Tom Brady: “Excited To Be Out Here With My Teammates”

After the Patriots finished up their first training camp practice of the year earlier today, quarterback Tom Brady took a few minutes to talk with reporters.

As usual, Brady didn’t give out too much information, while always keeping his positive, optimistic view on things. He did touch on having Rob Gronkowski back on the field, as well as appreciating the opportunity he is currently in.

(Quotes from Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston)

On starting up camp:

"“I’m excited to be out here with my teammates and working to get better,” Brady said after the two-hour practice. “It’s a long training camp. It’s going to be a lot of effort and a lot of work. There is no easy way about it. You just have to grind and put the work in and listen to the coaches, try to make the improvements. Hopefully when we start the season, we’ll be a lot better team than we are now.”"

On Gronk being out there again:

"“When you have great players like that on the field, it helps you a lot. Your margin for error goes up,” Brady said. “But you have to prepare for both. I don’t think the expectations have changed — you still have to go out and execute the play the best way you know how to and try to do it at a high level on a really consistent basis.”"

Reflecting on the past, and appreciating the moment:

"“There are very few people who have the opportunity I have, and I’m very appreciative of it,” he said. “You never know when the last one is going to be. Just appreciate the moments you have, and every year is something different. This could be your last training camp. You never know. You have to make it count. You can’t take anything for granted in the NFL. I just try to do the best I can for this team, and hopefully it leads to a great year.“Hopefully I can bring really positive leadership and energy to the team. If the quarterback won’t do it, then who else will? That’s how I’ve always looked at it.”"

We really are lucky as a fanbase to have someone like Brady leading our team. There aren’t a lot of players like him, and like he will be appreciating these final years in the league, we should as well.

I am expecting Brady to come out just as fiery and competitive in 2014, perhaps even more than usual, due to the talk of him declining over the course of this long offseason. In addition to this, his comments on being a leader stood out to me, as it really is important for the best player on the team to take the lead, and make sure his team follows him.

We are in for a fun year.