Photo: Timothy Nwachukwu
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is now addressing the possibility of playing at age 55.
While speaking with Amazon's Hannah Storm and Andrea Kramer ahead of Thursday's 28-22 win against the Philadelphia Eagles, the 44-year-old mentioned the possibility of playing another decade for the first time publicly.
"I really think I can play as long as I want,” Brady said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “I really do. I could literally play until I’m 50 or 55 if I wanted to. I don’t think I will obviously . . . my physical body won’t be the problem. I think it’ll just be, I’m just missing too much of life with my family.”
Last month, during the first episode of the YouTube Q&A show Tommy and Gronky -- co-hosted alongside longtime former New England Patriots and current Buccaneers teammate Rob Gronkowski -- for the 2021 NFL season, Brady said he thought playing through age 50 was a possibility.
"I don't find it so difficult," Brady said. "Plus, in Florida, it's kind of a retiree state, so I feel like I can play and then just glide into retirement. I think I can, I think it's a yes."
In June, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said he'd let the Brady play until he's 50, but the quarterback said he was focused on completing the remainder of his contract before making a decision on his football future after signing a two-year extension in March.
"50? That's a long time. Even for me, that's a long time," Brady told USA TODAY via Jori Epstein in response to Licht's comment. "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 threw for 297 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception on 34 of 42 passing Thursday night, extending his NFL records for career passing yards (81,268) and touchdowns (598) after experiencing an injury to his throwing hand thumb last week.
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