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Tom Brady, Bucs Players Work out at Yankees Spring Training Complex 1 Day Before OTAs
May 25, 2021
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady held a private workout with several Bucs offensive teammates Monday at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the New York Yankees' spring training complex in Tampa, Florida.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times noted other attendees included fellow QBs Ryan Griffin and Blaine Gabbert, running backs Ronald Jones II and Giovani Bernard, wide receiver Chris Godwin and tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate.
"108 days out," Brady wrote on Instagram, alluding to the number of days until the Bucs open their title defense against the Dallas Cowboys.
Voluntary organized team activities begin Tuesday, but Tampa Bay is among the squads to release a statement saying many players won't take part in voluntary OTAs and will practice on their own instead.
Brady, who's coming off knee surgery in February, appeared on an NFL Players Association call in early May to urge other players to follow suit to fight for an end to "overly competitive" offseason drills, per Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.
"There's no f--king pro baseball player that's throwing 95 mph in mid-December," he said.
The Buccaneers already held their rookie minicamp (May 14-15) and have three sets of voluntary OTAs (May 25-27, June 1-3 and June 15-17) scheduled for the coming weeks. There's also a mandatory minicamp (June 7-9) wedged between the other practices.
Tampa head coach Bruce Arians said he actually discouraged veteran attendance from voluntary sessions in order to get a better look at young players and those on the roster fringe, per Stroud.
"I don't necessarily want our veterans here, our starters here until minicamp," Arians said. "But we need the bottom half of our roster working."
The Bucs blew out the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9 in February's Super Bowl as Brady captured his seventh championship in his first year with the franchise after two decades with the New England Patriots.