Forty must be the new 30 in the NFL.
Brett Favre came back at 40. Junior Seau came back at 40. The league is starting to look like an episode of "Desperate Housewives."
And now here comes Packers receiver Donald Driver telling us his longevity goal.
"My goal is to play until I am 40," Driver said Wednesday. "And then I am done."
Fortunately for the Packers, the 2014 season will not be disrupted by Driver's sudden retirement. He doesn't turn the big 4-0 until Feb. 2, 2015.
"Donald Driver is 34? Really?" asked 24-year-old safety Tyrell Johnson, whose Vikings play the Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday. "You wouldn't know it. He plays like he's my age."
According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, only five starting NFL receivers were older than Driver heading into this season. One of them 37-year-old Joey Galloway has since been cut by the Patriots.
Yet old man Driver ranks second in the entire league with nine catches of 20 yards or more, including a 71-yard touchdown in a 31-3 win over the Browns last week. That's a bit of a concern for a Vikings team that has allowed a league-high 27 passes of 20 yards or more, including seven touchdowns.
"We haven't been giving up too many deep balls," Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin argued. "The Baltimore game, we gave up probably one or two. But throughout this whole season, anytime the deep ball went in the air, we picked it off. So we're not concerned about no deep balls."
If you say so.
Driver also leads his team in catches (27), yards receiving (479), average per catch (17.7) and touchdown receptions (three). And he is going strong two weeks after breaking Sterling Sharpe's franchise record for career catches. Sharpe had 595, while Driver, a 1999 seventh-round draft pick out of Alcorn State, is at 604.
"It is an honor," Driver said of setting a career record for a team that began play in 1919. "Coming from where I came from, no one said that I was going to make the team. To accomplish the milestones that I have accomplished, it's an honor to be mentioned with all of the great players before me, all the tradition and all the history behind those guys and just to be on sitting on top of those guys now."
One thought usually comes to mind when I see Donald Driver: In a world with so much beer, how can one man be so devoid of body fat? That's probably why he has missed only two games in the past eight seasons, why he has caught at least one pass in 122 consecutive games and why he's the Packers' most durable player despite being their second oldest.
"People like to throw around the term 'old school,' and he definitely fits in that category," Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. "He is in the weight room every day. You can't get him to take a practice off, regardless of where he is on the medical report. His is just a true pro."
Driver and Colts receiver Reggie Wayne are the NFL's only receivers to have 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past five seasons. Not bad considering Driver's story includes overcoming a stretch in his life when he was living in a U-haul truck and selling drugs on the streets of Houston.
"You try to do anything you can to provide for your family," Driver told USA Today earlier this week. "I sold for a long, long time."
Driver said his life turned for the better when he met his wife, Betina. He's thankful she came along at the right time. And so are the Packers, who, if all goes according to plan, will have Driver for another six years.
(c) 2009, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Visit the Star Tribune Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.startribune.com
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Brett Favre came back at 40. Junior Seau came back at 40. The league is starting to look like an episode of "Desperate Housewives."
And now here comes Packers receiver Donald Driver telling us his longevity goal.
"My goal is to play until I am 40," Driver said Wednesday. "And then I am done."
Fortunately for the Packers, the 2014 season will not be disrupted by Driver's sudden retirement. He doesn't turn the big 4-0 until Feb. 2, 2015.
"Donald Driver is 34? Really?" asked 24-year-old safety Tyrell Johnson, whose Vikings play the Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday. "You wouldn't know it. He plays like he's my age."
According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, only five starting NFL receivers were older than Driver heading into this season. One of them 37-year-old Joey Galloway has since been cut by the Patriots.
Yet old man Driver ranks second in the entire league with nine catches of 20 yards or more, including a 71-yard touchdown in a 31-3 win over the Browns last week. That's a bit of a concern for a Vikings team that has allowed a league-high 27 passes of 20 yards or more, including seven touchdowns.
"We haven't been giving up too many deep balls," Vikings cornerback Cedric Griffin argued. "The Baltimore game, we gave up probably one or two. But throughout this whole season, anytime the deep ball went in the air, we picked it off. So we're not concerned about no deep balls."
If you say so.
Driver also leads his team in catches (27), yards receiving (479), average per catch (17.7) and touchdown receptions (three). And he is going strong two weeks after breaking Sterling Sharpe's franchise record for career catches. Sharpe had 595, while Driver, a 1999 seventh-round draft pick out of Alcorn State, is at 604.
"It is an honor," Driver said of setting a career record for a team that began play in 1919. "Coming from where I came from, no one said that I was going to make the team. To accomplish the milestones that I have accomplished, it's an honor to be mentioned with all of the great players before me, all the tradition and all the history behind those guys and just to be on sitting on top of those guys now."
One thought usually comes to mind when I see Donald Driver: In a world with so much beer, how can one man be so devoid of body fat? That's probably why he has missed only two games in the past eight seasons, why he has caught at least one pass in 122 consecutive games and why he's the Packers' most durable player despite being their second oldest.
"People like to throw around the term 'old school,' and he definitely fits in that category," Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. "He is in the weight room every day. You can't get him to take a practice off, regardless of where he is on the medical report. His is just a true pro."
Driver and Colts receiver Reggie Wayne are the NFL's only receivers to have 1,000 yards receiving in each of the past five seasons. Not bad considering Driver's story includes overcoming a stretch in his life when he was living in a U-haul truck and selling drugs on the streets of Houston.
"You try to do anything you can to provide for your family," Driver told USA Today earlier this week. "I sold for a long, long time."
Driver said his life turned for the better when he met his wife, Betina. He's thankful she came along at the right time. And so are the Packers, who, if all goes according to plan, will have Driver for another six years.
(c) 2009, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Visit the Star Tribune Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.startribune.com
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
