Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady on Monday arranged a pre- organized team activities (OTAs) workout with some of his receivers and fellow quarterbacks at the New York Yankees spring training facility in Tampa. According to Jason Owens of Yahoo Sports, backup quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Griffin, tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Cameron Brate, wide receivers Chris Godwin and Justin Watson, and running backs Ronald Jones and Giovani Bernard were present during the throwing session. The 43-year-old Brady posted on his Instagram story some photos of his teammates during the throwing session, which came weeks after the veteran quarterback underwent offseason knee surgery.
Brady accompanied the photos with the caption “Great day with the boys. Starting to feel like football season again”, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times.
No Tom Brady, not many veterans at Bucs workout https://t.co/3pLoxFxTRZ
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) May 25, 2021Bernard all praises for Brady
Among those who participated in the throwing session, Bernard was the only player not included in the team that won the Super Bowl last season. Bernard signed a one-year deal with the Buccaneers in the offseason following his release from the Cincinnati Bengals after eight seasons with the team. When asked about his experience, Bernard was all praises for Brady. “One of the things that I really noticed that, you know I’m not gonna say caught me off guard but was just very unique, was the positive reinforcement that Tom was giving the guys during those little throwing sessions,” he said during his press conference on Tuesday.
“It was super casual but yet he was still you know handing out positive reinforcement,” added Bernard, per transcription of the YouTube video of the media conference.
Bernard is known as a pass-catching running back during his time with the Bengals and his addition would give Brady more passing option on the field. “If I could do both, which I’m gonna try to do both.
I’m definitely gonna see if I can get back another throwing session with Tom,” said Bernard, who 342 passes for 2,867 yards and 11 touchdowns during his stay with the Bengals.
Arians wants Brady and company to use team facility
The Buccaneers held their first OTA on Tuesday without some of the big-name players, including Brady.
However, head coach Bruce Arians was not bothered by the absence, saying “the guys who needed to be here were here”, per Luke Easterling of USA Today. The absence was no surprise since Buccaneers players already expressed their intention earlier that they won’t attend the team’s offseason activities. But Arians wants Brady and company to hold their self-run workouts at the team facility at One Buc Place and plans to offer them the place.
