Tom Brady keeps practicing with Bucs teammates despite COVID-19: 'Only thing we have to fear, is fear itself'

Liz Roscher
·Staff writer
Updated ·4 min read

Tom Brady isn’t letting anything stop him from being ready for his debut as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ new quarterback. Not the COVID-19 pandemic, not NFLPA warnings and certainly not science or common sense health advice.

He’s continuing to work out with his new teammates, and it doesn’t seem like anything can stop him.

Brady works out again, doesn’t ‘fear’ COVID-19

After getting in some practice Tuesday, Brady again worked out with teammates on Thursday, publicly ignoring the NFLPA medical director’s guidance that players should not gather for workouts until the beginning of training camp. He isn’t deaf to the criticism he’s gotten for it, but he made it obvious that he just doesn’t care in an Instagram Story he posted Thursday.

Brady is quoting President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who famously said that phrase during his 1933 inaugural address in reference to the Great Depression and the seemingly insurmountable problems it had caused.

In stark contrast, Brady is using that phrase to brush off fears about COVID-19 and imply that being afraid of the coronavirus is the real problem. According to Brady, who is used to doing and getting whatever he wants, we shouldn’t fear a highly contagious virus that has infected over 2 million people in the U.S. alone, killing over 120,000. He wants to work out, and the prospect of catching COVID-19 and passing it on to his teammates, his wife or his kids is just “fear” that he can easily wave away with a quote from a dead president.

Tom Brady says he doesn't fear the coronavirus, even though he definitely should. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match)
Tom Brady says he doesn't fear the coronavirus, even though he definitely should. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match)

Brady’s record on science is iffy

This isn’t the first time Brady has seemingly rejected science. He even did it earlier this week. On Tuesday, after again publicly ignoring the NFLPA’s advice to not gather for workouts, Brady posted an Instagram Story to promote one of his TB12 immune supplements. The caption read “Every day!!! Your health is your wealth.”

Brady shilled these supplements back in May, writing that “this product was designed to provide exactly what you need to stay healthy, strong and resilient for whatever comes your way.” It’s illegal to market a supplement as a cure for a disease, so that description stays on the right side of the line, but the Food & Drug Administration doesn’t require the producers of these supplements to prove any of their claims. Every single bottle contains this warning:

“These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

The guy promoting $45 immunity supplements with unproven “scientific” claims during a panic-inducing pandemic is definitely who you want to listen to when it comes to disease protection, right?

NFL can’t stop Brady’s workouts

Brady’s flouting of the NFLPA’s guidance (as well as common sense health advice and actual science) has not gone unnoticed by the NFL. Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, was asked about Brady’s workouts on Thursday, and he did his best to not directly answer the question.

Both of Brady’s workouts came after a few Bucs players tested positive, amid an alarming COVID-19 spike in Florida. Sills said that players have a responsibility to each other, but it’s clear that Brady is concerned about only himself.

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