LeGarrette Blount one-ups Tom Brady, says 'I feel like I could play 100 more years'

Blount is about to hit free agency, but the running back would love to stay in New England

If you told us Tom Brady was from another planet, we’d have no choice but to believe you. At 39, he remains one of the league’s best players, the latest evidence coming earlier this month when he led the biggest comeback in the Super Bowl history and earned MVP honors for his trouble.

And when most players months away from their 40th birthday and with five Lombardi Trophies to their credit would, you know, call it a career, Brady sounds like he has no intention of retiring anytime soon. In October 2015, he said he had another decade left. And in December he said he plans to play another five or six years. Meanwhile, the Patriots reportedly think he can play for another three years.

We mention all this because, well, it’s amazing. But also because Brady isn’t the only Patriots player with designs on playing indefinitely.  

“I just want to make sure that I go to this free agency with an open mind knowing that I definitely want to go back to New England,” running back LeGarrette Blount told NFL Network on Monday. “I love it there. I love the culture. I love the players. I’ve become close with a lot of the guys. Obviously you know how my running back group is. We’ll cross that bridge whenever we cross it. On that point, I feel great. I’m in amazing shape. I feel like I could play 100 more years if I have to.”

The difference, of course, is that we all know that Blount is exaggerating. He’s 30 years old, which is like 75 in running back years, and the reality is that he might have two or three years left before he has to confront a life without professional football. But if Brady proclaimed that he hoped to play until 2117, we’d reflexively take him at his word.

As for Blount, he rushed for a career-best 1,161 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2016, but once Dion Lewis returned to the lineup, Blount saw his workload decrease. It’s unclear if the Patriots are interested in re-signing Blount, but it probably wouldn’t cost much to bring him back. He signed a one-year, $1 million deal last offseason, and he’s clearly familiar with the offense.