Tom Brady confirms intention to play until 2024, remains coy on retirement date

Tom Brady has defied the odds by playing well past his 40th birthday. At the age of 44, Brady looks almost as if he is aging in reverse, coming off a Super Bowl victory over the Kansas City Chiefs just some seven months ago.

Along with trainer Alex Guerrero and the TB12 (the Tom Brady diet) methods of eating a diet based on whole foods, Tom Brady has trained his body to maintain and operate at an optimal level for over 20 NFL seasons.

Brady recently launched a clothing line. To promote it, he spoke with Wall Street Journal magazine and the topic of Brady's longevity came up, as well as how long he looks to play quarterback in the NFL.

Tom Brady on his time left in the NFL

He stated that he wants and has the intent to play next season, which will be the 2022-2023 NFL season and maybe even past that.

Here is what else Brady had to say on the issue:

"Beyond that, I don't know. Maybe it's another year after that; maybe it's two. I'll have to see where I'm at with my family. That's probably the overriding factor--what I'm missing out on."

One of the reasons Brady wants to play as long as he can is because of the rush that he gets from playing a game that he loves dearly, as evidenced by his time in the league.

Here is more of what he had to say about possibly leaving the game.

"I don't think anything will match my football career. I think it's too hard to replicate that level of energy and output and adrenaline. That's kind of why I want to go until the end, because I want to make sure I don't look back and go, 'Man, I could still do it.'"

Tom Brady has stated previously that he believed he could possibly play up until the age of 50. Although Brady never made this a firm mandate, he has been on record (Tommy and Gronky YouTube web series from earlier this month) as stating that 50 is the year he could play and feels physically okay doing so.

The past 18 months have been sort of a historical run for Brady. In March 2020, after 20 seasons in New England, Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has since taken over for former quarterback Jameis Winston and won Super Bowl LV over the Kansas City Chiefs.

This weekend, he will face his former team, the New England Patriots, for the very first time.

We all know that Brady's time will be coming to an end soon. Let's just hope that he continues to thrive and retire on his own terms and perhaps at least one last Super Bowl run.