Brady playing to 50 is once again becoming a thing.

In October of 2015, Sports illustrated quoted Tom Brady saying he wanted to play another decade. With Brady saying quote, "I’d like to play a long time, yeah, a long time. There’s a lot that goes into playing well. I’ve played with a lot of great teammates, but I want to play for a long time. Maybe 10 more years. I think that’s probably what my goal is.”

Something happened after Brady made those comments. In May of 2017, Brady spoke with ESPN. Here's what he told them. ""I always said my mid-40s, and naturally that means around 45. If I get there and I still feel like I do today, I don't see why I wouldn't want to continue.

If you said 50, then you can say 60, too, then 70. I think 45 is a pretty good number for right now. I know the effort it takes to be 40. ... My love for the sport will never go away. I don't think at 45 it will go away.”

The Patriots were trying to force Brady into retirement is what happened. They had Jimmy Garoppolo, who was set to take over the team. Brady who had always played on his terms, was having the team dictate his career. Even after the Garoppolo trade, Brady was unhappy, and 45 was still the number talked about.

Fast forward to 2021, Brady is in his second year with the Buccaneers and happy again. Jason Licht the Buccaneers general manager spoke about Brady on the Rich Eisen show. Here's what Licht said.

“I told him if he wants to play until he’s 50, and he’s still playing and he feels like he can still play, he can play until he’s 50."

Brady has done his best to set his name in the NFL. We have seen records fall. Dan Marino, Brett Farve, Joe Montana, and  Peyton Manning have all seen records fall to Brady, Brees and others. 

There are two records that it's nearly impossible for a quarterback to get to in the modern NFL. Steve Debergs & Vinny Testaverde both started at age 44. And George Blanda played 19 seasons as a quarterback and retired at age 48 having to convert to kicker. While Starting at age 44 might be breakable, if Brady can Break Blanda's record of playing to 48 without switching positions, it's doubtful any quarterback will ever break that. Thus Tom Brady's name will likely hold a record for 50 years after he retires.