Tom Brady doesn’t let his superstardom impact the way he carries himself. Just ask one of his former teammates.

Chris Long on Saturday called it a career after 11 NFL seasons. One of Long’s three pit stops was New England, with whom the now-former defensive end won his first career Super Bowl. Long gushed over the Patriots organization while catching up with NBC Sports’ Peter King, whose latest Football Morning In America column included a nugget about Long’s first encounter with Brady.

“Tom Brady blew me away,” Long told King. “Who’s the most famous athlete of our generation: Tom Brady? LeBron? Messi? Ronaldo? Serena Williams? Maybe I haven’t been around enough to know how the biggest stars really act. But Brady is a normal guy. When I got there, here comes Tom. ‘Hey Chris, I’m Tom, nice to meet you.’ Well, yeah, I know you’re Tom. A lot of people want to hate him for all the success, and I understand how you can dislike the Patriots, but I cannot understand how you can dislike Tom.”

Fondness for Brady isn’t limited to the quarterback’s past and current teammates either. One of the league’s most vaunted pass rushers, Denver Broncos star Von Miller, recently admitted that it’s “extremely hard not to like” the six-time Super Bowl champion.

We’ll have to wait and see what’s next for Long as he ventures into post-football life. As for Brady, he’s set to embark on his 20th NFL season with a seventh Super Bowl title on his mind.

Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images