Tom Brady says NFL protests are ‘great’ in vague, Tom Brady fashion

Tom Brady came out of his offseason stasis to talk with Oprah Winfrey about everything from his career to the rest of the NFL last week. While much of the discussion revolved around the reigning MVP’s future, Brady also took the opportunity to voice his support for the players who used their Sunday platforms to protest over the past two seasons.

The Patriots quarterback sat down with Winfrey for an interview aired on Oprah Winfrey Network and discussed his thoughts on Colin Kaepernick and other embattled players who have been the subject of debate throughout the league since 2016. While he didn’t touch on any of the underlying reasons behind the protests, he reiterated his support for his colleagues’ right to take a stand by taking a knee during the national anthem.

“I respect why people are doing what they are doing,” Brady told Winfrey. “And they’re doing it for different reasons, and that’s OK. You know, you can do things for your reason. They can do things for their reason, and you have respect for that. But, I thought it was great.”

These pregame protests hit a boiling point in September 2017 after noted New England Patriots fan President Donald Trump delivered a fiery speech denouncing and insulting demonstrating players and calling for owners to fire the “son of a b——” that protests during the pregame anthem.

Brady publicly opposed his friend Trump — the quarterback had a “Make America Great Again” hat visible in his locker back in 2015 and his friendship with the president has been documented over time — in the days that followed.

“I certainly disagree with what he said,” he told reporters back in 2017. “I thought it was just divisive.

“I think everyone has the right to do whatever they want to do. If you don’t agree, that is fine. You can voice your disagreement, I think that is great. It’s part of our democracy. As long as it is done in a peaceful, respectful way, that is what our country has been all about,” he continued.

There were several other tidbits dropped into conversation in carefully managed pieces. Brady, as expected, told the longtime television host he plans to keep playing football “as long as [he’s] still loving it,” but that he’s also got his eye on his family when it comes to making a decision about his future.

“As long as I’m loving the training and preparation and willing to make the commitment. But it’s also I think what I’ve alluded to a lot in [Tom vs Time] was there’s other things happening in my life too.

“I do have kids that I love, and I don’t want to be a dad that’s not there driving my kids to their games. I think my kids have brought a great perspective in my life, because kids just want the attention. You better be there and be available to them, or else they’re going to look back on their life and go, ‘Dad didn’t really care that much.’”

Brady also talked about his Deflategate battle against the league (“a great experience”), the anxiety and fatigue that led him to cease his battle against Roger Goodell and accept his suspension, and his relationships with coach Bill Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft. He downplayed any friction between the triumvirate, explaining away his absence from the team’s first official practices as something he’d cleared with New England’s higher-ups:

“The team, I would say, like most teams are very systematic in their approach,” Brady told Winfrey. “And what I learned, I guess, is different from some of the things that are systematic but that work for me. It’s nothing that I don’t talk about with my coach and owner — ‘This is what I want to do; this is what I need to be the best player I can be and hopefully you can support that.’”

You can check out the rest of Brady’s well-conditioned half-answers over at Pats Pulpit, where they’ve broken down all the important parts of a rare offseason glimpse into the future Hall of Famer’s mind.