Tom Brady is putting together a remarkable season at age 39, toasting defenses on a weekly basis with 16 touchdowns, one interception, and a career-best completion percentage of 70.4 through six games. Not only is he not showing signs of age, Brady insists his athleticism is at an all-time high.
Tom Brady says he’s faster at 39 than he was at 22
Brady’s faster than ever, even though he’s one of the NFL’s oldest players.
Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
“I’m never going to run a 4.7 [second] 40 [yard dash],” Brady told WEEI’s Kirk & Callahan show. “I never have been able to do that and I never will be able to do that, but I’ve timed my 40 from what it was when I was coming out of college to what it is now and it’s maybe two- or three-tenths faster ... I was really slow back then.”
Brady was timed at about 5.28 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the 2000 NFL Combine and photos/videos of Brady from the event have since become popular.
If Brady is right that he shaved his time down to just above 5.0 seconds, that means he is significantly faster than he was at 22 years old.
“I’ve really tried to work on the first step,” Brady said. “I don’t think my instincts are in the pocket to move and scramble where I would say just scramble — those aren’t really inbred in me just based on my style of play. It never has been. I’ve just tried to stay in the pocket and buy time in the pocket to allow my receivers to get open.”
Brady showed that off Sunday when he was able to extend a play just long enough to hit Malcolm Mitchell for a 56-yard touchdown:
Previously in Brady-runs-fast news, he told reporters that his mom believes he’s “the fastest player on the field.” If he keeps shaving tenths of a second off his 40-yard dash time with age, that might actually be true by the time he’s 80 years old.
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