Tom Brady loves to play football. The New England Patriots quarterback just won a Super Bowl and will be the cover boy for the new "NFL Madden 18" video game. All this is happening as Brady prepares to turn 40 before the 2017 NFL season begins. While Tom is at the age where most NFL players decide to retire, he said in a recent ESPN interview that he believes he can play for many more years, possibly into his late 40s.
Tom Brady's comments about retirement
Tom Brady said that the most important thing for him is to retire on his own terms. Brady said he doesn't want the New England Patriots to cut or trade him and he will end things the way he wants to.
Brady said he believes he can play even past the age of 45, which is almost unheard of in the NFL. Brady also said his wife supports this so there might be nothing holding him back as long as he can still play at a high level.
Tom Brady's goals in the NFL
Tom Brady never came out and said it, but he seems to have the goal of becoming the greatest of all-time, regardless of sport. The Madden cover already lists Brady as the G.O.A.T. and that talk started after Tom won his fifth Super Bowl title for the New England Patriots. That is more than any other NFL quarterback has ever won, making his claim arguably true for the NFL.
However, there are other sports heroes, and one of them who legitimately can stake the claim as greatest of all-time is Michael Jordan, who won six NBA titles in his career with the Chicago Bulls (along with Scottie Pippen).
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar also won six titles. Few teams have as good a chance of winning a sixth Super Bowl title as Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The next best thing is LeBron James in the NBA, who has only won three titles.
Oldest NFL Quarterbacks
Fans remember how fast peyton manning's NFL career came to an end. Peyton Manning was an NFL MVP and leading the Denver Broncos to the playoffs one year and then his career basically came to an end the next.
Injuries at his age caused his skills to suddenly collapse and his career ended after winning his last Super Bowl. He was younger than Tom Brady is right now.
Here are the names of the quarterbacks who played beyond the age of 40 in the NFL, and their careers were not promising. Mark Brunell spent most of his career with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but spent his last few seasons as a backup, retiring at the age of 41. Other names include Doug Flutie (43), Earl Morrall (42), Vinny Testaverde (44), Warren Moon (44), Steve DeBerg, and George Blanda (48).
