FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Quarterback Tom Brady turned 35 on Friday, earning birthday serenades from fans at the New England Patriots’ training camp.

While Brady has said he would like to play until he was 40 and has shown few signs of slowing, the team is getting ever closer to the unthinkable — life without its franchise quarterback.

After practice Sunday, Brady wouldn’t put a number on how many more years he would like to play, just reiterating he would “like to play for a long time.”

Great players often combine conditioning, smarts and a love for football to remain effective into their late 30s and beyond, said Nick Caserio, the Patriots’ director of player personnel.

“Joe Montana was a great player, (Dan) Marino was a great player, (John) Elway was a good player, (Troy) Aikman — those guys were fun to watch for years,” he said.

Quarterback George Blanda played until he was 48, Steve DeBerg until he was 44 and Bret Favre until he was 41.

Caserio cited two other examples: Vinnie Testaverde was 42 when he played for the Patriots in 2006 and Doug Flutie was 43 when he played for the Pats in 2005.

Brady said he has a lot of football left in him, and Flutie and Testaverde were great teammates and he learned a great deal from both.

“I’m a long way from 42,” Brady said. “Hopefully, I’m still (here) when I’m 42.”

Four-year veteran Brian Hoyer and second-year pro Ryan Mallett are competing to one day replace Brady, or be able to step in if he should go down again, as he did in 2008.

“I think they’re going to have ample opportunity here in the preseason so we’ll get a good gauge,” Caserio said.

Mallett spent much of his rookie season trying to catch up after the lockout eliminated rookie camp and workouts.

“I think having a spring under my belt and going back to Day 1 of how we do things is the kind of stuff that I missed last year from day one,” he said. “So I was trying to play catchup (last year), and it’s hard to play catchup in this offense.”

Mallett said his increased comfort has shown itself in camp and Coach Bill Belichick agreed.

“He’s way ahead of last year,” Belichick said. “(He) knows more about what we’re doing. I think has a better understanding of what the defense is doing and has run the plays — he’s actually run them. Last year we were putting them in and he had never done them.”

The Patriots pretty much know what they have in the 26-year-old Hoyer, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2012 season.

EAGLES: Garrett Reid, the oldest son of Coach Andy Reid, was found dead in his room at the club’s training camp at Lehigh University. He was 29.

Reid, 29, struggled with drug abuse for years and was imprisoned for a 2007 high-speed car crash in which another driver was injured. Police found heroin, which Reid admitted to using, and more than 200 pills in his car. When he surrendered to begin serving his sentence in that case, prison guards found Reid had tried to smuggle prescription pills into jail.

SUNDAY’S GAME

SAINTS 17, CARDINALS 10: Drew Brees smoothly led a touchdown drive on his only series at Canton, Ohio, as New Orleans won in the Hall of Fame game, officiated by a crew with college experience.

The game was canceled last year for the first time in 45 years, a casualty of the NFL’s lockout of players. Labor issues also came into play this year — the seven officials were replacements.

Arizona quarterback Kevin Kolb threw an interception and left with bruised ribs.