How long is the window for Brady?

I honestly believe that the way Brady takes care of himself is going to make a difference, not just with his performance capabilities but with other concerns people have brought up, such as recovery from injury. It might seem simple to think that sleep and healthy eating is gonna let him play into his 40s, but it's pretty obvious most athletes, even the most uncommon of athletes, aren't as meticulous as Brady is being. It's amazing how much just racking up processed food and white breads keeps deleterious stuff in your system, derailing your metabolism and wrecking your whole physiology over time, or how careless 'exercise' does far more harm than good in the long-run (see Tiger Woods' knee and his dumbass Navy Seals cosplay or whatever).

Even if we appeal to some genetic variability, I marvel at how Brady has maintained a high level of play for so long now. I mean, Donovan McNabb was drafted just a year before him. Think about that. McNabb peaked from 2001-2004 and basically was downhill from there, until he became too fat and slow. Meanwhile judging from articles it sounds like Brady didn't even drink at the SB after party. Felger and One True Masshole can spew their bad jokes about avocado ice cream all they want, fact of the matter is that kind of **** does make a difference, and Brady knows it.

So basically, I'll give Brady the benefit of the doubt and say 5 years minimum. I also think, truly, that BB is personally rooting for TB to break all trends and to be in New England that long. But BB is pragmatic, Brady's 'down' 2013 year gave him pause (even though it was kinda BB's fault. I mean Austin Collie), and BB needed to be responsible to the franchise. Hence Garoppolo. Hence too why they have Brady's contract as such where he can probably leave the moment BB thinks he's done (and Brady presumably disagrees). There's clearly some sort of mutual understanding there.

tl;dr: Brady isn't doing "chicken parm you taste so good" cause he probably wouldn't eat some **** sandwich made in Pey Pey's kitchen.

Wrath Mania said:

I honestly believe that the way Brady takes care of himself is going to make a difference, not just with his performance capabilities but with other concerns people have brought up, such as recovery from injury. It might seem simple to think that sleep and healthy eating is gonna let him play into his 40s, but it's pretty obvious most athletes, even the most uncommon of athletes, aren't as meticulous as Brady is being. It's amazing how much just racking up processed food and white breads keeps deleterious stuff in your system, derailing your metabolism and wrecking your whole physiology over time, or how careless 'exercise' does far more harm than good in the long-run (see Tiger Woods' knee and his dumbass Navy Seals cosplay or whatever).

Even if we appeal to some genetic variability, I marvel at how Brady has maintained a high level of play for so long now. I mean, Donovan McNabb was drafted just a year before him. Think about that. McNabb peaked from 2001-2004 and basically was downhill from there, until he became too fat and slow. Meanwhile judging from articles it sounds like Brady didn't even drink at the SB after party. Felger and One True Masshole can spew their bad jokes about avocado ice cream all they want, fact of the matter is that kind of **** does make a difference, and Brady knows it.

So basically, I'll give Brady the benefit of the doubt and say 5 years minimum. I also think, truly, that BB is personally rooting for TB to break all trends and to be in New England that long. But BB is pragmatic, Brady's 'down' 2013 year gave him pause (even though it was kinda BB's fault. I mean Austin Collie), and BB needed to be responsible to the franchise. Hence Garoppolo. Hence too why they have Brady's contract as such where he can probably leave the moment BB thinks he's done (and Brady presumably disagrees). There's clearly some sort of mutual understanding there.

tl;dr: Brady isn't doing "chicken parm you taste so good" cause he probably wouldn't eat some **** sandwich made in Pey Pey's kitchen.

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Felger is already suggesting that Brady is on some sort of (cough cough) 'supplement'. Look for him to push that more next year.

This is the NFL. Brady's window is as short or long as the next guy.

The more appropriate time to discuss this is when his play declines due to physical limitations or he gets a major injury. Right now, he is as good as ever.

NormZauchin said:

Well, I'm in my 60's and I'm pretty sure (but not totally) that Brady can't play another 25 years.

