Speaking to confidant Jim Gray during the 2022 debut episode of the always enlightening Let’s Go! podcast ahead of the upcoming football season, Tom Brady seemingly put his foot in his mouth while discussing the NBA and the rise of load management.
Recently returned to the Buccaneers after missing 11 days of training camp in Tampa Bay for undisclosed reasons that may have something to do with his marriage but could also be related to The Masked Singer, Brady had the chance to explain why he wasn’t on the practice field for more than a week with the NFL season just weeks away. (“I’ve got a lot of shit going on” has been his only explanation to date.) He didn’t and instead explained why he doesn’t understand the rise of superstars in the NBA taking time off when they are completely healthy, a practice known as load management.
“I don’t know why you’d be healthy and not play. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” he said. “I feel like so much of what I’ve learned about my body is, working hard is very important. Your ability to recover is very important. We don’t have the option to not play football if you cannot play. But if you’re healthy, you play. There’s too many guys not healthy that you, it’s hard to look your teammates in the eye and go, ‘Wow, they’re not healthy and playing and I’m healthy and I’m not playing.’ That would make no sense.”
Healthy and not playing…sound like anyone you know, Tom?
In the grand scheme of things, what Brady had to say on Let’s Go! really isn’t that big of a deal, as most of the content that comes out of that particular pod is a vague word salad that generally lacks any real substance. He can say what he wants at this point, but it would not be surprising at all to see the 45-year-old quarterback miss plenty of practice during the NFL’s second go-round with a 17-game regular season. It seems unlikely that Brady, who was also retired for more than a month this offseason, could sit out a game to rest up, but if the playoffs are already locked up for the Bucs it could be a possibility the seven-time Super Bowl winner decides to have a second bye week.
Despite the signs to the contrary, Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles insists that Brady is still “all-in” for the season. “He’s been all-in since we got him,” Bowles said. “He’s all-in now. I don’t follow the off-the-field stuff. I listen to XM The Groove and Soul Town. My off-the-field activities are honestly not even football-related.”
Brady’s certainly used to be, but apparently that’s no longer the case. Not that it will matter when the Bucs are playing for a Super Bowl bid.
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