For full social security purposes, the retirement age is 66 years old. If this keeps up, Tom Brady may be able to transition right to that. News has come out that the quarterback is signing yet another extension with the New England Patriots. Once again, that Jimmy Garoppolo contract looks like a bargain The deal will give Brady a raise to $23 million per year and make him the sixth highest-paid quarterback in the league.
Brady has continued to play at a high level into his 40s and he could make a run into his 50s if this keeps going. For all the accolades and praise he gets, Brady continues to be willing to take smaller, team-friendly deals in order to help the Patriots’ salary cap.
This is interesting for the San Francisco 49ers because at one point quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo was seen as Brady’s successor. The plan was the Patriots would eventually move on to Garoppolo and some strange inhouse-circumstances may have led to Garoppolo getting traded to the 49ers. You know how that story ended.
While he won a Super Bowl last year, Brady did have a slight downtick in his numbers. His completion percentage went to 64 percent, and he threw 11 interceptions, both his “worst” numbers since 2013. Keep in mind, the word “worst” is used (VERY) loosely because if he threw the numbers he threw in 2013, he’d still be taking a team on his back into the postseason.
One has to wonder if Jimmy Garoppolo had signed an extension in New England (which the Patriots may have been working on in 2017) how all of this would have gone over. I can’t think Garoppolo would have been too pleased to see another extension on Brady. Then again, if the Patriots still had Garoppolo, would they have signed Brady into 2021?
It will also be interesting to see if Brady can play the life of the deal. He’s 42 years old as of Saturday and while he’s held his own, in the end, Father Time is unbeaten. In any case, Brady will remain in the NFL through 2021. At least for now.