“I did know it. Nobody cares that I have the record, but now that Tom is close — and ESPN puts it up there — I have friends who take screenshots and they send it to me. And they remind me that I’m about to fade into obscurity,” he joked in a phone interview. “So I’m taking all the accolades for it while it lasts.”
Hanson kicked for the Lions from 1992 to 2012, and his name appears atop a graphic that has been shown on various ESPN shows in recent weeks. It’s Hanson and then Brady (20, Patriots), Darrell Green (20, Redskins) and Jackie Slater (20, Rams).nfl nike jerseys for cheap
The 49-year-old Hanson is having some humble fun with it, noting there is a significant difference between kicking 21 seasons for the same team and playing quarterback for one franchise over that span.
“Obviously, if and when he does that, he will be the focus of that record. And he could go beyond it,” he said.
But there is no guarantee Brady will be back in New England, as other NFL teams can negotiate with his agents starting Monday at 12 p.m. ET (assuming the league does not adjust its offseason schedule because of the coronavirus). The official start of free agency is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Hanson never reached the point where he seriously considered leaving the Lions. The 49-year-old is married with three children, and he still lives in the Detroit area.china nike nfl jerseys cheap
“I always appreciated it in the sense of the family. To be part of one organization and one community, and to really have that stability for them — in life, and connections, and friends — that’s something you don’t get in professional sports, and we had it,” he said.
“For the first half of my career, to two-thirds, it was always ‘I want to just stay here, they wanted me, and we got contracts done early.’ Maybe towards the end, if there was any thought of doing it, I kind of switched into the mode of, ‘As long as they want me, I want to be here.’ Obviously we struggled as an organization. I thought it would be great to be part of something that was getting it right, but that never happened. Then at the very end, I had played 21 years and had a few mild injuries, the organization was more like, ‘Let’s think about what we want to do here.’ And I was like ‘Do I want to keep playing?’
“So I retired. It never got to the point of intentionally pursuing another city and organization.”
Hanson doesn’t have a strong connection to Brady, with Brady’s college career at Michigan one of the primary ties between them. But Hanson said he references Brady during speaking events, which often shows his humorous side.
“He’s double-dipping in popularity where I am,” Hanson cracked. “He’s a double legend here.”
