Getty Tom Brady throws a pass in Super Bowl LV.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady can’t escape retirement questions as an NFL player in his 40s whether it comes from his wife, Gisele Bundchen, or a talk show host.
Former NFL star Michael Strahan posed the same question Bundchen did to Brady after the Super Bowl during an interview for Good Morning America on Wednesday. “Tom, what more do you have to prove,” Strahan asked.
“I don’t think proving it for me is the motivation. I still want to play. I got like little sickness in me that just wants to throw a frickin’ spiral,” Brady told Strahan. “Also about football, once you stop, you can’t go back and do it. I’ve got more football in me, not a lot, and I know that, but what I’ve got left, I’m going to give everything I’ve got.”
“I would say I was always kind of motivated by people that say ‘you can’t do it, you’re not good enough,” Brady added.
The latest Bucs news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Bucs newsletter here!
Not Quite Done
Brady, 43, completed his 21st season in the NFL with his seventh Super Bowl win. Bundchen asked him right away after the game if he had “more to prove”, but Brady said he quickly switched the subject when interviewing on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
The former sixth-round draft pick from Michigan signed a one-year contract extension with the Bucs last month, which allows him to play until age 45. He may go longer, too.
Strahan, who competed against Brady, told fellow GMA hosts that Brady hasn’t forgotten where the New England Patriots picked him in the 2000 draft. The Bucs quarterback said as much on Twitter last month.
“He doesn’t know any other way, and he still feels like that sixth round draft pick. Nothing’s expected of him, and he wants to prove people wrong,” Strahan said. “And he continues to do so.”
Brady largely credits trainer Alex Guerrero for helping him keep his body right for playing into his 40s.
“For an athlete, your body is your asset,” Brady told Strahan. “What I eat, what I drink, how I work out — all of those cumulatively add up.”
Offseason Catchup
Brady shared with Strahan that he took his family to Costa Rica, the Middle East, Disney World, and skiing thus far in the offseason.
“How they look forward to coming to Disney, it brings the excitement out of you,” Brady told Strahan. “Last night, my son said, ‘dad, that was the best day of my life, and he meant it.”
Brady admitted the rides make him dizzy.
“I’m horrible on the rides. My head is spinning,” Brady said. “My daughter did not want me to go with her — ‘I just want to be with my friends.'”
Fun aside, Brady told Strahan about raising children in a family where the parents enjoy sky-high amounts of success.
“I try and keep them grounded and know ‘A’, you’re going to have to work hard and ‘B’ mom and dad’s life is very unique in this world,” Brady said. “I don’t want them to take those things for granted. I want them to make the impact in the world that they’re going to make, but they’re going to make it in their way, too.”
Credit goes to his wife, Bundchen, Brady told Strahan, because she does so much to support the family day to day.