Could Tom Brady really play into his late 40s?
One Hall of Famer thinks that goal is unrealistic.
Brady, who will enter his 21st NFL season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at age 43 after a 20-year stint with the New England Patriots, hasn’t shown signs of slowing down. The quarterback even explained Wednesday morning during an interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM Radio that he’s going to continue playing for as long as he feels he still is able to do so — regardless of how many people tell him to stop.
While Shannon Sharpe didn’t exactly tell Brady to “stop” playing Wednesday on FS1’s “Undisputed,” the former NFL tight end doubts the six-time Super Bowl champion will last as long as he thinks.
“There is a zero percent chance that Tom Brady is going to be playing in the National Football League at the age of 48,” Shannon Sharpe said Wednesday. “Now I think the oldest (quarterback), Vinny Testaverde, started seven games at the age of 44, I think Warren Moon started a few games at the age of 44. But Tom Brady is talking about being a full-time starter.
“He needs to get past 43. He needs to play his 21st season, and see how that turns out and reassess it after that.”
"There's a 0% chance that Tom Brady will be playing in the NFL at the age of 48. He needs to get past 43…He was looking too far into the future and that probably rubbed Belichick the wrong way."@ShannonSharpe on Tom Brady wanting to play into his late 40's pic.twitter.com/ZCFQvnZdFB
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) April 8, 2020
While Sharpe takes more of a year-to-year approach in Bill Belichick-fashion, some believe Brady could do just the opposite and play into his late 40s. ESPN’s Ian O’Connor went on record this week with a bold prediction for when the quarterback will retire, and it’s much later than Sharpe suggests.
For now, all we know is Brady will spend the next two seasons with the Buccaneers. But it wouldn’t be surprising if he comes up with another plan for his future while he’s there, seeing as Brady knew last offseason he’d probably leave New England after the 2019 campaign.
