Tom Brady had nothing to do with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signing receiver Antonio Brown a few weeks prior, right?
Well, that's what the quarterback and Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians stressed since the transaction. However, there's no debating Brady's attempt to aid in Brown's transition. The troubled receiver, who just got done serving an eight-game suspension due to violation(s) of the league's personal conduct policy, is staying at Brady's home in Tampa, and was practically a TB12 spokesman during his first Tampa Bay press conference Wednesday.
One day later, Brady was asked what made him want to help Brown -- who was accused of rape, and was released by Brady's longtime Patriots after just 11 days, prompting the former All-Pro to throw shade at New England owner Robert Kraft -- outside of football. The 43-year-old signal-caller offered quite the extensive response.
"Just watching him for a long time, I’ve seen him as a player and then have gotten to know him as a person. I really enjoy the sport (and) I enjoy playing football, obviously, but relationships are very important to me. I think if you ask all of my teammates over the years – more so than throwing touchdown passes, or winning games, the relationships, what we build together and how you get to know people is what makes football, to me, so meaningful in my life," Brady told reporters, per the team.
"All of the guys I’ve played with over the years, you just have a strong connection with, and you want to see everyone achieve their best. I think when you see people achieve things, and they put their effort into certain things and it pays off and it’s really rewarded, that’s I think what life is about," Brady continued. "I’ve had a lot of people that have helped me over the years. I’ve had a lot of people that have inspired me to do better, to want to work harder (and) that have helped me (get into) the right position to be successful. That’s all I try to be to my teammates.
"I try to do my best every day to make myself available to them -- however I can help them mentally (or) however I can help them emotionally. I just want to see people enjoy what they’re doing, enjoy their job, show up and do a great job. Ultimately, our goal for all of us is to win football games. Again, I wasn’t an individual sport guy. I’ve always been in team sports and always enjoyed being a member of the team. All of the guys that I’ve played with here have really embraced me. All of my teammates – it’s been really fun getting to know (them), especially the core guys who have been here a long time. ... It was just fun being around guys and helping them based on my experience and my knowledge of how I can try to give them some information that can help them in their career. Because they embrace it, it inspires me to want to work harder for them. Seeing them achieve and be successful is a great feeling for me."
We'll see if Brady's impact is really able to help Brown off the field, or if it's just the latter pulling wool over our eyes. Again.
