Tom Brady Still Plans To Play Two More Years, According To Alex Guerrero
BOSTON (CBS) -- Going back several years, Tom Brady has stated seemingly 6 million times that he hopes to play until at least age 45. As it turns out, he was being as honest as possible.
With the Buccaneers reworking Brady's contract this offseason to keep him on board through 2022, the writing is officially on the wall for Brady to wrap up his NFL career after his age 45 season. While the door may still be open for Brady to continue playing at that point, it feels safe to assume the QB will indeed stop playing at some point in his life, and age 45 feels like a solid stopping point.
Alex Guerrero -- Brady's trainer, business partner, and close confidante -- essentially confirmed that feeling when he spoke on Adam Schefter's podcast.
"I mean yeah, I expect him to play this year and next year," Guerrero said when asked by Schefter if Brady will indeed play through age 45.
Guerrero said that goal could always change, but his focus has always been about keeping his promise to Brady to help him play through that age 45 season.
"I think when we first got together, and I asked him how long he wanted to play for, and he said to 45. 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," Guerrero said.
Guerrero did say that in his mind, he's at least planning for the possibility of Brady playing longer.
"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. But in my mind is 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."
While the career of anyone playing contact sports is always one play away from being altered dramatically, it is at least known beyond any reasonable doubt that Brady fully intends to play the next two seasons in the NFL.
As for Guerrero's goal in helping Brady get there, he said his job is to help strengthen and prepare Brady physically, emotionally, and mentally.
"Nurturing all three elements of an athlete I think is, in my experience, really important in helping them sustain peak performance and do what they love doing for as long as they want to do it," he said.
On Brady, Guerrero added: "I'm proud of everything he's accomplished. He's just such a beautiful human being. He's a remarkable man. And we've just become so close. So I'm really -- there's a lot of pride in just about everything he does. I take a lot of pride in that. Because he's so humbling, he's so amazing."