Who is the oldest QB to play in the NFL?
Tom Brady is certainly getting better as time progresses and recently there has been talk if he can go and play till he is fifty. While that is pure conjecture at the moment, if Tom Brady were to do so, he would have crossed as the oldest quarterback on record. We will look at the current record-holder before someone eventually overhauls him.
The oldest quarterback to play in the NFL not named Tom Brady
Currently, Tom Brady is the oldest active player in the NFL by five years. He is 44 and next on the list is Left Tackle Jason Peters at 39. Quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Ryan Fitzpatrick are also 39 and 38 years old respectively and will hope to join Tom Brady in the 40s club in the coming seasons.
The age of the starting QBs in week 1 of the NFL season
44 Tom Brady (TB)
43
42
41
40
39 Ben Roethlisberger (PIT)
38 Ryan Fitzpatrick (WAS)
37 Aaron Rodgers (GB)
36 Matt Ryan (ATL)
35
34
33 Andy Dalton (CHI) | Matthew Stafford (LAR) | Ryan Tannehill (TEN) | Kirk Cousins (MIN)
Tom Brady is looking to emulate a certain George Blanda. Blanda's story is fascinating. He played in his last NFL game at the age of 48 years, 3 months, 18 days. He also played for 26 years in the league with a career that began in 1949 and ended in 1975. To put it into perspective, he played in four different decades, having begun his career when Harry Truman was president and ending it when Gerald Ford occupied the White House.
Besides being a quarterback, George Blanda was also a placekicker. He also has a unique history in that the nascent NFL gave him the chance to play for as long as he did. Having begun his career with the Chicago Bears, he transferred briefly to the Baltimore Colts in 1950, before returning and playing with them until 1958. He was then out of the game in 1959 and we would not be talking about him if the AFL had not come about in 1960.
In 1960, he got a second lease of life with the Houston Oilers and spent seven seasons with them. He further played another nine seasons with the Oakland Raiders after that, playing and witnessing the AFL-NFL merger that would give rise to the Super Bowl era. Both of these teams were charter members of the AFL when it was formed. An upstart league resulted in George Blanda getting the chance to prove his worth all over again and etch his name in the history books.
Prior to this season, only three players in NFL history had thrown a TD pass at age 44 or older: George Blanda threw 6 TDs after turning 44, Vinny Testaverde threw 4 and Steve DeBerg threw 3.
Tom Brady already has 9 TD passes in two games since turning 44.
How long that name remains in the records remains to be seen, though. The way Tom Brady is going, proving age is just a number, very soon he might surpass George Blanda.
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