Tom Brady won’t return until after Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ preseason game at Tennessee on 20 August.
According to coach Todd Bowles, the 7-time Super Bowl champion, will miss out of the preseason game after taking a planned, 11-day absence to address “personal things”.
Bowles said the 45-year-old quarterback’s break from practice was arranged before camp began.
“Tom has been excused today. … He’s going to deal with some personal things. This is something we talked about before training camp started.
“We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys with two weeks of training camp, knowing he wasn’t going to play the first two (preseason) games,” Bowles said after the Bucs concluded two days of controlled scrimmages against the Miami Dolphins.
Backup quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask and Ryan Griffin will share snaps during Brady’s absence.
“He didn’t want to take away reps from Blaine, Kyle, as well as Griff, as far as going into these next two games. That’s something he can handle,” Bowles said.
“We trust him. We talked about it. It was scheduled way before training camp.”
Brady, who retired in February only to change his mind six weeks later, was also excused from practice for personal reasons last Friday — two days after getting a scheduled day off for his 45th birthday.
Tampa Bay opens the preseason Saturday night against the Dolphins.
The Bucs will also travel to Nashville for two days of practice ahead of their game against the Titans.