What do Marino, Elway, Montana, and Young all have in common?

[borg]

They all retired at age 38. As did Fran Tarkenton. Dan Fouts retired at 36. Staubach at 37. Unitas made it to 40.
In the modern era, the only great to go the distance was Favre...41.
Brady will be 37 when his current contract ends. How will Belichick ,the practical economist and NFL historian, move forward in 2014?
My memory is a little foggy when it comes to remembering why these legends left the league. Marino lost any remaining mobility. How about the others?

 

[thechris]

Young & Montana were battling injuries. Elway left after he won the Super Bowl.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

They all retired at age 38. As did Fran Tarkenton. Dan Fouts retired at 36. Staubach at 37. Unitas made it to 40.
In the modern era, the only great to go the distance was Favre...41.
Brady will be 37 when his current contract ends. How will Belichick ,the practical economist and NFL historian, move forward in 2014?
My memory is a little foggy when it comes to remembering why these legends left the league. Marino lost any remaining mobility. How about the others?

Great question! I've tracked the stats for a while. Each QB HOFer has his own story, but the bottom line is that none have chosen to play beyond 38 (except for Favre and Moon) since the 1970's.

My takeaway is that it's a very rough game on QB's and that especially those with a lot to live for outside of football decide to pursue it while they still have their mental and physical health.

The average retirement age for an SB-era (i.e., played in the league at least one season after 1966) QB is 37.5. Here's the list, with no judgment as to who was or wasn't "great" and leaving Favre off only because he has to wait four more years:

Aikman, Troy 34
Bradshaw, Terry 35
Dawson, Len 40
Elway, John 38
Fouts, Dan 36
Griese, Bob 35
Jurgensen, Sonny 40
Kelly, Jim 36
Marino, Dan 38
Montana, Joe 38
Moon, Warren 44
Namath, Joe 34
Starr, Bart 37
Staubach, Roger 37
Tarkenton, Fran 38
Unitas, Johnny 40
Young, Steve 38

Average: 37.5
Median 38

Aikman retired early because of frequent head injuries, a very wise decision given what we now know. He had a great career ahead of him.

Bradshaw today suffers from short term memory loss but nominally retired early because of his arm problems. Another guy with a great career ahead of him.

Elway famously "quit at the top" after winning two straight rings and obviously had some long-term plans.

Fouts never had the tools around him that matched his skills and went on to a broadcast career.

Griese was plagued by injury late in his career and went on to broadcasting as well.

Kelly also quit near the top of his powers, but his decision was influenced heavily by the illness of his beloved son, RIP.

Marino. You covered him.

Montana's elbow injury is well-documented. He played well in Kansas City, but his skills were in decline.

Namath's knee gave out and he was having too much fun anyway to keep playing.

Staubach retired with the highest pass rating in the league in his final season and pursued a wide range of outside interests. It took the Cowboys 15 years to win their next SB.

Tarkenton's retirement was probably due as much to disappointment and fan animosity as anything else. He was never forgiven for not winning an SB.

Unitas was plagued by injury and ended his storied career in San Diego. I still consider him the best Colts QB ever. :singing:

Young was plagued by injuries towards the end of his career.

Dawson, Jurgensen and Starr were war horses from another era.

Warren Moon marched to the beat of a different drummer.

The rest mostly just quit at the top or near the top of their game, except for Moon.

 

[PatsWSB47]

They all retired with less rings than Brady will have by the time here retires:rocker:

 

[peterforpats]

They all retired with less rings than Brady will have by the time here retires:rocker:

from your mouth...............

 

[everlong]

They all played in eras where you really had to rough the quarterback to get a flag. Today's rules are on Brady's side.

Second today's passing game is out getting the ball out quickly not about the down the field passing game of eras of the past.

All that can change with one blindside hit but I like Brady and other QB's of today's chances of playing later into their careers.

 

[lurker1965]

Rule changes. Look up pictures of Y.A. Tittle bleeding from the head.
QBs in this era will be as long lived as kickers. (OK, that may be overstating it a little.)

QB longevity to 45 will not be unusual. Bye bye, Mallet fans.

 

[Deus Irae]

:confused2:

They all mock Brady for his goat picture and his hairstyle selections?

 

[Frezo]

They all played in eras where you really had to rough the quarterback to get a flag. Today's rules are on Brady's side.

Second today's passing game is out getting the ball out quickly not about the down the field passing game of eras of the past.

All that can change with one blindside hit but I like Brady and other QB's of today's chances of playing later into their careers.

Healthcare has improved. ACL/MCL injuries that may have ended a career 20 yrs ago are now very fixable.

Strength, conditioning and rehab is much improved.

Protective equipment is better.

 

[BlueThunder]

As long as the OL can protect TB....he will play another 4 years...maybe more.

The only thing that will stop him from playing will be an injury,



or Giselle

 

[borg]

Healthcare has improved. ACL/MCL injuries that may have ended a career 20 yrs ago are now very fixable.

Strength, conditioning and rehab is much improved.

Protective equipment is better.

