For the second straight season, Tom Brady has made the personal decision to sit out OTAs, presumably to spend more time with his family as well as give himself an extended offseason. Rightfully so as the veteran quarterback will be turning forty-two this August.
I vividly remember the reaction from Boston sports media personalities this time last year when the public came to realize that Brady was going to skip OTAs for the first time in his career. Needless to say, unsurprisingly, the reaction was overdramatic. Without context, the average person would have thought that Brady had left the team based on what these folks were saying. Everything from “Brady is a terrible teammate” to “this is the beginning of the end for this Patriots dynasty.” Talking about how these poor, helpless new additions to the receivers group were unable to practice with Brady and how they would never be able to build chemistry together and would lead to a trainwreck of an offense. The results are in: none of these things came to fruition. Instead, Brady threw for 4,355 yards and 29 touchdowns as well as won his sixth Super Bowl ring.
Thanks to the Patriots shoving another championship title down the throats of their many haters, the reaction to Brady skipping OTAs this year is not nearly as embarrassing this time around. Regardless, there are still plenty of people who remain up in arms for no logical reason. These people stand firm on their opinion that Brady skipping optional team drills in the month of May will bring New England’s football dynasty to a screeching halt and that the #TENSION and #RIFT in Foxborough, Mass. is ever-so real. To be honest, I do believe that there was, to a degree, #TENSION at 1 Patriot Place after the 2017-18 season. To what extent, I still don’t know and may never know, but now that an entire year has passed, I think that Brady’s decision to sit out OTAs last year benefitted his and Belichick’s relationship and the then current state of the Patriots. If there was in fact #TENSION between the two then I believe that an extended offseason for the quarterback was exactly what the organization needed.
Back to the present day. Why is it so hard for some people to comprehend that Tom effing Brady has earned the right to decide what HE does during the NFL offseason? Again – he is about to be forty-two years of age. He has dedicated his entire adult life to the game of football and nearly his entire adult life to the New England Patriots football organization since he was drafted by them over nineteen years ago. That’s nearly TWO DECADES. If anyone should be allowed to freely make decisions for themselves during the offseason, that anyone is Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr., thank you very much. Regardless, the sport of football puts such immense stress on any athlete’s body, as we all know. Imagine how much stress that sport puts on a forty-two-year-old’s body, especially as the days get longer and hotter. An extended offseason for an individual such as Tom Brady who has been such an integral part of the most successful professional sports franchise we have ever seen and will ever see in our lifetimes, who has had such a grossly positive impact on and off the field and has remained consistent since the day he first put on a Patriots uniform, has been rightfully earned. If anyone should have the ability to call their own shots, it is Tom Brady. That is fact, not opinion. He should NOT be slandered by anyone, fan or media member, for making his own decisions during the NFL offseason.
Think about it – there are plenty of teams over the years who have allowed far inferior football players to Tom Brady to skip in-season practices to spend more time with family. Brady misses two total in-season practices a year, most typically coming just before the playoffs begin so he has extra resting time. Nonetheless, this is never talked about because said individuals are not up to par with Brady, so we never hear about it. We only hear about Brady and when Brady sits out. Funny how that works. Nobody cares if, say, Andy Dalton misses a couple of practices one week to attend to family commitments. All the while, everybody and their mother cares if Tom Brady chooses to work out on his own time in the month of May when actual padded practices haven’t begun. Odd.
You certainly don’t have to take my opinion, word for it. Take it from one of Brady’s notable former teammates, Rodney Harrison. You’ve probably heard of him. Harrison recently went on NBC Sports Boston’s Quick Slants The Podcast to discuss Brady’s decision to skip OTAs again this year:
“I think it’s great. I think at this point in time in his career, after all the years and all the levels of commitment that he’s shown that if he needs a break and he needs to spend his valuable time (with his family, he should). Tom Brady can’t be who Tom Brady is if he’s not at peace with himself. If he’s not spending time with his family, if he’s not making them breakfast, if he’s not waking up and taking them to the beach (he’s losing something) that’s very, very special and those are the things as an older player that you really value because you know you give up so much during the season.
“Everybody knows Tom Brady, his work ethic, his level of commitment and you know when he’s not there he’s working his ass off so I think it’s fine. I think it’s really smart. When you come into football training camp you gotta forget about wife and kids … at the end of the day, you’re down there taking care of business. And if you put your time in as a veteran player at home, you’ll feel much better about yourself doing that.
“You gotta make sure that you clear the distractions so you can go to work and just be you. And that’s why I applaud tom Brady because he needs this time with his family. The last thing you want is a 20-year-veteran missing his family. No, no, no. That’s why if I’m a head coach, I’m telling my assistants, ‘You guys if you have kids who have games, you get your butts to those games.’ You don’t want those guys sitting there in their office and they feel like they’re miserable and haven’t spent enough time with their families. Balance is so important. Family as well as football.”
This is it, chief. This is it. I think that so many of us, as fans, forget that athletes are human beings like the rest of us as well as downplay the importance of family to these athletes. Us Average Joes don’t have to worry about when we can or can’t see our loved ones the way athletes do. We spend so much time with our close family and friends and don’t have nearly the restrictions athletes do on family/friend bonding time. Athletes value the importance of their loved ones even more so than us. It’s easy to forget this. That doesn’t give us typical civilians reason to be so overdramatic and critical of Brady’s decisions that, at the end of the day, have no real impact on the Patriots to any degree. But go off.
Don’t trust Rodney Harrison’s word? Alright, maybe you’ll trust Josh McDaniels’ word. You know, New England’s offensive coordinator:
“This is kind of similar to last year. When he’s here, he’ll be here. When he’s not, he’s not. It’s voluntary. To each their own.
“When he’s here, I’ll be happy to see him. I trust completely what he’s doing. I’m sure he’s in good shape, good condition and preparing for the year.
“I know he’s working his butt off, and he’ll be ready. When he walks through the door, I’ll be excited to see him.”
Did you guys hear that? He trusts Brady completely in what he’s doing. So you mean to tell me … there’s no reason to freak out, for the second straight month of May in Patriots football land? Crazy, crazy stuff. I know.
McDaniels suspicions about Brady remaining in fantastic shape were confirmed this morning when both Tom Brady himself and New England’s 2019 first-round draft pick, wide receiver N’Keal Harry, posted pictures of the two of them plus Julian Edelman working out and catching passes together:
Holy HELL. WOW. WOWOWOWOW. These pictures made me feel things I did not know I could feel. That’s another discussion for another time, though. Anyways…
So much for Brady not caring about his new additions and leaving them out in the dust, huh? That is forever an all-time take by the media, somehow coming to the conclusion that Tom Brady of all people does not care about his new teammates and doesn’t want to get on the same page with them. This take is still being spewed today, too, sadly. Wild, wild times.
While a team is built in May just as much as it is built in December, I still have absolutely zero problem with an almost 42-year-old Tom Brady doing what’s best for him and his body in the offseason. He has sacrificed so much through the duration of his professional career and earned the right to make these choices a long time ago, in all honesty. He has embodied the definition of the Patriot Way™ for literally my entire 17 ¾-year lifetime. If you have a problem with a grown man who has accomplished more than you could ever dream of and has more talent in one of his fingers than you do in your entire body, kindly block me on all social media platforms.
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