Tom Brady never has been one to put a hard date (or age) on retirement, but that won't stop him from making guesses about how long he will play in the NFL.
The 44-year-old once said age 45 would be ideal to play until. He sounded pretty serious about playing until his mid-40s back in 2016 when he was 39, and he'll enter his age-45 season next year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Brady already has accomplished a slew of milestones in his 22-year career, including seven Super Bowl wins with his most recent coming just last season in his first campaign with the Bucs, and since has changed his tune to "I'll retire at 45" to "I'll know when it's time to hang up the cleats."
He won't be 45 until next August, but does the surefire Hall of Famer think he can play out of his 40s and hit 50?
"I don't find it so difficult," Brady recently said during his "Tommy & Gronky" segment with Rob Gronkowski. "Plus in Florida, it's kind of a retiree state, so I feel like I can play and just glide into retirement. I think I can. I think it's a yes."
Brady is under contract with the Bucs through the 2022 season and will be about six months away from turning 46, assuming Tampa Bay makes it to the playoffs. Of course, he will need a few new contracts if he wants to play until he reaches half a century, and that probably would be his most impressive milestone.
For what it's worth, Bucs general manager Jason Licht is open to that very idea.
