The GOAT has landed. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers saw the return of Tom Brady on Monday, marking the end of an 11-day hiatus the seven-time Super Bowl champion spent away from the team. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Brady was at the AdventHeath training center on Monday.
This solidifies head coach Todd Bowles comments on Sunday where he said said Brady will be back "this week early," coinciding with the timeline the head coach said when Brady left the team for personal reasons on Aug. 11.
While there have been theories on Brady's disappearance, Brady didn't leave the team for health or family reasons. A new report noted that Brady was merely spending family time on vacation in the Bahamas.
"This is something we talked about before training camp started," Bowles said when Brady had his excused absence. "We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys and go through two weeks of training camp, knowing he wasn't going to play the first two (preseason) games."
Brady needs just 2,431 passing yards to become the first player in NFL history with 100,000 career passing yards (including the postseason). He also needs at least 40 touchdown passes to become the first player in NFL history to record 40 touchdown passes in three consecutive seasons and can become the first player with at least 40 touchdown passes in four different seasons. If Brady gets 30 touchdown passes this season, he'll tie Drew Brees (10 seasons) for the most such seasons in NFL history.
There's plenty of incentive for Brady to return for the 2022 season. As Bowles has been saying all along, his quarterback has, in fact, stepped back into the building.
