Troy Brown: No doubt Brady deal would get done

Don't count Troy Brown among those who felt Tom Brady's car accident Thursday morning was a catalyst in getting a new contract Thursday night.

"If it had an impact, it was probably a small impact," the former Patriots star told Jessica Moran in an interview Thursday night on SportsNet Central. "Maybe just a wakeup call that, you know, anything could happen at any given time."

Because Brown felt a new contract for Brady was all but inevitable.

"No, I didn't have any doubts about it," he said. "I thought it would have been done before he put a foot on the field in the preseason."

It was important, Brown said, because the Patriots would have playing with fire had Brady reached the end of his present contract with no agreement in place.

If Brady "had gotten into the free-agency market at some point," said Brown, "the possibility of him leaving New England, with a shortage of good quarterbacks around the league, would have been a lot higher than what it is now."

The extension takes Brady to age 37, but Brown believes the All-Pro quarterback can play beyond that.

"You just have to see how it plays out, and see how Tom plays the next few years," he said. "If he can stay injury-free, that's one position that you can play . . . until you're 40. The quarterback position. He's not the most fleet of foot guy that you know, but he does a good job moving in the pocket. As long as he [can] keep that, I think he has a real good chance of playing until he's 40."