Most NFL players learn about the harsh realities of playing professional football very early on in their careers.
Tom Brady's "Welcome to the NFL" moment was a bit delayed, and it's easy to understand why.
Brady rode the pine throughout his rookie campaign in 2000, and the 2001 season was a magical ride in New England that concluded with the first Super Bowl win in Patriots franchise history. Brady and Co. won it all again in the 2003 season, but it was right before the start of that Super Bowl run when TB12 learned the NFL can be a harsh business.
As training camp wrapped up that year, the Patriots shockingly released Pro Bowl safety Lawyer Milloy. To this day, it's billed as one of the more-shocking transactions in the Bill Belichick era. And it was a tough pill to swallow for Brady, who'd formed a close friendship with Milloy.
"It was the first time that I recognized that this was, you know, a really tough business," Brady said during Episode 2 of "Man in the Arena," as transcribed by the New York Post. "I didn't know they brought Rodney (Harrison) in to replace Lawyer, I thought they brought Rodney in to complement Lawyer. I just was so mad that we let him go, and I just couldn't understand why we let this guy go, who had meant so much to the team.
"That was kind of the welcome to pro football moment."
Brady likely found some solace in the fact that Harrison was a more-than-adequate replacement for Milloy. The hard-hitting safety was a key cog in a Patriots defense that was the backbone of back-to-back Super Bowl-winning teams.
