Tom Brady has previously stated that he's aiming to play until he's 45-years-old or even maybe a touch longer.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht has said he'd let the ageless champion play until he's 50.
Even for the all-time great, that might be stretching it a bit, however. Brady has two seasons left on his recently signed extension with the Buccaneers and intends to make a decision on what's to become of the most successful career in NFL history after that.
"50? That's a long time. Even for me, that's a long time," Brady told USA Today recently, via Jori Epstein. "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."
Though Brady is 43 years old in real-world human years, he's somehow defied logic and looks and performs as though he's much younger -- like many of his teammates and opponents he's regularly outperforming.
When he and the Buccaneers kick off the 2021 campaign looking for a repeat Super Bowl season, Brady will play his age-44 season. On top of looking for his eighth Super Bowl championship and the Bucs' second in a row, his personal record collection is set to grow.
With Drew Brees having retired this offseason, Brady is now closing in on becoming the NFL's leader in career passing yards, as he needs 1,155 to pass Brees' 80,358 yards. He's already ahead of Brees and holds the top spot for career touchdown passes at 581, but can not only build upon that mark and its margin, but become the first to hit 600 TD passes after becoming the second to reach 80,000 passing yards.
Brady can also become just the fourth quarterback in league chronicle to defeat all 32 teams if he's able to lead the Bucs to a victory in Week 4 against the Patriots in what is poised to be the most anticipated regular-season game of the year.
So, there's plenty to look ahead to for the 2021 season -- and the 2022 campaign. As for a possible 2023 run and an age-46 season?
"I'll just have to evaluate all that when it comes," Brady said. "It's a physical sport; anything could happen. So I'm going to go out there this year and give everything I've got like I've done every other year, and then take it from there."
