Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is going to do what he wants. Just days after the NFL Players Association told players to end group workouts, following the news that multiple Buccaneers’ players tested positive for COVID-19, Brady was back holding a private practice with teammates on Monday.
The NFLPA sent a letter to players on Saturday asking those in states experiencing spikes in the coronavirus to stop holding group workouts. In the eyes of the NFLPA medical director Dr. Thom Mayer, players are putting themselves at risk by holding group workouts and they should end immediately.
Tom Brady clearly feels differently. As detailed by the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud and captured on Brady’s Instagram, the future Hall of Famer is practicing with Rob Gronkowski and more than a dozen teammates at Berkeley Preparatory School.
The two-hour workout session started early in the morning, with some of the players working out in their helmets and shoulder pads. Brady has been hosting the practices with new teammates fairly often since May, as we wrote about here. Notably, this comes just a few months after Brady was asked to leave after he was spotted working out in a closed Tampa park.
The practice taking place in Florida could be particularly problematic in the NFLPA’s eyes, given it is a hotspot for the coronavirus. The state passed 100,000 total cases of COVID-19 on Monday and it reported more than 3,000 new cases on Tuesday.
Ultimately, it’s likely that Brady will continue to host team practices without much push back from the NFLPA. However, after seeing Brady do it, more NFL players will likely follow. Given the recent COVID-19 outbreak among teams, though, the start of the 2020 season could be put in jeopardy if things get even worse.
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