Troy Aikman: Buccaneers' Tom Brady taking training camp break 'doesn’t really matter'

Arguably the biggest off-the-field story of the 2022 NFL preseason was the 11-day break that quarterback Tom Brady took from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month for what officially remain largely unexplained personal reasons beyond the fact that the 45-year-old has "a lot of s--- going on" at this point of his life. 

Members of the football community have produced theories for Brady's absence that include allegations that the seven-time Super Bowl champion was filming a segment for Fox's "The Masked Singer" program and/or getting some work done, potentially on his famous face. 

Former Dallas Cowboys cornerback Orlando Scandrick recently remarked that Brady deserves the "benefit of the doubt" more than any player in the league regarding his decision to temporarily step away from the Buccaneers, and a Hall-of-Famer has now also defended the G.O.A.T. during an appearance on the "Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast" hosted by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post and Sports Business Journal's John Ourand. 

"Nothing. You know, nothing," Cowboys legend and former quarterback Troy Aikman responded when asked during the episode what he thought about Brady's vacation, per the Joe Bucs Fan website. "It doesn’t really matter.

"There is not a more team-oriented guy than Tom Brady. I mean there is just not. There is a reason why he has won the way that he has. He gets it. He knows what it takes to not only play at a high level but also to create a culture within an organization on what it takes exactly to win. So, never would I question anything Tom Brady does as to how that may or may not detract from the goal of a football team." 

Aikman went so far as to admit that modern training camp sessions and preseason games don't mean all that much to a veteran such as Brady who has already seen it all and done it all as it pertains to being a signal-caller at the highest level. 

"Let’s be honest," Aikman added. "What do they do? We call it 'training camp,' but they better come up with a different name for it because it is not training camp that I am familiar with. And I’m sure [the time off] was probably beneficial for [Brady] to get away." 

Brady and the Buccaneers open the upcoming regular season at the Cowboys for a "Sunday Night Football" showdown on the evening of Sept. 11.