Tom Brady willing to play in the NFL until he’s 46
By John Buhler
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is looking great at 40, and he apparently told Patriots owner Robert Kraft he could play until he’s 46 years of age.
Tom Brady’s most recent NFL game was also his best game. He helped the New England Patriots overcome a 25-point deficit to the Atlanta Falcons to win Super Bowl LI in overtime. That was also Brady’s last game of his 30s.
Since he takes such great shape of his body, only time will slow Brady down. At the NFL Owners Meetings in Phoenix, Patriots owner Robert Kraft told The Monday Morning Quarterback’s Albert Breer that Brady would “be willing to play another 6 or 7 years.”
Doing the math, that would mean Brady would want to play in the NFL during the 2023 season at age 46.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Tom Brady: "As recently as 2 or 3 days ago, he assured me that he'd be willing to play another 6 or 7 years."
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 27, 2017
Brady can play at a high level for at minimum another year or two. He rarely gets hit in the New England offense. Outside of the torn ACL he suffered in 2008, Brady has had a clean bill of health during his NFL career. Could he play until he’s 46? Well, he’s going to try.
To add some perspective to the notion of Brady until his mid-to-late 40s, that would mean his head coach Bill Belichick would be 71 years old if he retired from coaching in sync with Brady hanging up the spikes that year.
Brady’s backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo would be 32 years old that season. If Brady wishes to play that long and only for the Patriots, that would mean Garoppolo could be on his way out of Foxborough very quickly.
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Father Time will eventually catch up to Brady, but he is proving to be his biggest adversary in quiet some time. George Blanda, Steve DeBerg and Warren Moon know a thing or two about playing into their 40s. Let’s see how this next decade of Brady’s career goes.