Tom Brady is going to turn 40 this August. For most athletes regardless of sport, this is long past the point where competing over the course of an entire season is feasible. For Brady, this is nothing, as the Patriots’ quarterback doesn’t plan on letting his age get in the way of his career.
Brady, who has expressed his desire to continue playing for a long time, has reportedly told Patriots owner Robert Kraft that he doesn’t see retirement on the horizon. According to Kraft, Brady plans on playing for another 6-7 years.
“As recently as 2-3 days ago, he assured me he’d be willing to play 6-7 more years,” Kraft told the Boston Herald. “At the level he performed, there’s no one that would be happier than I and our fan base. In some ways, you think about, I think there’s one player at the age of 40 who had one good year: (Brett) Favre for the Vikings. But he didn’t do so well before (turning 40). I think Tommy’s sustained excellence is just unbelievable, and it’s a lifestyle. He’s in training now. It’s not like he’s stopped. He works out.”
The oldest NFL player ever was George Blanda, who played until he was 48, and if Brady makes it another seven years, he’d join Blanda and Morten Andersen as the only players to take the field after their 47th birthday.
Of course, just because Brady plans on playing for another 6-7 years doesn’t really mean anything – there’s no way of knowing what Brady’s body will do even if he’s in great shape right now, and it’s possible that he moves his timetable for retirement up based on any number of factors. Maybe he’ll want to spend more time with his wife and children, or maybe he’ll decided to focus all his time towards selling meals that cost way too much money.
But we can’t really assume anything other than what the four-time Super Bowl MVP told Kraft, and for that reason, we should assume that Brady’s going to continue his NFL career through 2023 or 2024. Whether he’s able to keep up his current level of play and whether he’s still a Patriot by that time remains to be seen, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
(Via Boston Herald)
