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Tom Bradyis taking some “personal” time away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, head coach Todd Bowles said during a press conference Thursday.
The quarterback won’t be back with the team until August 20, when Tampa Bay takes on the Tennessee Titans for a preseason game.
“Tom has been excused today. He’ll be taking… he’ll be back somewhere around after Tennessee,” Bowles said, perNBC Sports. “He’s going to deal with some personal things.”
A source close to Brady tells PEOPLE the 45-year-old is not injured, and just taking personal time.
According to Bowles, Brady and the team already discussed the absence before the start of training camp in July.
“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 games,” he explained.
“He didn’t want to take away reps from Blaine [Gabbert] and Kyle [Trask] as well as Griff [Ryan Griffin] as far as going into these next two games,” Bowles continued. “And it’s something he needs to handle.”
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PEOPLE has reached out to the Buccanneers for updates.
According toESPN, Bowles believes Brady will return in time for the Buccaneers' first game of the season against the Dallas Cowboys on September 11.
“Per our conversation, I am not worried, no,” he said, per ESPN.
In an interview with PEOPLE in June, Brady spoke about his faith in Tampa Bay teammates.
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“We’ve got a great group, everyone’s on the same page,” Brady tells PEOPLE of his teammates. “We have great chemistry, we have great comradery with our group.”
“It’s a big challenge, playing in the NFL,” he added. “We have a lot of great guys, and everyone’s going to make the commitment to try to win a championship.”
source: people.com
