New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is suspended so he’s working on some of his non-football ventures. He’s one of the key figureheads for Uggs and he spoke with Esquire Magazine about what he’ll be doing for the next month.
Coincidentally, former Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker joined CBS radio in Miami and talked a bit about Brady, and the topics overlapped with the Esquire interview.
Esquire asked Brady what it was like to be doing nothing, instead of working out at the stadium.
“I've got too much damn time to do nothing!,” Brady said. “I think balance is important to me, because I do go hard. There are times where you feel like that hamster on the wheel, where there's too much doing and not enough being. But I think setting priorities is an important part of it, because we're not here for an unlimited amount of time. So figure out what you want out of your day, week, month, year, and do everything you can to make those things happen.”
Welker isn’t buying that Brady would be sitting around during the suspension.
“No, not for a second,” Welker said. “As soon as the season is over, he’s out there doing something already. The hard part for him is replicating practice and all those different type things. He’s going to be doing something.”
Brady says that he’ll be working out a bit during his suspension.
“I've been staying in shape, throwing,” Brady said. “Not with any of the guys I used to play with—it just hasn't worked out—but I'm staying sharp in my own way. It's a little bit uncharted at this point.”
When asked if playing with his wife Gisele was keeping him sharp, Brady fawned over her open field ability.
“She's pretty great,” Brady said. “I said the other day, you know I'd throw you every pass if you were out there. Julian and Gronk would be pissed.”
Perhaps this interview took place before Brady and Welker spoke, but it turns out that Welker is coming to play with Brady this week.
“Well, basically, I hit him up, I’m actually heading up to the game tomorrow,” Welker said. “and I hit him up to do dinner, like, Saturday night. He’s like, ‘I’m going to be flying in from Ann Arbor later, but how about that morning we go throw?’ And I’m just like, ‘I’m just thinking about dinner, but yeah, sure, I’ll get over there early and we can throw a little bit.’ That’s the only thing we really have planned.
“But, it was just funny, like I’m sitting there trying to have dinner, but hey get your ass up here and let’s go throw, and he’s going to have me running two minute drill in his backyard.”
So it looks like Brady will be getting in at least one throwing session with a former teammates. I wonder if someone like Troy Brown would be able to drop by, or who Brady has actually been able to work with.
The Esquire interview also featured Brady’s thoughts on Colin Kaepernick raising awareness against police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem.
“I always choose to stand and reflect, at a moment like that, on the blessings that I've had,” Brady said. “That's how I choose to express how I feel toward the people that have sacrificed for us. I think we live in a wonderful country. It's certainly not perfect. I don't think any country is perfect. It's our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don't like. I think that's part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way."
So while Brady doesn’t sound like he’ll be joining Martellus Bennett or Devin McCourty any time soon, he seems to respect Kaepernick’s decision to try and draw attention to things that need to be changed.