Brady Practices at 'Full Speed' on Day One of Buccaneers Minicamp
Photo: Tom Brady; Credit: Zach Goodall, AllBucs.com
When Bruce Arians last met with media in late May, he expressed that quarterback Tom Brady may spend more time coaching the Buccaneers during the team's mandatory minicamp instead of taking reps.
Following an offseason left knee surgery, Tampa Bay aimed to ease Brady back into action. Brady wouldn't have it, however, and practiced for almost the entirety of the Bucs' first day of minicamp.
"Trying to stop [Brady] from playing is pretty tough," head coach Bruce Arians remarked on Tuesday.
Brady was given clearance by team doctors to return to the field despite the initial thought of allowing the 43-year-old to take it easy throughout the three-day camp. The physicians suggested that Brady should be limited in what he's allowed to do on the practice field out of caution, but at this point, his knee is good to go.
"[He] went full speed," Arians said of Brady. "He looked fine. I had to pull him out a couple [of times]. First period I said 'Okay, you can have four [reps],' but he kept begging to go back in. The only thing I didn't want him in was blitz period where some guys may get around there too quick."
At one point, Brady was seen taking a small hit to the front upper-body from a free rusher during red zone drills, but the hit was not substantial nor did it stop Brady from continuing to take snaps. Brady appeared comfortable following through on throwing the ball without limitation from his knee and made several impressive passes throughout the course of the hour-and-a-half practice.
Brady walked onto the practice field after activities had begun, which didn't bother Arians as the head coach claimed he was working on his body and didn't need to go through warmups. "Those drills, he's done a million times," Arians explained.
Stay tuned to AllBucs for further coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' mandatory mini-camp, and other news and analysis.
