Matt Hasselbeck has been where Tom Brady is now

History always will think first of Johnny Unitas as a Colt, Joe Namath as a Jet, Joe Montana as a 49er, Brett Favre as a Packer and, yes, Tom Brady as a Patriot.

But take it from someone who knows as a fellow member of the club of NFL quarterbacks who spent a decade or more in one place, then moved on: There sometimes is more to a player’s story than that.

Matt Hasselbeck, who was the Seahawks’ quarterback from 2001-10, then spent his final five seasons with the Titans and Colts, said he was struck by that on visits to Kansas City as an ESPN analyst.

“It’s being in their equipment room, seeing autographed Joe Montana jerseys, or sitting with their equipment guy and having him tell stories about when Montana was there,” Hasselbeck said, “or spending time with [Cowboys coach] Mike McCarthy, him telling me about his first-ever [NFL] coaching position under Marty Schottenheimer in Kansas City and he’s a kid from Pittsburgh coaching Joe Montana.

“The impact that Joe Montana was able to have on so many people within that Chiefs organization, some are still there and some are elsewhere, it’s just really amazing.”

Hasselbeck experienced it for himself in 2004 when Jerry Rice joined the Seahawks for the final half-season of his career.

“People were, like, disappointed that he even played for us and disappointed he wore Steve Largent’s [retired] number [80],” Hasselbeck said.

“But the impact that he had on all of us, he was just one of those guys we had looked up to and heard about, and the opportunity to share a locker room with him and throw a couple of touchdown passes to him, all that kind of stuff, it makes the whole journey even that much more rewarding.”

So even as someone who lives in Boston and understands the ties Brady has to the area, he believes No. 12’s late-career move to the Buccaneers will be good for all concerned.

“It’s a great human story and it’s also great for that organization,” Hasselbeck said. “I know people here in Boston where I live are probably distraught and confused . . . But I think it’s going to be a valuable, rewarding experience not just for Tom Brady and his family but even for all the other people that will now get to play with him.”

Hasselbeck, who played until he was 40, said he has no doubt that Brady will be physically up to the task at age 43, especially given modern nutrition and exercise.

“I would argue that Tom Brady is faster now than he was 10 years ago,” he said. “I would argue that in some ways he is in better shape than he was 10 years ago.

“Just knowing the way he trains, the way he uses nutrition, that’s an area where the NFL is behind. When I came into the league, the pregame meal was ice cream sundaes and they would serve beer at the pregame meal. Guys would drink a couple of beers before they went to bed.

“After the game, they would give you a hamburger and two Miller Lites on your seat. I probably played with guys who were smoking cigarettes early on.”

Ten years ago, Hasselbeck found himself asked so often in interviews about the fact that he soon would turn 35 that he used it to promote a charitable effort to build a clean water well in Africa by asking for $35 contributions for his birthday.

“It was on the premise of people saying, ‘If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me this,’” he said. “I was like, ‘OK, if I had $35 for every time someone asks me this . . . ’ ”

He eventually landed with the Titans in 2011 and, at age 36, had one of the better statistical years of his career, with 3,571 passing yards and 18 touchdown passes.

“It was partly because I was invigorated with the new challenge, but also maybe even more than that, I had to prove myself all over again,” he said. “I wasn’t in a locker room of coaches and players I had been in the fire with before. It was like, ‘Hey, it’s now time to prove basically whatever reputation you think you have built.’ ”

Hasselbeck recalled talking to Brett Favre, his former teammate in Green Bay, about leaving the Packers for the Jets in 2008.

“I remember him telling stories like, ‘You wouldn’t believe what happens. The coaching staff does it different here!’ ” Hasselbeck recalled.

Among other things, coaches quizzed Favre on the names, numbers and backgrounds of his new teammates.

“When he was in Green Bay, he didn’t have to worry about knowing everybody’s name; everyone just had to know his name,” Hasselbeck said.

Brady is about to experience a similar sense of disorientation.

“It’s going to be challenging,” Hasselbeck said. “It’s going to feel unique. You’re going to miss some of the things the Patriots do so well, but I think he’s also going to feel invigorated by the challenge and invigorated by the amount of respect that’s going to come from it.

“Already I’ve heard so many reports of all these free agents that had no interest in signing with Tampa have told their agents, ‘I’ll take a little less to go to Tampa.’ I think there’s that buzz and that excitement.”

Even if Brady does not succeed to the extent some others have — Montana reached an AFC Championship Game with the Chiefs — Hasselbeck argues the experience alone for him and others will be worth it.

He said that just this past week he spoke to a displaced NFL starter and encouraged him to enjoy whatever comes next.

“I just told him, ‘Listen, I was the starter for 10 years in Seattle and it was amazing, just amazing,’ ” Hasselbeck said. “You can’t imagine a better experience. And I would have never, ever chosen to leave Seattle. I wanted to finish my career there . . . But that really just wasn’t the plan for my life.

“Even though I would have chosen to stay in Seattle, I can’t imagine my life or my family’s life without the relationships we built in Nashville or Indianapolis.”

Hasselbeck acknowledged that Brady’s process will be helped by joining what he called a “rivalry-benign” team, as he did in choosing the Titans over the 49ers in 2011.

It is better that Brady landed in Tampa, not Miami, as had been rumored.

“Living here, him going to the Bucs [for Bostonians] is kind of like, ‘Yeah, I can get behind the Bucs,’ ” Hasselbeck said. “Had it been the Dolphins, it’s twice a year, prime time . . . ’’

His voice trailed off, but the message was clear: That would have been too weird.

By Neil Best

Special to Newsday@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.