| In sports, we are obsessed with what comes next. That’s why mock drafts are as popular as drafts, why there is such a thing as a preseason All-American, why you might read a “way-too-early” power rankings for the next year before the current season is even over and why an outlet once (jokingly) guessed the outcome of the next 25 Super Bowls. Given our adoration of athletic crystal ball gazing, imagine this situation and cast your mind to how we’d react to it. There’s a hopeful young quarterback, in his first season with a new team. He’s played smart in a good system, backed by a great defense, and surprised everyone by out-dueling the league MVP and making it to the Super Bowl, where he’ll face big odds and the reigning champs. If it was the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen or the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert in this position, sure, we’d be talking about their chances of winning this year’s championship, but we’d be spending even more time talking about … what’s next? We’d be debating how good they were going to become, about their potential status as one of the figureheads of the league, prognosticating how the following few years might unfold. So why aren’t we doing it for Tom Brady? The average shelf life of an NFL player is 3.3 years, which means that in essence, as he gears up for arguably the most testing Super Bowl he has faced, Brady has had six careers. Knowing what we know about him, is it such an absurd notion that he’d have one more? “I would definitely consider that,” Brady, 43, said earlier this week, ahead of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ clash with the Kansas City Chiefs, when asked about prolonging his career past 45. “It’s a physical sport. You never know when that moment is.” Brady puts us in a weird spot, because for the last few years he’s confounded everything we thought we knew about quarterbacks at that stage of their career, and now he’s in uncharted waters so we’ve got nothing to go off. Except this. Assuming, as we now safely can, that Brady’s obsessive commitment to a hardcore health regimen means he feels as physically strong as say, your average 34-year-old QB, why would we think he couldn’t reproduce something similar to what he did this year once the 2021 campaign rolls around? And if he can match figures like 4,833 yards and 40 touchdowns, combined with the gravitas and calm he brings, and if he decided he wanted to carry on, why wouldn’t the Bucs rush to give him a new deal once his current, two-year, $50 million contract expires? The realities of life mean every player is always getting gradually closer to the end of their career, yet Brady is extending both his expiration date and the perception of when it is likely. In the battle of Tom vs. Time, Tom is winning, handily. If he truly does have his heart set on playing into the 2022 season and beyond, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him agree to a deal that was even more team friendly. These days, $25 million-per for a playoff-tested QB is the bargain of all bargains. When QBs get past a certain point their hunger and desire begin to be questioned, sometimes unfairly. There’s no use in doubting those things with Brady any longer, for he’s proved them just by still being here. “I think it’s a combustible mix of greatness and underdog, and you never see those things hit together,” FS1’s Kevin Wildes said, on First Things First. “The fact he has gotten older and older and older and he’s at the same time the best ever and an underdog – it’s a cycle of motivation that will keep him going to 45 and beyond.” Brady sticking around in Tampa a while longer could become a problem for the rest of the NFC. It is not outrageous to think that with an additional (and less disrupted) preseason, the Bucs offense could start to click even better and that Brady’s cohesion with big targets like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin will improve further. Brady is the finest QB thinker there has ever been and head coach Bruce Arians is learning to put certain pieces around him with careful timing. It’s not always what you’d expect, like when Scotty Miller exploded towards the end zone like an Olympic sprinter for that crucial pre-halftime touchdown against the Green Bay Packers. If the Tampa defense remains this good, Brady will usually be asked to do no more than what he’s capable of, which is the perfect situation for him. That’s the heart of this exercise in projection. For as long as he is able to play within his limits, on a team that knows how to make the most of what he’s got, there’s no reason to stop unless he wants to. Every QB’s time runs out eventually, but once you take away the physical part of it – remember Brady has been almost injury free – it changes the rules drastically. “This is the modern athlete, (benefitting from) modern science, technology,” former All-Pro Brandon Marshall said. “The game is different. If we were talking about a running back we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Brady has now been doing this so long that the sacrifices don’t feel like sacrifices anymore. Living healthy, getting tons of sleep, drinking lots of water, having a personal plant-based chef and adhering to a diet that most people couldn’t fathom? Brady actually likes that part and it won’t look markedly different when he’s done. When he’s done. Common wisdom said he’d be done already. Brady, you might have noticed, doesn’t care much for common wisdom. He’s thinking, even now, about what’s next. Here’s what others have said … Skip Bayless, Undisputed: “He’s the ultimate competitor, and just likes to compete at the highest level. It’s fun for him, it’s not pressure, there’s no relentless drudgery to his life right now.” Colin Cowherd, The Herd: “Tom Brady’s only true rival is time … and he’s beating that. He doesn’t need our help.” Nick Wright, First Things First: “If Tom Brady can maintain anywhere close to this, he can keep playing for a long time. I think everyone can agree with that … He seems to show no interest in anything else other than football, aside from TB12. It’s fascinating how maniacal he is in his focus. I don’t remember us seeing that in anyone else.” |
