Brady set for preseason debut with Bucs: 'Always ready to go'
Tom Brady is prepared to stay in as long as head coach Bruce Arians wants when he plays his first preseason game Saturday with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"I'm kind of always ready to go," the quarterback said Thursday, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. "I love playing football. I love competing. If he said, 'Hey, you're going to play the whole game,' I'll be ready to play the whole game. It's kind of how I feel about what I need to do for my job."
Brady and the Bucs didn't see any exhibition action last year, as the NFL nixed the preseason at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tampa Bay will take the field for the first of three exhibition contests this year against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 44-year-old Brady typically received some preseason snaps with the New England Patriots, where he spent his first 20 seasons. NFL teams have gradually gone away from playing their starting quarterbacks prior to Week 1 over the course of Brady's career.
"If he wants me to not play, five plays, 20 plays - whatever he wants me to do, we'll be ready to go," Brady added.
Despite not getting any tuneup games last year, the Buccaneers went on to win Super Bowl LV while Brady captured his seventh career title.
The Bucs are slated to open the regular season Sept. 9 against the Dallas Cowboys.