TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has been excused from the team to deal until later in August with a personal matter, head coach Todd Bowles revealed after Thursday's practice.
"Tom has been excused today," Bowles said, according to NFL.com. "He'll be back sometime around after Tennessee. He's going to deal with some personal things."
While the news may come as a surprise to fans, Bowles said the situation was discussed and scheduled "way before training camp."He's a human. At the end of the day, you know, he's got personal problems going on. He's a guy that's been doing this so long, he don't (sic) need to be here. If he's not here, we know he's still working."
White continued, "More than football, we're praying for whatever he's got going on as a human being. We hope everybody else do to (sic)."
Tampa's newest receiver, Julio Jones, also addressed working with the offense without Brady under center.
"It's just repetition," Jones said. "Just getting out there, repetition. Like I said before, just the thinking process of it. We all know how to play ball. Doing it for a while. Just going out there and just playing, cutting it loose."
Bucs linebacker Devin White talked to ABC Action News about Brady missing camp saying, "
Brady wasn't expected to play in the first preseason game and will instead be replaced by a combination of Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask.
The Bucs have faced injury issues in training camp. The team lost its starting center, Ryan Jensen, to a serious knee injury. Plus, wide receivers Mike Evans and Russell Gage have been dealing with separate injuries.
