Tom Brady will be taking some time away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but head coach Todd Bowles revealed the impending absence is not a surprise to the organization.
Bowles referred to the absence as a “personal issue” when pressed by reporters Thursday.
“Yeah, Tom has been excused today. He’ll be back some time around after Tennessee,” Bowles said, per the team, referencing Tampa Bay’s second preseason game against the Titans on Aug. 20. “He’s going to deal with some personal things. This is something we talked about before training camp started. We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys and go through two weeks of training camp.
“Knowing he wasn’t going to play the first two games, he didn’t want to take away reps from Blaine (Gabbert) and Kyle (Trask) as well as (Ryan Griffin) as far as going into these next two games,” Bowles continued. “It’s something that he needed to handle. We trust him. We talked about it. It was scheduled way before training camp. And he will not be here until after Tennessee.”
Bowles admitted if it wasn’t a player with Brady’s level of experience he would be more concerned about missing some 10 days of the team’s training camp.
“Well, depends on the situation. I’d still be concerned about the quarterback,” Bowles said. “Yeah, if he didn’t have the years and the experience that the guy (Brady) has, and comes in and work diligently, yeah, I would definitely be concerned.”
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport went on to share on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Thursday that, to his knowledge, Brady and his family are fine and did not view it as a medical emergency. Rapoport described it as a “work-life balance.”
Brady, as Patriots fans will recall, skipped organized team activities leading up to his final seasons in New England as a way to spend more time with family.
