Todd Bowles knows "exactly" when Tom Brady will return to Buccaneers

Brady has been away from the team with an excused absence for the past week.

It's been an interesting year for Tom Brady, to say the very least. Brady retired from football before reversing course on his decision after less than two months. He signed a massive deal to become the lead NFL analyst for Fox Sports whenever he truly does step away from the game for good. Brady's name popped up in the course of the league's investigation into tampering allegations by the Miami Dolphins that were eventually proven true. For good measure, he also appeared in a movie alongside Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman.

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The twists and turns have continued into training camp in Tampa. Last week, head coach Todd Bowles announced that Brady would be taking an excused absence from the team until after the Buccaneers' second preseason game against the Tennessee Titans. However, not many more details have been disclosed other than that the franchise knew of the absence prior to the beginning of camp.

While speaking to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times on Friday, Bowles declared that he knows exactly when Brady will return to the team. It's the same timeline that he's been sticking to all along.

“Do I look worried?” Bowles said, smiling broadly. “I’m not worried, so I don’t know why anyone else would be worried.

“I know exactly when Tom is coming back, and I’ve consistently said it would be sometime after the Titans game (on Saturday).”

This is a slightly more positive tune than the one Bowles sang on Thursday. Regardless, it sounds like the head coach and the Buccaneers are confident that Brady will be back at some point next week.

“We’ll see. We’ll talk about it next week. I’m not concerned about it right now," Bowles said on Thursday. "We’re trying to practice against Tennessee and play a game. I said sometime after Tennessee. There’s no definitive date for me. We’ll keep in touch and find out.”

The absence is definitely an odd and unusual circumstance. Maybe Brady provides more details when he returns to the team, maybe not. However, the 45-year-old wasn't scheduled to play in the first two preseason games anyway and if there's anyone who'll be ready to play after time off, it's Tom Brady.

Without Tom Brady on the field, the majority of snaps have gone to veteran Blaine Gabbert and second-year pro Kyle Trask. The coaching staff has been able to get more of a look at Trask. The former Florida Gator will see extensive action again on Saturday night.

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Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout training camp.

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