Recently, Tom Brady made headlines for his NFL absence, the quarterback explained how he manages his time between his professional football career and his family.
However, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, who recently returned to training camp after an 11-day absence, got candid about how he handles being present for his responsibilities on the field with his teammates and off the field with his family.
He shared the full details during the Sept. 5 episode of the Let’s Go! With Tom Brady, Larry Fitzgerald and Jim Gray podcast and it reads;
“When I was 25, all I did was think about football. That was my life,”
“It was eat, sleep, drink football. It was my profession; it was my career. And then over time, other priorities develop because you change and evolve through life and you grow in different ways. So, you take on these different responsibilities, of family and commitment and so forth. And you commit time and energy to those things.”
Tom—who shares son Benjamin, 12, and daughter Vivian, 9, with wife Gisele Bündchen, and son John, 15, with ex Bridget Moynahan—shared that although he is about to begin his 23rd season in the NFL, his kids are getting older and he has to be present for a lot of moments in their lives.
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“I have a freshman in high school that is playing football, too,” he noted. “I have a 12-year-old that is going through his life. I have a 9-year-old that is going through her life. And I have parents. And I have a lot of things that are really important off-field pursuits and goals that you are trying to maximize as well.
So, we all have different things that are going on and I think once football season comes I really lock in on what I need to do and how I need to focus and the kind of commitment I need to make for the organization so we can maximize our potential as a team.”
Tom added, “And that’s the commitment I’ve always made, and I’ve tried to do that in the best way possible and tried to bring as much joy as I can to the people that are watching. I never felt like I ever wanted to cheat anyone with that.”
After spending two decades with the New England Patriots, Tom joined the Buccaneers in 2020, winning a Super Bowl his first year on the team. In February 2022, the seven-time Super Bowl champ announced he was retiring from football to “focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.”
However, the following month, Tom announced that he would be returning to the NFL and rejoining the Buccaneers.
“These past two months I have realized my place is still on the field and not in the stands,” he wrote on Instagram March 13. “That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. Without them, none of this is possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa. We have unfinished business.”
