Tom Brady will be 44 years old when the NFL season begins in September, but he's not planning on calling his football career quits following the upcoming campaign, according to his trainer, Alex Guerrero, on an appearance on the Adam Schefter Podcast. Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to defend their Super Bowl title, he's seeking his eighth title.
Guerrero said that he expects Brady to play at least two more seasons, which would be through the 2022 campaign, when his contract expires.
“I know from my perspective that I want to honor my promise to him in helping him with his goal. If his goal changes, no problem,” Guerrero said. “If he says, ‘Hey, I think I’m gonna call it a day,’ then great. No problem. I would 100 percent support that.
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"But in my mind, I’m trying to prepare him to do that. I thought about this year two years ago. I try to keep his body three years ahead of where we’re gonna be. So I’m thinking about not just next year but I’m thinking about, ‘Well what if he feels so good at 45 and wants to play at 46?’ I don’t know, so I better plan. I better plan to think about how I need to get his body prepared for 46 or 47. Like, I don’t know. It might be 45. It might be 44. But I just know that I want to hold up my end of the bargain at working hard to support his goal of playing to 45.”
Schefter, in making sure he had his facts straight, followed up and asked if it's fair to say he's expected to be playing at least two more seasons.
"Yeah, I expect him to play this year and next year," Guerrero replied.
Brady has long targeted continuing his career until he's at least 45 years old, and as that age nears, it's becoming more and more clear that it's a realistic goal.
“I think when we first got together, and I asked him how long he wanted to play for, and he said to 45," Guerrero said. "And I said great, then that’s what we’re going to do. And so I think the biggest accomplishment for me will come probably if we make it through age 45. Because that’s what his goal was, and I think that will probably be the proudest moment for me, to say, ‘Hey, we actually did it. One of your goals was to play until 45, and we did it.’ So that’ll be a proud moment."
Brady is the NFL's most decorated player, and holds countless league records. He has been named Super Bowl MVP five times and NFL MVP on four occasions. He has made the Pro Bowl roster 14 times and been named first-team All-Pro three times.
During his college days, Brady was Michigan's starter for two seasons, beginning 25 games in 1998 and '99, and completing 61.9 of his passes for 4,773 yards in his career. He went 20-5 as the starting signal-caller, beat Ohio State in 1999 and led the Wolverines to a thrilling overtime victory over Alabama to cap off that same season. Brady was also a part of the Wolverines' 1997 national championship team and won two Big Ten titles.
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