NFL legend Joe Namath offers interesting take on Tom Brady's Patriots future

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There have been many great NFL quarterbacks who enjoyed a lot of success with one team for most of their career before joining a second team shortly before retirement.

The best example is Joe Montana, who played 13 seasons for the San Francisco 49ers and won four Super Bowl titles with them before leaving to join the Kansas City Chiefs for the final two years of his career.

Another legendary QB who left a team he played on for a long time was Joe Namath. He played 12 seasons with the New York Jets and led them to a Super Bowl III win in the 1968 season. Namath played the final season of his Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Rams.

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So, Namath has some understanding of the situation that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady currently finds himself in. Brady will be an unrestrictred free agent for the first time in his career in March unless he and the Patriots work out a new contract before the market opens. 

Namath, similar to many Patriots fans who have watched Brady for the last 20 years, has a hard time envisioning the 42-year-old quarterback leaving New England, recently telling ESPN's Rich Cimini the following:

It's almost beyond my belief that he would go to another team under any circumstances. I can't imagine that separation. Moving out of the New England area that he's been so accustomed to, and his family, that's a hard thing, too. I don't think he'll ever leave that totally behind, I really don't.

I want to see him play as long as he physically and mentally wants to, man, because we've all seen over the years the execution that has been superb more times than not. We don't get to see that kind of player, that kind of character, very often. It's very rare.

Hall of Fame caliber players spending their entire career with one team is becoming increasingly rare in today's professional sports. Player movement has increased so much, particularly in the NBA, where even the very best players change teams multiple times in one decade.

Brady has played 20 seasons for the Patriots and crafted a résumé more impressive than any other player in league history. He's won six Super Bowl titles and set many records. He doesn't owe the Patriots anything, but it would be nice, for many reasons, to see him finish his career in Foxboro.

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