Tom Brady isn’t afraid to let the world know how he really feels about NFL players sitting out most of the preseason.
Believe it or not, we’re just weeks away from the NFL kicking off their season on Wednesday, September 9. Soon, our weekends will be chock-full of college and NFL football games, and I couldn’t be more excited about that. There’s nothing better than turning on the TV, taking in all-day gridiron action, and throwing back some (insert beverage of your choice here) while placing long shot parlays that have no chance of winning.
Take me there.
Though it doesn’t feel like football season just yet, the NFL has already begun it’s preseason slate. Someone once explained the NFL preseason as a “Professional football’s version of a Civil War reenactment,” and I’d say that’s a great way of explaining the contests. They look a lot like the real thing, but they aren’t.
Especially because the starters typically only play the first series or two, and then escape to the bench where they walk around and cut up with other, too-good-to-play-in-preseason players for the rest of the game. To me, it’s always felt like that’s how the preseason has gone.
However, this video from 2010 that’s gone viral – showing Tom Brady and Randy Moss still in a New England Patriots preseason game deep into the second half – proves it wasn’t always that way:
How was that 16 years ago?
That’s the question I found myself asking when I watched the clip. As for the rest of social media, they were astounded that the G.O.A.T. was still out there chucking the pigskin to another arguable G.O.A.T. in the third quarter of a preseason game:
Does that say 3rd quarter with 5 mins left? https://t.co/FRNcI19JYU
— Caleb (@zuves35) August 15, 2026
Why were they playing with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter?? And losing 27-14 (obviously before this score)
— Krimzyn Clark (@krimzynclark_1) August 15, 2026
It’s crazy to think that Tom Brady and Randy Moss were playing in the third quarter of a preseason game.
Things were just different. https://t.co/8eIQYCzTi3
— Boston Buzzer (@TheBostonBuzzer) August 17, 2026
I suppose things were just different.
And Tom Brady certainly agrees with that. He evidently caught wind of the social media buzz around the video, and took to his Instagram story to call out all of the NFL and it’s players in the current day for not playing their starters during the preseason schedule:
“Preseason… Regular season… I never wanted to be taken off the field. Practice makes perfect. Too many people looking for easy ways out these days. When you’re a football player, and it’s football season, your job is to play football.”
Hot take? Or fair argument?
Reminder: that’s the greatest quarterback of all time saying that. So even if he’s wrong, there’s at least an ounce of him that’s right… just because he’s Tom Brady. But it is crazy to think that, just a decade or so ago, some of the NFL’s best players were actually using the preseason to get warmed up, rather than just go through the motions.
If it were up to Tom Brady, all of the NFL would still be operating as such.
