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Cameron Brate on catching Brady's Lombardi toss: 'If I had dropped that? I think I would've had to retire'

Tom Brady enjoyed himself during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' boat parade celebrating the Super Bowl LV victory, the quarterback's seventh title.

At one point during the chug down Hillsborough River, Brady wanted to share the Lombardi Trophy with some of his teammates on another vessel.

What transpired probably gave a white-gloved Lombardi handler from the Hall of Fame a heart attack.

Brady steadied himself at the edge of his $2 million cruiser and heaved the hardware across the water.

The man on the other end, Cameron Brate, later admitted it was the most crucial catch of his career.

"If I had dropped that? I think I would've had to retire," Brate said of Brady's trophy pass, via the Tampa Bay Times. "That was amazing. He pointed it at me. We talked about it earlier. It was a great throw. I mean, what do you expect from Tom Brady? A great throw."

Brady's daughter, Vivian, imploring her father not to toss the Lombardi from the moving boat, yelling, "Dad, nooooo," is adorable.

If the 43-year-old's toss of the sterling silver trophy had been off the mark, he still has six more at home the club could have borrowed until it was fished from the river.

Like most times in Brady's career, the toss was spot on. Never a doubt.

On Thursday, Brate joined NFL Network's NFL NOW to discuss his big boat catch.

"Pretty ballsy move by Tom there," the tight end said of throwing the actual trophy.

"I had no idea he was going to throw it," Brate said. "I thought he was just kind of fake tossing it over, then all of the sudden it was up in the air. And I had to make a play. Big-time players make big-time plays. I was able to come through and not drop the trophy."

Brate said there wasn't time to be nervous or fumble the catch.

"It all happened so fast," he said. "I had a couple adult beverages at that point. I think that helped take some of the edge off. I wasn't feeling too nervous. I was just locked in on the trophy. ... I caught the football part of it, which is pretty nice. I guess it makes sense. That's what I'm used to, you know."

Brady seemed to have had his share of adult beverages as well, but Brate had no doubt that once TB12 decided to make the throw, it was going to be spot on.

"I don't think Tom was going to short-arm it," he said. "If there was going to be someone to mess it, it was going to be me on the catch. Tom is known for delivering great footballs, and he came through again."

What if the catch had been missed and the Lombardi began sinking to the bottom of the river?

"We would have definitely sacrificed Scotty (Miller) overboard first. He would put up the least resistance," Brate quipped of the speedy WR teammate.

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