Tom Brady Shares Thoughts on Playing Until He’s 50

Tom Brady has no plans of retiring soon, but we may know when he will call it a career. Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht recently said he told Brady he thinks the seven-time Super Bowl champion can play until he’s 50. Brady, 43, recently spoke to Jori Epstein of USA Today and said he’s not too sure about playing for another seven years.

“50? That’s a long time. Even for me, that’s a long time,” Brady said, per Pro Football Talk. “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 lives a healthy lifestyle, but playing until he’s 50 will be a little challenging since he would be going up against defenders who would be half his age. However, when talking to reporters before the Super Bowl earlier this year, Brady is willing to play past 45 years old.

“Yeah definitely,” he said. “I would definitely consider that. It’s a physical sport, and just the perspective I have on that is you never know when that moment is. …There’s a lot of training that goes into it. It has to be a 100% commitment for myself to keep doing it. I’ve been fortunate over the years.” Brady was able to have a strong 2020 season, his first with the Buccaneers, which was one of the reasons the team won the Super Bowl. And while Brady is still having too much fun playing the game he loves, he did admit retiring scares him a little bit.

“I have a lot to give,” Brady said on Hodinkee Radio, which is a wristwatch outlet that he is invested in. “I think there’s a lot of time and energy still focused on being a great quarterback, that when that’s done, although I’m a little fearful of it ending, I am open to the belief that there will be a lot of opportunities for me to do things that I haven’t had a chance to do that I really think I can help a lot of people.”