Yet how many current QBs are on the back half of 30 and still making an impact? Of the top 32 QBs in passing yards last year, only one, Hasselback, is 35+. Toss in Peyton Manning....and the odds still are against late 30's success. Expecting Tom Brady to defy odds because he is Tom Brady....???....I know God is a Pats fan, but I do believe the other 31 teams utilize modern medicine and new training methods as well. Yet father time hits their guys without mercy.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yet how many current QBs are on the back half of 30 and still making an impact? Of the top 32 QBs in passing yards last year, only one, Hasselback, is 35+. Toss in Peyton Manning....and the odds still are against late 30's success. Expecting Tom Brady to defy odds because he is Tom Brady....???....I know God is a Pats fan, but I do believe the other 31 teams utilize modern medicine and new training methods as well. Yet father time hits their guys without mercy.

Collins is a recent retiree, but he went to the Pro Bowl at 36 and had his 3rd best QB rating at 38.

 

[Frezo]

Yet how many current QBs are on the back half of 30 and still making an impact? Of the top 32 QBs in passing yards last year, only one, Hasselback, is 35+. Toss in Peyton Manning....and the odds still are against late 30's success. Expecting Tom Brady to defy odds because he is Tom Brady....???....I know God is a Pats fan, but I do believe the other 31 teams utilize modern medicine and new training methods as well. Yet father time hits their guys without mercy.

A lot of the QBs you're referring to are simply not elite. They're run of the mill guys whose careers are extended with back up roles. Why would a team extend an average QB as a starter into his mid thirties even if his health is good? I can easily see elite QBs that still posses skills and talent having their careers extended by a year or two because of the reasons mentioned.

 

[borg]

Guys like Montana, Young, Elway were are better physical specimens than Brady...better athletes....yet they didn't last. I'll brag about Brady's athleticism over Marino though. But when you compare guys like Testeverde and Collins....just big strong sturdy dudes.
Of course this topic must include a conversation about preserving star status verses maintaining a paycheck.
For Brady....I see a two year extension being the answer

 

[Armchair Quarterback]

Yet how many current QBs are on the back half of 30 and still making an impact? Of the top 32 QBs in passing yards last year, only one, Hasselback, is 35+. Toss in Peyton Manning....and the odds still are against late 30's success. Expecting Tom Brady to defy odds because he is Tom Brady....???....I know God is a Pats fan, but I do believe the other 31 teams utilize modern medicine and new training methods as well. Yet father time hits their guys without mercy.

Yes.........exactly

 

[billdog3484]

we are also in a different age of the NFL. Qbs are protected to the max, so they dont get beat up as bad. i think we will start seeing guys playing till they are older because of the rule changes in favor of qBs.

 

[Fencer]

Concussions were often part of it.

Definitely in the case of Aikman. I think in the case of Young as well. It wasn't said in the case of Elway that I can recall, but it wouldn't surprise me for him too; he was pretty physical. Also, he had a teammate with terrible migraines, which we'd now just assume was head trauma related.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yet how many current QBs are on the back half of 30 and still making an impact? Of the top 32 QBs in passing yards last year, only one, Hasselback, is 35+. Toss in Peyton Manning....and the odds still are against late 30's success. Expecting Tom Brady to defy odds because he is Tom Brady....???....I know God is a Pats fan, but I do believe the other 31 teams utilize modern medicine and new training methods as well. Yet father time hits their guys without mercy.

The bolded is sort of the point, though, isn't it? It's mostly the elite QBs who continue as starters at a high level into their later years, after all. Favre has the longest consecutive games played streak in history, so it tells you that he could take the beating. Brady was working on a streak like that of his own (111 games) until his ACL injury, and he's played in 48 straight since his return.

 

[mayoclinic]

The bolded is sort of the point, though, isn't it? It's mostly the elite QBs who continue as starters at a high level into their later years, after all.

I would certainly think that there's a better chance that an "elite" QB like Brady stays effective into his late 30's than that a non-elite guy does. Conditioning, physical impairments and the will to compete play a huge role. Right now Brady seems to be in good shape on all 3 fronts, so I wouldn't put it past him. The last factor is huge. Brady has already defied the odds to a huge extent. As long as he stays healthy and maintains his competitive drive, there's not much I wouldn't put past him achieving.

 

[Deus Irae]

I would certainly think that there's a better chance that an "elite" QB like Brady stays effective into his late 30's than that a non-elite guy does. Conditioning, physical impairments and the will to compete play a huge role. Right now Brady seems to be in good shape on all 3 fronts, so I wouldn't put it past him. The last factor is huge. Brady has already defied the odds to a huge extent. As long as he stays healthy and maintains his competitive drive, there's not much I wouldn't put past him achieving.

Absolutely, plus the decline begins from a higher point to start with. QBs don't tend to drop off the table at the same rate as some other positions. It's not that it doesn't happen, it just doesn't seem to happen as often. Peyton seems to be a good example of this. He seems to have peaked from 2003-2007, but his decline after that hasn't made him a stiff by any stretch of the imagination, and some of that decline is likely a product of the overall decline of the Colts offensive personnel around him.

Brady, meanwhile, seems as if he's just hitting his peak since 2007 (and lost 2 years of it because of that knee injury) and is still riding that high crest.