Tom Brady is taking some time away from the field to "deal with some personal things" that will keep him out of preseason camp until later this month.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers announced Thursday that the legendary quarterback was excused from their joint practice with the Miami Dolphins and will not return to the team for several weeks.
“Tom has been excused today,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said after practice, according to the team website. "He will be back sometime around after (the) Tennessee (preseason game). He’s going to deal with some personal things.”
Brady, 45, will miss two preseason games in which he wasn't expected to play, as many teams rest their top players in the preseason in order to avoid injuries before the regular season. Tampa Bay's preseason game against the Tennessee Titans referenced by Bowles is on Aug. 20.
Bowles added that the team had prepared for Brady to miss time before training camp began last month.
“This is something we talked about before training camp started,” Bowles said. “We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and chemistry with the guys and go through two weeks of training camp."
"It’s something that he needs to handle," he added. "We trust him. We talked about it — it was scheduled way before training camp and he will not be here until after Tennessee.”
Given that Brady has been in the NFL for decades, Bowles is not concerned about him missing time and said he has "a high level of confidence" that Brady will be ready when the regular season kicks off Sept. 11 against the Dallas Cowboys.
"Yeah, if he didn’t have the years and the experience that the guy has and comes in and works diligently, I would definitely be concerned," he said.
Brady initially announced after last season that he would be retiring, but then changed his mind and announced in March that he would be back for his 23rd season overall and third with the Bucs. He led the NFL with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes last season at 44 years old.
He already has his post-career plans all set as well, as he reportedly signed a 10-year, $375 million deal to work with Fox Sports as an analyst on NFL games after his playing days.
“I know that I’m coming in as kind of a rookie to this, but I know I’m going to work extremely hard, like I always do,” he said on TODAY in June. “I still think there’s a lot of things that I’ve learned over my professional career that will carry over to a different career."