Tom Brady needed entire offseason to recover from torn MCL: report

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Tom Brady talked last month about his rigorous rehab from a torn MCL last season but neglected to mention just how long it took him to get back to 100%.

The Athletic reported Thursday that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback needed to rehab the entire offseason to get back into playing shape for 2021. The seven-time Super Bowl champion also revealed he came down with coronavirus after the Bucs’ Super Bowl boat parade, adding to his challenging offseason. 

But Brady appears ready for the 2021 season.

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"Totally different because last year he was still learning everybody’s name," Bucs coach Bruce Arians told The Athletic. "When we came to training camp (in 2020), he didn’t have any practices. He had a group of guys he’d been working out with, but he hadn’t met anybody. He was learning how to get to work, where to go, where to eat in the facility and all that kind of stuff himself. So he couldn’t really be Tom Brady.

"And he didn’t know the offense. When you don’t know the offense, you’re not going to jump out there and try to be a super leader. His work ethic and all that, that’s his leadership anyway. I think that part, having a player who has been there and done it on this team, it basically had put them all over the hump mentally."

Brady told SiriusXM NFL Radio Aug. 25 he had surgery in February.

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"Yeah. It was six months today that I had knee surgery," Brady explained. "It was a tough offseason, you know, in terms of the rehab. Anytime someone goes through surgery — the rehab process — there’s nothing easy about it. You have to get through it.

"But I feel like I’m really just now kind of feeling — not from a rehab standpoint, but a football standpoint — like, my legs are feeling bouncy and ready to go. My arm’s feeling live. You know, I think that’s the hard thing, when you miss time and you don’t continue to train the way you’re capable of training, it’s tough because your body just wants to – it feels like, ‘OK, I get time off.’ And then when you get your body going again, it’s hard. Your body’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, we’re not working out. We’re chilling.’ And I’m trying to get it going. It just doesn’t want to do it."

Brady continued: "So, you know, I’ve had to push through some different things, and even the early part of training camp, just getting my legs under me. Getting my football legs. Again, when it’s 95 [degrees], you’ve got pads on and a helmet, I mean, and you’re reading coverages, and the mental strain, and the day after day, and the sleep. And then, you know, it’s just a lot of football conditioning that needs to happen. Even for somebody who’s been doing it as long as me, it’s always a challenge. I think that’s why I love the sport."

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Brady and the Bucs start their title defense Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys.

Fox News' Dan Canova contributed to this report.