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Xerostomia said:

Unfortunately I think the deciding factor will be if he gets injured on not. The biggest negative of 'older' players is that they will not heal quick enough. A nagging injury could worsen, not heal, and lead to greater injury. The other biggest negative is that they can have some outstanding games, but to do it week after week, if extremely difficult because the body does not heal fast enough. The Pats this year had the best schedule, with the bye coming at a good time, having a bye in the 1st week of the playoffs, and another bye for the superbowl. Brady probably benefited the most from that.

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In actuality, Brady said that he was as healthy at the end of the year as he's ever been and indicated that he felt as good as at the beginning of the year (read this in the long article about Brady that was linked in this forum that came out the day before the Super Bowl). So your premise appears to be totally wrong - as least as far is it pertains to Brady. Suggest you read the article as well as the SI article that came out in December.

wolverinejoe80 said:

why does he have to carry a team? we have a great team. and we can get better.

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Exactly. Carrying a team and being a key cog are different things.

My point is having a great defense and running game and not rely on TB to throw the ball 50 times to win is more what I had in mind.

looks pretty long...six feet maybe?

I think at least another 3 yrs and in those 3 yrs a legitmate shot at more SB Wins. After 3 yrs way he keeps his body and mechanics are still intact, who knows?!

It's PANORAMIC!

I didn't want to start a new thread for this, but just an interesting observation.

If we accept the premise that Superbowl contenders rarely draft a QB high, then it is unusual for a rookie QB being groomed to be an NFL starter to get his first SB ring in his first year like Garropolo did.

If we can have another run like the Pats did from 2001 -2004, then when Brady is ready to move on, we could have our QB already having 3 SB rings when he takes over.

I don't think that scenario has happened before; maybe when Steve Young took over from Montana?

patsinthesnow said:

It's tough to stick to what I said right after Garoppolo was drafted after seeing 37 year old Brady tear apart the LOB, but I'll do it anyway:



I'm still going with history that age 36-39 is where 95+% of QBs decline rapidly (exceptions are Favre and Moon). I also still believe in Jimmy G after what we've seen. Garoppolo will be our starting QB in 2016 and Brady will either be retired or in San Fran.

I guess I'll update this by saying if Brady goes back to back, maybe he retires Elway style with 5 rings.

Also, Brady is clearly our QB next year, but IMO we will have two starting caliber QBs in 2015 training camp: The best QB in the NFL and a solid starter. Jimmy G will be light years better than the disaster he was during last year's camp sessions I attended.

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The thing with BB replacing Garappolo with Brady is that it's NOT the same as when he replaced Bledsoe with Brady. (Or any other veteran BB dropped for that matter.)

JG could have Hall-of-Fame type ability, indeed a HOF career, and still not be a better option than an aging Brady. Brady is the best to ever play. So even if JG is awesome, Brady might always give us a significantly better chance to win. (This is no knock on JG- just a matter of fact with regard to how good Brady is.)

I'm excited about JG too- I think I'm going to love watching him play. I'm not convinced that's going to happen in NE, though, even though he's young and Brady's not.

The decline in his game has been marginal. Some might even argue that since this was his best year as far as using his legs to extend and even make plays. Has he shown some slow down? Yes. Is it enough to keep him from possibly hoisting another Lombardi? Hell NO!

rochrist said:

Felger is already suggesting that Brady is on some sort of (cough cough) 'supplement'. Look for him to push that more next year.

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Unbelievable. That show is the Jerry Springer of sports-radio. What a POS

3-4 more years. Brady is still at the top of his game and has shown no sign of decline but he really looked weary at the end of this season and I expect the toll of playing 20 game seasons too grow over the next few seasons. If he wins another one I think he will start thinking about hanging them,up but won't actually retire until after the 2017 season. Garrapolo will get to learn the way Rodgers did and will be ready to go when Brady hangs them up with 6 rings and the record for wins.

PATS16N0 said:

Unbelievable. That show is the Jerry Springer of sports-radio. What a POS

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Felger is cheating on his wife.

Ivan said:

Felger is cheating on his wife.

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He's also addicted to Oxycontin. Felger is a HUGE pill head.

PATS16N0 said:

lol @ this

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RobAllan said:

The thing with BB replacing Garappolo with Brady is that it's NOT the same as when he replaced Bledsoe with Brady. (Or any other veteran BB dropped for that matter.)

