Tom Brady is trying to "figure out life".
The 45-year-old quarterback - who has 14-year-old son John with ex-girlfriend Bridget Moynahan and Benjamin, 12, and Vivian, nine, with wife Gisele Bundchen - returned from an 11-day absence from his team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to play in his first and only preseason game on Saturday (27.08.22) and he's now addressed the reasons why he was away for almost two weeks.
He told reporters: "Everyone has different situations they're dealing with, and we all have unique challenges to our lives.
"I'm 45 years old, man. There's a lot of s*** going on, so you just have to try and figure out life the best you can. You know, it's a continuous process."
Earlier this month, the NFL side's head coach Todd Bowles explained Tom was away dealing with "personal things".
He said: “Tom has been excused today. He’ll be taking … he’ll be back somewhere around after Tennessee. 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 and go through two weeks of training camp, knowing he wasn’t going to play the first two games. He didn’t want to take away reps from Blaine [Gabbert] and Kyle [Trask] as well as ‘Griff’ [Ryan Griffin] as far as going into these next two games. And it’s something he needs to handle.
“We trust him. We talked about it. It was scheduled way before training camp and he will not be here until after Tennessee.”
The coach refused to say any more about the sportsman's absence, stressing it was a "personal issue" but insisted he has a "pretty high" level of confidence that Tom would be back and ready for the season opener on 11 September.
Tom announced in February he was retiring from the NFL, but just two months later, he admitted he had had second thoughts and committed to another season with the Buccaneers.
He tweeted at the time: “These past two months I’ve realised my place is still on the field and not in the stands.
“That time will come. But it’s not now. I love my teammates, and I love my supportive family. They make it all possible. I’m coming back for my 23rd season in Tampa.”
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