Emmitt Smith welcomes 44-year-old Tom Brady; the quarterback spent two decades with the New England Patriots, winning six Super Bowls, before moving to Tampa Bay and leading the Bucs to a championship in his first season with the team in front of a home crowd.
Emmitt Smith says Tom Brady still has tools in his arsenal that younger opponents don’t, after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback said his heart is still on the field.
Although Smith said he left the league in 2005 “totally satisfied” with his career-high 18,355 rushing yards in 15 seasons, he understood why the 44-year-old Brady was lured back.
“It’s hard to leave when you are an elite. He takes care of his body, his mind. He’s still witty, still throws the ball well, still has arm strength,” Smith said.
“(He has) a lot of stuff that a lot of young quarterbacks don’t have these days.
“So yeah, it’s pretty hard to get out of the game when you’ve been in this business for a long time.”
A master of reinvention since he retired from the NFL, Smith most recently bought the NASCAR team Jesse Iwuji Motorsports and said he would “love to” consider buying an NFL franchise someday.
“For that to happen, it’s important to get the chips together and place them in the right place,” said Smith, who helped the Dallas Cowboys win three Super Bowl titles.
“Many people have aspirations and dreams about owning teams, owning organizations, growing a big organization, being successful and doing it the way they want to.
“And for me, I want to take all excuses off the table when the opportunity presents itself.”
