the

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 Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

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

College career statistics

Professional career

Grady was rated the 35th best quarterback in the

by NFLDraftScout.com.

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz

In 2009, after training camp with the Miami Dolphins, Grady played for the

Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz The Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz were an arena football team. The team began play as a 2004 expansion team of the Arena Football League's minor league af2 before becoming a member of the AFL in 2010. Formerly a tenant of the Ford Center from 2004 ...

. In 2010, Grady was re-signed by the Yard Dawgz. He was the starter for the Yard Dawgz in its only season in

. He led the team to a 6–10 record.

Utah Blaze

In 2011, Grady signed with the

. 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. 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 Christopher J. Greisen (born July 2, 1976) is a former American football quarterback who played professionally the National Football League (NFL) for the Arizona Cardinals, Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys and current coach for West De Pere ...

. Grady's play during the season landed him the

Arena Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award The Arena Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award is given annually by the Arena Football League (AFL) to the offensive player of the AFL believed to have had the most outstanding season. Multiple-award winners include Eddie Brown, Aa ...

. Grady also broke Greisen's record of passing yards in a single season, with 5,870. During a July 13 game against the

, Grady threw 12 touchdown passes, tying an AFL single-game record. Grady re-signed with the Blaze on November 1, 2012 to a three-year maximum.

Pittsburgh Power

Grady was assigned to the

Pittsburgh Power The Pittsburgh Power were a professional arena football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The team belonged to the East Division of the American Conference (AC) in the Arena Football League (AFL). Founded in 2011, the Power ...

on September 6, 2013 after he was selected in the dispersal draft of the Chicago Rush and Blaze players. The Power folded after the 2014 season.

Jacksonville Sharks

On January 20, 2015, Grady was assigned to the

Jacksonville Sharks The Jacksonville Sharks are a professional indoor football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, playing their home games at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. Beginning in 2017, the Sharks began play as charter members of the National Arena Leag ...

. On October 14, 2016, Grady was assigned to the

Washington Valor The Washington Valor were a professional arena football team based in Washington, D.C. that played in the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2017 to 2019. The team's home arena was the Capital One Arena. The Valor were owned by Monumental Sports an ...

during the dispersal draft after Jacksonville chose to leave the

. However, on November 29, 2016, Grady elected to remain with the Sharks in the newly-created

National Arena League The National Arena League (NAL) is a professional indoor football league that began play in 2017. It consists of teams based on the East Coast of the United States. Teams' typical payroll budget is $600,000 per season, while players are paid $ ...

for the 2017 season. He suffered a season-ending foot injury on April 24, 2017, against the

Monterrey Steel The Monterrey Steel was a professional indoor football team and a charter member of the National Arena League (NAL) that played in the 2017 season. Based in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, the Steel played their home games at Arena Monterrey. The Stee ...

. Grady played in five games for the Sharks in 2017, completing 71 of 113 passes for 1,060 yards, 23 touchdowns, and 1 interception. On August 14, 2017, Grady signed with the Sharks for the 2018 season, but left the team during the preseason.

Albany Empire

On April 2, 2018, Grady returned to the AFL with the expansion Albany Empire. He led the team to the best regular season record and was named the All-Arena team, but lost in the semifinals to two-win

. He stayed with the Empire for the 2019 season and defeated the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often feat ...

ArenaBowl XXXII ArenaBowl XXXII was 32nd and final ArenaBowl and the championship game of the 2019 Arena Football League season. The game took place on August 11, 2019, with kickoff at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN2. It featured the winners of the two semifinals, the N ...

, giving Grady his first Arena Bowl championship. Grady won the Most Valuable Player Award in 2018 and 2019. 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 made the All-NAL Second Team, as well as leading the team to the 2021 championship. 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. He was subsequently suspended indefinitely by the league because of his public statements about the team, which the league claimed to be false.

AFL statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

NAL statistics

References

External links

Utah bio

Utah Blaze bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grady, Tommy 1985 births Living people American football quarterbacks Utah Utes football players Pittsburgh Power players Utah Blaze players Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz players Sportspeople from Huntington Beach, California Players of American football from California Oklahoma Sooners football players Jacksonville Sharks players Washington Valor players Albany Empire (AFL) players