Patriots owner Robert Kraft says Tom Brady is ‘very excited’ about the 2018 NFL season

Around the league, phase three of the offseason team workouts are getting underway with voluntary OTAs starting this week. This has seen several prominent players choose to be no-shows for their respective organizations. One of which was New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady. Brady has made it a normalcy to attend this part of the organized workouts throughout his career. This has raised some questions about his standing with the team.

In response to that, team owner Robert Kraft voiced that Brady is excited about the 2018 season and that he expects him to be at the mandatory minicamp next month, according to Mike Reiss of ESPN.

“I think he’s very excited about the upcoming season,” Kraft told a small group of reporters at the NFL’s spring meeting in Atlanta. “These are voluntary workouts, and I think he’s in great shape. I think he’s at an age where — I was thinking back to when he joined us — he’s blessed to have three children now and built a number of businesses and has certain responsibilities. I think it’s very hard for him to fulfill those during the season and the commitment he has to football. I’ll only say this: I know he’s very excited about being at minicamp and having a very special season this year.”

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Although Kraft’s comments are encouraging, it does attract some attention toward the 40-year-old’s absence from an organized team workout. All the more suspicious as he has typically taken part in throughout his career. This does paint the picture that there remains some essence of uneasiness toward the Patriots from Brady. It could be linked to the internal issues that arose late in the regular season.

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He hasn’t spoken out publicly concerning any of those problems that came about. Although, the no-show to the workout does signal that everything may not be as settled as previously thought. Keep in mind, he has yet to participate in any of the team’s organized workouts this offseason.

All of this may blow over as a minor blimp once Brady makes his return to the practice, but it’s certainly something that could arise down the line.