A half-decade ago, when Drew Brees and Tom Brady told anyone who’d listen they wanted to play into their mid-40s, it was a crazy, far-off hypothetical, that many filed away at the time as just one of those things athletes say.
But those guys were dead serious. And now the hypothetical has become reality.
Brees made the call this week to go forward for another year, his 20th in the league and 15th with the Saints, at age 41. Brady, meanwhile, has been consistent in saying that retirement wasn’t even part of the equation for him looking toward the 2020 season, before which he’ll turn 43.