Tom Brady no longer needs sleeve on knee

As ESPN's Jenna Laine noted, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has been seen sporting a sleeve on his left knee since he went down to a torn ACL early in the 2008 NFL season, and the seven-time Super Bowl champion, who turns 44 years old next week, underwent offseason surgery to repair a fully torn medial collateral ligament in that same knee earlier this year. 

Nevertheless, Brady told reporters Friday he no longer requires the sleeve. 

"It feels good now," he said of the knee. "It was not my favorite offseason of all time. I haven't had surgery in a long time, so you kinda forget the rehab process and so forth. It's kind of a long, arduous offseason when you go through rehab like that. I got a lot of time with my family and stuff. That was really enjoyable. I'm happy to be back to work. I've just gotta get out and try to get better tomorrow."

Brady was never on the injured list with a knee issue last season, which is a clear violation of NFL protocols for reporting injuries considering it's known he played on the torn MCL throughout the campaign. He explained on Friday how personal trainer and TB12 business partner Alex Guerrero kept him going en route to a Super Bowl title despite that setback. 

"Alex and I would spend a lot of time last year — day after day after day, 'Let's tape it, take the tape off' in pregame, pre-practice, taping it at 7 a.m., leaving the tape on at night, just trying to stabilize it as best as I could," Brady said.

Guerrero recently said he believes Brady will play at least two more seasons, and Tampa Bay wide receiver Mike Evans told media members on Friday he can "see a difference" from where Brady was last year to where the signal-caller is today. 

Sleeve or no sleeve, Brady is actively pursuing his next and "favorite" championship ring.