It feels like forever ago, but there was a time when the prospect of Tom Brady playing in the NFL until he’s 45 years old seemed like a lofty goal. It took speculation and leaked emails to settle on that number.
That goal, it turns out, wasn’t ambitious enough.
Brady, who turned 44 in August, is coming off another Super Bowl title and has the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looking like a championship contender again. With the notion of Brady playing until 45 looking like a certainty now, he’s raising the bar yet again for when he will finally retire from pro football.
How about six more years of Tom Brady?
🚨 TOMMY & GRONKY IS BACK 🚨@TomBrady and @RobGronkowski answer the internet’s most searched questions…
Full episode ➡️ https://t.co/NjmQVZsEFu pic.twitter.com/kw2ME7yKSx
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) September 16, 2021
In the latest edition of the Bucs’ “Tommy & Gronky” show, Rob Gronkowski read a question about whether Brady could play until he’s 50. And even while taking a somewhat lighthearted approach to the question, Brady didn’t seem like it would be all that farfetched to play another six years.
He said:
“Seems to be a really hot question lately: ‘Can Tom Brady play until 50?’ Like, 50 years old. … I don’t find it so difficult. Plus, in Florida, it’s kind of a retiree state, so I feel like I can play and then just glide into retirement. I think I can. I think it’s a yes.”
Bucs GM Jason Licht told Rich Eisen back in May that he thought Brady — if he wanted to — would be able to play until he’s 50. Assuming Brady stays healthy and has the desire, it’s going to be tough to rule out any age shy of 50 for him.
We’ll see what happens in six years.
