KEY POINTS

  • 49ers beat reporter doesn't see Tom Brady retiring anytime soon
  • Matt Maiocco feels Brady wants to bolster his legacy further
  • Brady wins two awards at the 2021 ESPY Awards

Tom Brady will undoubtedly go down in NFL history as one of the best quarterbacks to play the game.

But if the take of San Francisco 49ers beat reporter Matt Maiocco is to be believed, the seven-time Super Bowl champion wants to make sure that there won’t be any debate on that.

Maiocco appeared on the Sports For All PH podcast last July 2 and gave his insights on several NFL-related topics. The show was hosted by Filipino journalists Vincent Juico and Brian Yalung.

Among the questions thrown to the 54-year-old American journalists was his opinion on how long Brady would be playing pro football.

As far as he is concerned, the five-time Super Bowl MVP will play for as long as he wants to.

“I think that Tom Brady is one of those guys that is going to play for as long as he wants to play. He is engineered for this. He is built to be an NFL quarterback. He’s taken every measure that he can possibly take to be the best that he can be,” Maiocco replied when asked by Yalung.

However, Maiocco admitted that last NFL season was not exactly one of Brady’s best showings.

He acknowledged that the 43-year-old did have a good year with touchdowns and 12 interceptions although the Buccaneers lost a lot of games--more than one would expect.

“If he has a year like last year where he was sacked only 21 times… yeah he can play a lot longer. I’m sure he would love to just continue winning Super Bowls. Continue to put up big touchdown numbers and low interceptions,” Maiocco explained.

Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin the 2021 NFL season with a home opener against the Dallas Cowboys
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will begin the 2021 NFL season with a home opener against the Dallas Cowboys GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Patrick Smith

Brady was recently awarded the "Best Athlete, Men's Sports" and "NFL Player of the Year" during the 2021 ESPY Awards, adding more accolades to his resume.

But Maiocco feels that Brady has something else running in his mind–that of which is a debate on who the greatest NFL quarterback is of all time.

“He wants to clearly set himself apart as the best quarterback who has ever played the game. I think he doesn’t want any debate in 20 years on who is the best. He wants everybody to kinda agree that he is the best,” Maiocco stated.