Tom Brady says he feels better physically now than when he was younger

After 14 seasons playing quarterback in the NFL, you’d think that New England Patriots signal caller Tom Brady would be a shell of his former self, at least physically.

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Sure, Brady has benefited from a handful of impressive offensive lines that have kept him off the turf more than the vast majority of his counterparts, but every quarterback is going to take a beating after a decade and a half of professional football.

Despite that, the former Michigan product says he’s as healthy as he’s ever been, even suggesting to SI’s Peter King that he feels better now physically than he did when he was just 25-years-old.

“It’s hard to explain this to people, but the commitment I make, in terms of keeping my body in shape and my nutrition right, should make me healthy. I feel better today than when I was 25, and I know that’s hard for people to believe, but I do. I work at it. Basically, I work all off-season to prepare my body to not get hurt. I can’t help the team if I’m on the sidelines. I’ve got to be durable.”

Statistically that may be difficult for some to believe as the Super Bowl champion suffered a significant drop in numbers for the 2013 season, though, judging by the cast of wide receivers he was throwing to, the dip in production is understandable.

Still, despite Brady’s notion of health, some of the throws we used to see him make were a little less accurate and a touch shorter than before. We’ll see if Father Time is catching up with the iconic quarterback or if 2013 was simply a down year for the Patriots franchise player.