Extending your career to age 37 and beyond is a relatively new phenomenon in the NFL. How 37-year-old Matthew Stafford will perform this season is anyone’s guess, but the possibility of being the best quarterback in the league is only imaginable because we’ve seen it happen before with 37-year-old MVPs like Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers.
Could Stafford be the next?
A brief history of the 37-year-old quarterback
The only two pre-1990s quarterback to throw over 400 passes at age 37 were George Blanda, who had a league-leading 505 attempts for the Houston Oilers in 1964, and Roger Staubach.
The Hall of Famer who briefly retired at age 32 — and then returned to play 16 more seasons — led the NFL with 27 interceptions that year. Which was at least not as bad as the 42 interceptions that he threw in 1962 or the 30 interceptions that he threw in 1965.
Yes, it was a different passing era, but Blanda threw the most interceptions in every season from 1962 to 1965, a total of 124 interceptions in four years.
That was 39 more interceptions than the next-most by any quarterback.
Blanda continued to start at quarterback until he was 39, but spent his 40s as a kicker for the Oakland Raiders and extending his career until he was 48. He threw his last NFL touchdown when he was 47, but his last interception when he was 48.
Staubach had 461 passes for the Cowboys in 1979, throwing 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions for a team that made the playoffs at 11-5. It would be Staubach’s final season despite being his fifth straight Pro Bowl nod.
We wouldn’t see another QB throw at least 400 passes at age 37 until Steve DeBerg in 1991, which he did with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Several more 37-year-old QBs trickled in through the 90s:
Warren Moon led the NFL in completion rate (58.3) in 1993
Dave Krieg led the NFL in interceptions (21) in 1995
John Elway won theSuper Bowl in 1997 (and again in 1998)
Steve Young and Dan Marino both continued to play at a high level until they were 38
And Doug Flutie closed out the decade with his age-37 season in 1999, a year after winning Comeback Player of the Year with the Bills
History will look back on the 90s as the transition period from an era where QBs were expected to retire by 35 into one where these signal callers (and the NFL) realized they were leaving millions of dollars and many opportunities on the table by giving up too soon.
The league changed rules to protect their stars even more than they were already being protected and QBs were changing their health regiments to make sure they could squeeze every last day out of their playing careers...
Beginning with Tom Brady’s well-documented journey to turn a dad bod into the longest career of all-time.
Tom Brady: Monitored his health with a strict exercise and nutrition plan and regular advanced medical testing.
Ken Stabler: Woke up that morning so figured he was probably ok.
Advantage: Stabler pic.twitter.com/xDpcRyE0dL
— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) October 2, 2024
The 2000s saw Vinny Testaverde, Rich Gannon (MVP), Brett Favre, and Kurt Warner (Super Bowl appearance) play at age 37, but career expectancy was taken to another level in the 2010s with Brady, Drew Brees, and Peyton Manning.
Brady played until he was 45 (and led the NFL in attempts that year), while Manning enjoyed his best career statistical season at age 37, and Brees completed at least 70% of his passes in each season from age 37 to 41.
If you think that Stafford can’t hit career-highs in passing yards and touchdowns or win MVP because he’s coming off of three humdrum seasons with the Rams, you should think again.
Age 37 NFL records
Most passing yards and TDs: Peyton Manning, 5,477 yards and 55 TDs in 2013
Did you remember that after his missed the entire 2011 season with the Colts that many people expected Peyton Manning to return as a shell of his former self, if he ever returned at all? His free agency in 2012 was well-covered and interesting to monitor, but could the Broncos really be getting the same old Manning when he was 36 and coming off of neck surgery?
They got someone better than the old Peyton Manning.
At age 36, Manning led the NFL with 68.6% completions and a 79.6 QBR under head coach John Fox and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. The next year, Adam Gase took over at OC and the Broncos scored 38 points per game as Manning totaled career-highs with 55 TDs and 5,477 passing yards. That game-changing season by Manning, who averaged 342.3 passing yards PER GAME (53 more yards than 2024 leader Joe Burrow in the same category) didn’t result in a Super Bowl win, but Manning’s dominance in Denver will never be forgotten.
And even when he actually was a shell of his former self, Manning finally got that second ring in 2015 right before retiring.
Most passing attempts: Drew Brees, 673 in 2016
In 2016, Brees threw for 5,208 yards and 325.5 yards per game at age 37. He had 37 touchdowns with 15 interceptions but wasn’t even an MVP finalist because the Saints went 7-9 that year. But don’t blame the offense.
New Orleans ranked first in yards and second in scoring but 31st in points allowed.
Brees had two 1,000-yard receivers in Brandin Cooks and Michael Thomas, but drew a bad deck with his defense. It was the first of five consecutive years in which Brees completed at least 70% of his passes.
Highest Completion Percentage and passer rating: Aaron Rodgers, 70.7% and 121.5 in 2020
At a time when he was under the microscope of the media for what he was doing off of the field, Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs for the Packers at age 37 and 38.
Between 2020-2021, Rodgers threw a combined 85 touchdowns and only nine (!) interceptions! It is perhaps the best stretch of QB play we’ve ever seen.
Whether or not Rodgers still has it with the Steelers at age 42 is unknown, but he was unstoppable until he was 38.
Super Bowl winners: Tom Brady (2014), John Elway (1997), Johnny Unitas (1970)
Yes, you can win Super Bowls with 37-year-old quarterbacks. It has happened three times before.
In fact, Brady was dominant in the 2014 playoffs (10 TD) and led a fourth quarter comeback against the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
Kurt Warner was possibly even better than Brady during Arizona’s run to the Super Bowl in 2008 (11 TD, 3 INT, 112.2 passer rating) and fell just shy of beating the Steelers.
Manning and Rich Gannon led their teams to the Super Bowl in 2013 and 2002, but also fell short.
But Elway led the Broncos to a Super Bowl win in 1997, while Unitas was on fire for the Colts in the 1970 playoffs, beating the Bengals, Raiders, and the Cowboys in the postseason. (Unitas had three turnovers in the Super Bowl win over Dallas, but I’m building a narrative over here.)
And that’s before being 37 was so widely accepted!
Matthew Stafford can do anything at age 37. He can win the Super Bowl, win MVP, lead the league in major stats, and have a career-season. He can also have a bad year...but that’s OLD news.