Tom Brady returned to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week after missing 11 days for “personal” reasons. He played in the team’s final preseason game on Saturday and spoke to reporters for the first time since returning to camp. And one of the things he was asked is why he took time away from the Buccaneers.
“It’s all personal. Everyone’s got different situations they’re dealing with,” Brady said, per ESPN. “We all have really unique challenges to our life. I’m 45 years old, man. There’s a lot of s— going on. Just gotta try to figure out life the best you can. It’s a continuous process.” Brady was then asked if he was able to address the issues he needed to address during his time away, which led to him responding, “I’m ready to go.”
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When it was first announced that Brady was going to leave the Buccaneers for an extended amount of time, head coach Todd Bowls said it was planned before the start of camp. On Saturday, Brady played 10 snaps in the preseason game and looked sharp as he led the offense to a 66-yard field goal drive to start the game. Now that the team is gearing up for the regular season, Brady is looking forward to working with wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Russell Gage and Julio Jones.
“I think we’ve all been working on different things,” Brady stated. “But being out there with obviously Julio and Mike, hopefully Chris can be out there, hopefully Russ will be out there. The tight ends and backs have both done a good job. We’ve had some injuries with the line and so forth, which we’re dealing with, but we’ll try to put together a good unit to go out there and compete. We’ve got two weeks ’til the first game, playing against a really good opponent in Dallas and it’s going to be a big test for us.”
2022 has been an interesting year for Brady. In February, the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback announced his retirement but then decided to unretire in March. There have also been reports that Brady came close to signing with the Las Vegas Raiders and the Miami Dolphins before joining the Buccaneers.
