Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady has apparently gotten faster in recent decades. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Tom Brady's NFL scouting combine is part of his legend. He didn't look like a future NFL MVP when he met with NFL teams from Michigan, and his slow 40-yard dash will find its way into NFL Network's coverage of the combine every year. There's a reason he was selected in the sixth round.
Also, Brady ages in reverse, like a football Benjamin Button.
Brady wanted to make up for his slow 40s time at the NFL Scouting Combine – 5.28 seconds in 2000, when he was 22 – by doing it again at age 46. That was about a year after he retired from the NFL.
And if you believe Brady's video on his social media, Brady beat his time from 2000.
Brady had two stopwatches with him while running, one had him at 5.18 seconds and the other at 5.12 seconds.
Now a few caveats: Everything on the internet can be manipulated – maybe the clocks were a little too fast (it won't go viral if Brady ran a 5.3) or one of the other tricks you can do with a social media video must be taken into account. But if it's real, it's absolutely mind-blowing that Brady ran a faster 40 at age 46 than he did at age 22. The number of athletes, even elite athletes like Brady, who are faster at 46 than they were in their early 20s is very small.
The NFL's social media feed even included an overlay of Brady's 40s:
Brady is notoriously insane about his health, which is one of the reasons he has had more success as a quarterback in his 40s than any other player in NFL history. Of all of Brady's victories against Father Time, being faster now than in 2000 would be one of the more impressive.
No one will stop showing off Brady's slow 40 from a few decades ago. But a lot has changed since then.