Aside from being a six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady earned another distinction in his outstanding career. The 41-year-old Brady is now the remaining player from the 2000 NFL Draft following the recent retirement of long-time NFL kicker Sebastian Janikowski after 19 seasons in the NFL, which was reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN. The 41-year-old Janikowski spent all but one of his 19 NFL seasons in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors during his stint with the Silver and Black.
Since 2000, Janikowski was the highest kicker drafted, as he was taken 17th overall by the Raiders. Brady, for his part, was selected 199th overall by the Patriots.
Janikowski was a disappointment in his first season, but he regained his deadly form, making him one of the greatest kickers who ever played the game. In 2011, Janikowski tied the previous longest field goal made from 63 yards out. As the longest-tenured player in Raiders history, Janikowski played 268 games in Oakland before he left for the free agent market. He signed a one-year deal worth $2.015 million with the Seattle Seahawks in 2018, where he made 22 of 27 field goal attempts. Janikowski retired as the ninth on the NFL all-time list with 436 career field goals.
Per Schefter, Janikowski plans to turn into a cab driver, taking his three girls to school. According to Spotrac, Janikowski earned around $53 million in his career.
Brady now third-oldest player in the NFL
With Janikowski’s retirement, NBC Sports reported that Brady is now the second-oldest among active players at 41. Brady trails kicker Adam Vinatieri of the Indianapolis Colts, who will enter his 23rd NFL season at the age of 46.
Veteran kickers Phil Dawson and Matt Bryant, at 44 and 43, respectively, are older than Brady but they are currently both free agents and are still looking for teams to play for next season.
Despite his age, Brady plans to play at a high level until he’s 45 years old as he plans to make the Patriots the all-time winningest team in the NFL with seven Super Bowl titles, breaking a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
If he wins his seventh Super Bowl ring, Brady will take a two-title lead over any other player, which would be hard to surpass, according to Greg Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal..
Patriots' current QB situation
The Patriots drafted Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft as a possible successor to Brady. Currently, the Patriots have four quarterbacks in their roster. Aside from Brady, New England has backup Brian Hoyer, Danny Etling, and Stidham. If Stidham lives up to expectations in training camp, he has a chance to supplant Hoyer for the backup job. Now, Doug Kyed of NESN.com said Etling would be the odd man out and could be waived by the Patriots by mid-June or before training camp opens in late July. The Patriots still have time to develop Stidham as Brady plans to play for several more years before he hangs up his cleats for good.
