Tom Brady has long reiterated his desire to play until he’s 45, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are open to him extending that window far beyond that.
During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show in May, Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht said that Brady has given the team “no inkling at all” about when he might retire.
“I told him if he wants to play until he’s 50, and he’s still playing and he feels like he can still play, he can play until he’s 50,” Licht told Eisen.
As for Brady, the 43-year-old quarterback isn’t so sure he’ll last that long.
“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.”
In March, Brady netted a one-year extension with Tampa Bay, signing a two-year, $50 million deal to keep him a Buccaneer through 2022. He would potentially be a free agent entering the 2023 season, when he will be 46 years old.
“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.”
