Tom Brady’s last few days have been in the spotlight, first when he skipped the Buccaneers walk-through to attend Robert Kraft’s wedding, then when he was caught yelling at his offensive line in the middle of a 20–18 loss to the Steelers.
On Monday, former offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd to share his thoughts on Brady from the perspective of a potential teammate. And Whitworth was critical of Brady missing Saturday’s practice for those personal reasons.
“It’s probably not a fun take to say, but to me, it bothered me, it really did,” he said. “What Tom’s always been known as is the guy who’s like: ‘You will never outwork me, you will never out-prepare me, I will outwork anybody in this business.’ And I think every one of those guys looks up to him in that way.”
Whitworth compared Brady to himself, as the former offensive tackle decided to retire in the offseason instead of returning like the quarterback.
“One of the things that made me retire is I got to that point mentally where I was like, ‘You know what? I don’t always want to be here and I don’t always want to do this. I know I can go out and play well, but I don’t ever want to be a disservice to the guys who look up to me,’” he said. “It bothered me because that’s how I look up to Tom Brady…That’s a pivotal day to get ready and prepare.”
Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles said he isn’t worried about Brady’s commitment to the team, especially since he isn’t the only one to have missed a day for personal reasons.
