On Sunday, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reported that the Buccaneers are giving Tom Brady every Wednesday practice off this year to keep him physically and mentally fresh. This, coming off the heels of Brady’s 11-day hiatus from training camp in August, led to speculation about the true motivation behind these off days.
However, Todd Bowles is putting that speculation to bed. The Buccaneers coach said Brady is not the only veteran to receive an off day as Julio Jones, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Lavonte David will all get consistent practice days off throughout the season.
“It’s not just [Brady]. We have designated days off after games,” Bowles said.
The 45-year old Brady acknowledged after week one how much more difficult it is for his body to recover on a week-to-week basis compared to earlier in his career on Let’s Go! with Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray.
“When you’re younger, your body is a lot different. And when you’re 45, your body changes a lot,” Brady said. “What am I dealing with now? I woke up today going ‘holy s— that was a few hits.’ And you look at your arm and you’ve got bruises and you’ve got cuts and the way it is, you go, ‘Okay how much longer do I want to make this commitment?’ And I obviously made the commitment for this year‚ and everything is going to be like always—continue to evaluate all these different aspects of play.”
Meanwhile, Jones, David and Evans are in their 12th, 11th and 9th seasons respectively, while Godwin is coming off a torn ACL from last year.
