Tom Brady taking time away from Buccaneers to ‘deal with personal things’

Tom Brady is taking time away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to “deal with some personal things”, according to the team’s head coach, Todd Bowles.

Bowles said the quarterback will return after the team’s preseason game against the Tennessee Titans on 20 August. The Bucs open their regular season campaign against the Dallas Cowboys on 11 September.

“It’s a personal issue. That’s all I can tell you,” said Bowles, when asked if Brady’s absence was health related.

Coach Todd Bowles said Tom Brady won’t be back until after the #Titans preseason game, which is on Aug 20. https://t.co/mkZ0aXab23

Bowles said that Brady’s absence had been agreed in advance and it had already been announced that he would not play in Saturday’s preseason game against the Miami Dolphins. Bowles said he is confident Brady will be ready for the start of the season, despite missing practice time with his offense.

“This is something we talked about before training camp started. We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys and go through two weeks of training camp,” Bowles told reporters on Thursday. “Knowing he wasn’t going to play the first two games, he didn’t want to take away reps from Blaine [Gabbert] and Kyle [Trask], as well as [Ryan Griffin], as far as going into these next two games.”

The 45-year-old Brady led the league in passing yards and touchdowns last season. He announced his retirement from football in February before reversing the decision shortly afterwards. In May, it was announced that Brady had signed a 10-year, $375m contract with Fox Sports, which will start when he retires from the NFL for good.

This month, the NFL suspended Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and docked the team a first-round