Tom Brady Reveals Why He Hasn’t Retired From NFL

Tom Brady has done everything an NFL player can do in a career. However, he has no plans to […]

June 25, 2021, 10:45am

Tom Brady has done everything an NFL player can do in a career. However, he has no plans to retire. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback recently appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden and was asked what motivates him to keep playing after being in the league for 21 seasons.

“It’s hard to walk away from something that you still feel like you can do and you want to do,” Brady said per NFL.com. “So it’s not about proving it to others what you can do, it’s more about proving it to yourself. And I still feel like even though I’ll be 44 this year, I still have a chance to still prove it to myself that I can still do it at 44, because I really worked to a point where I can still do it at this age.”

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The @TomBrady is 44 and still going for more! pic.twitter.com/hEsZTIb01e
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) June 24, 2021

Brady will turn 44 in August and signed a two-year contract extension with the Buccaneers. It’s very likely that Brady will play another two seasons if he can stay healthy. But it’s also likely Brady won’t be playing when he’s 50 years old.

“50? That’s a long time. Even for me, that’s a long time,” Brady said to USA Today earlier this month. “I’ve always said 45 was the age that I wanted to reach and that was my goal. This year I’ll be 44, so next year I’ll be 45. I got a two-year contract. I’m going to be able to obviously play this year and God forbid anything happens but play next year and then see what happens after that. If I still want to keep playing, I might be able to do that. And if that’s enough, then that would be enough.”

Brady signed with the Buccaneers last year after spending 20 seasons with the New England Patriots. During his time in New England, Brady led the team to nine Super Bowl appearances with six Super Bowl wins. In his first season in Tampa Bay, Brady led the Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory, the team’s first since 2002. And what makes things interesting for Brady is all 22 starters from last year’s team are returning for the 2021 season. That doesn’t mean the Buccaneers are guaranteed a Super Bowl win, but it gives them a chance to do some big things this upcoming season.