JG could have Hall-of-Fame type ability, indeed a HOF career, and still not be a better option than an aging Brady. Brady is the best to ever play. So even if JG is awesome, Brady might always give us a significantly better chance to win. (This is no knock on JG- just a matter of fact with regard to how good Brady is.)

I'm excited about JG too- I think I'm going to love watching him play. I'm not convinced that's going to happen in NE, though, even though he's young and Brady's not.

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Here's the thing, I just don't see how Brady is going to beat father time. Father time has beat everyone besides the greatest NFL ironman maybe ever (Favre) and a player who spent a good amount of time in the CFL (Moon).

Look at just this last season. At 35 years old, the decline in Bree's game is already noticeable, particular his arm strength (his stats don't tell the story of his 2014 season). He's gone from a top 4 elite QB to top 8-12.

Manning lost even more arm strength halfway through the season and went from a top 4 QB to an average QB. If Osweiler was legit and didn't suck, would the Broncos even want Manning back?

What happens when Brady loses some arm strength? Especially considering his game is throwing intermediate bullets to Edelman/Gronk. What if he goes from a top 2 QB to top 8-12 and Jimmy progresses to that point?

I want to see a 40+ year old elite Brady, who doesn't? But it just doesn't make any sense given the 50 year history of QB decline.

Football isn't ping pong. Good health is priceless. I say he retires in 2 years

Some comments on the comments

1. It goes without saying that none of us actually knows what they are talking about. Its all pure speculation.

2. I think we all over do the hyper competitive thing with Tom. There is more to it, and he's told us many times in the past, and it's simple. It's what he likes to do more than anything else. He just happens to like it. He likes the camaraderie of the locker room. He likes the intellectual challenge of the preparation. He likes the physical preparation each week. He likes practice. He loves the games. He like needs the emotional highs and lows you get.

3, So if you care capable of doing what you love to do, WTF would you stop doing it

4. For that reason, I'm comfortable seeing Brady as the Pats starting QB for the next 2 seasons at a minimum. I also expect to see 2 strong runs at a superbowl with at least one more win.

5. I don't think Jimmie G will be ready to take over until the 2017 season at the earliest. He will need all three prep seasons to make that long leap from E. whatever to taking over a high powered NFL offense without a huge ramp up period. So IMHO, 2017 is when the Pats will have to make a hard decision

6. That is the year the Pats have to decide whether Garapolo is to become the next face of the franchise, or does he become draft fodder and the Pats have to go and draft the next one in the April 2017 draft.

7. If the after the 2016 season the Pats still think Brady has 2-4 years left, Brady is going to continue here and Garapolo will get traded off. If the Pats think he has only one or 2 left, They will let him finish his career in LA playing as long as he wants. Even if those years turn out to be very good ones

8. If Garapolo looks to be as good as we hope, the Pats are not going to pass on a decade of solid QB play in return for 1 or 2 more good years from Brady. If they think they can get 3 or 4 good years from Brady at that age, THEN the return will be worth the risk of letting Garapolo go.

0. Remember its going to be four more years before Brady reaches 41, the same age that Farve had that remarkable season with the Vikes. And quite frankly given how well Brady takes care of himself, and the kind of game he plays, I think the odds of him being as good as Farve was at 41 are pretty good....if he's surrounded by good team.

10. BTW- I wouldn't worry about Brady's arm strength. The fact is he has a lot stronger arm today than he did coming into the league. Manning is a bad example since all his arm problems come entirely due to injuries to his neck and leg. Brady doesn't have any of these problems

11. But the fact of the matter is, we REALLY don't have to think about it for a minimum of 2 more seasons, and that's almost half a generation in NFL years.

I get annoyed when people talk about Jimmy G as if there won't be an insanely appreciable drop off from his play even from an aging Brady. We've been spoiled by Brady's play. We're talking about one of the greatest QBs to ever. His value over Garapollo is massive. We saw this in 2008 when Cassel played well with the greatest offensive artillery this team has ever had, but the offense scored 7 less points a game and couldn't beat a good team. A TD a game difference between Brady & JG would actually be towards best case scenario. It's just as likely JG becomes the next O'Connell or Mallet at this point then he is the next Steve Young.