Tom Brady Expected At Patriots Minicamp Tuesday
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tom Brady is expected to return to work on Tuesday.
That's the day the Patriots will kick off their mandatory minicamp at Gillette Stadium, and both Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski are expected to make their first appearances of the summer.
While Gronkowski confirmed he'll be at minicamp during a charity event on Sunday, Brady's expected attendance is being reported by the MMQB's Albert Breer. Both players opted to sit out New England's voluntary practices this summer.
Breer is also reporting that Brady's absence, which has created quite the stir around Foxboro, has not had a negative affect on the team:
One, the biggest question right now is how much the absence of Brady and Gronk has affected the first seven weeks of the program. And the answer I've gotten is that it really hasn't. Spring in Foxboro is for teaching, so most of the work the players are doing is individual anyway. And having Brian Hoyer, who's 32 and in his second stint as Brady's backup in New England, has helped assure that things wouldn't fly off the rails.
Ideal? No. But the work that got done for the others hasn't changed much, because the competitive phase of the Patriots' offseason really starts in July. In essence, the absences of Brady and Gronkowski up until this week were treated as if those players were unavailable with an injury.
Earlier this offseason, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he expected Brady to be at minicamp. And while Brady hasn't been working with his teammates, he has still been putting in work this offseason. It doesn't look like staying away from Foxboro has had any negative affect on his game, either. The 40-year-old looked pretty good slinging the football Friday night at the annual Tom Brady Best Buddies Challenge at Harvard Stadium.
Now the big question is whether Brady will chat with reporters after his first practice of the 2018 season, and if he'll want to elaborate on his decision to skip out on the voluntary workouts.
