Tom Brady is using his power for good. The all-time great’s reported recent call for players to stand united and push back against stringent offseason workout requirements firmly places him on the right side of history. Players demonstrated last year they can prepare for training camp with virtual offseason activities.
Demanding they show up to supposedly voluntary workouts is exploitive, and nothing more than a power play.
On Friday, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero reported that Brady gave a passionate speech in a recent NFLPA call telling players to support the union’s push to boycott offseason practices. “There’s no [expletive] pro baseball player that’s throwing 95 mph in mid-December,” he said, per Pelissero.
Brady also reportedly called for unity. “We, as players, are big boys,” he said, via veteran NFL reporter Aaron Wilson. “We can take care of ourselves. The only way to take a different stance is to be united.”
Last month, the NFLPA called on players to not attend voluntary in-person workouts, citing ongoing concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Players on the Patriots released a statement through the NFLPA saying that “most” of them wouldn’t be participating; however, ESPN’s Mike Reiss says one source told him 50 players have been present at the sessions.
There are multiple possible motivations for Brady’s stand against OTAs, which he famously skipped during his last two seasons with the Patriots. He could be trying to aggravate Bill Belichick, who cherishes the competitive late-spring practices that Brady loathes. Despite his profession of “The Four Agreements,” it’s apparent Brady enjoys some good old fashioned revenge.
It makes him human.
There could also be philosophical and business elements at play. Traditional football team workouts — hitting, sled-pulling, benching — are anathema to the TB12 Method. Brady believes in muscle elongation, not running the four-cone drill.
In Foxboro, Brady was reportedly running a shadow training operation, alongside his business partner and guru, Alex Guerrero. The flow of players making the short trip from Gillette Stadium to the TB12 Center in Patriot Place propelled Belichick to curb Guerrero’s access, according to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.
But now, Brady and Guerrero are free from Belichick’s constraints. Perhaps Brady senses an opportunity to take his TB12 Method league-wide. There could be positional workout plans and virtual sessions -- along with a special nutritional guide.
There is a small element of hypocrisy to Brady’s push for OTA boycotts. Last year, he flouted COVID-19 guidelines and held in-person workouts with his new Buccaneers teammates. But throwing balls to Mike Evans in a city park is different than schlepping into the team facility and putting on pads. Most notably, the former occurred on Brady’s own time.
In the NFL, players need more rights. It’s a positive that Brady is using his clout to advocate for players, regardless of his reasoning.
The Broncos’ callous efforts to strip offensive lineman Ja’Wuan James of his nearly $10 million base salary should be a wakeup call to every player: teams view you as a commodity. Denver reportedly wants to withhold James’ pay, because he tore his Achilles tendon away from the team facility. Thus, it could be classified as a “non-football injury,” even though James was working out to prepare himself for the football season.
Disgustingly, the NFL sent out a memo last week to players, reminding them of the “significant injury protection provided if they choose to workout at the club facility and the risks they undertake in choosing to train in non-NFL locations.”
In other words: attend voluntary workouts, or risk not getting paid.
That sounds like extortion.
As one of the wealthiest athletes in sports, Brady can afford to take black-and-white stands. For players who rely on workout bonuses, the situation is much more complicated.
But Brady doesn’t have to weigh the full picture. That’s the job of union leadership. He can be a single-issue advocate, and admirably, he’s pushing for freedom.
Maybe he’ll throw in discounted TB12 memberships to sweeten the deal.
