Tom Brady to be away from Buccaneers for a few days due to personal, non-football reasons, coach says

TAMPA, Fla. - Tom Brady was nowhere to be seen during the final practice before the first preseason game this weekend. In fact, he will be away from the team for the next few days.

Head Coach Todd Bowles said Thursday the quarterback will be out for 11 days for personal reasons until after the Tennessee Titans game next week. It was discussed and approved prior to the beginning of camp. 

"Tom has been excused today. ... He’s going to deal with some personal things," Bowles said. "We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys with two weeks of training camp, knowing he wasn’t going to play the first two (preseason) games."

Brady is expected to return two days after the Titans game, which is Aug. 20.

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"He'll be ready," said General Manager Jason Licht when discussing Week 1. "We're not at all concerned about that."

Backup quarterbacks Blaine Gabbert, Kyle Trask and Ryan Griffin will share snaps during Brady's absence.

"He didn’t want to take away reps from Blaine, Kyle, as well as Griff, as far as going into these next two games. That’s something he can handle," Bowles said. "We trust him. We talked about it. It was scheduled way before training camp."

Brady, who retired in February only to change his mind six weeks later, was also excused from practice for personal reasons last Friday — two days after getting a scheduled day off for his 45th birthday.

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Bowles said his confidence level is "pretty high" that Brady will be in the lineup for next month’s regular-season opener at Dallas.

"Per our conversation, I’m not worried," Bowles said.

The Bucs will face off against the Miami Dolphins on Saturday for the first preseason game at Raymond James Stadium.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.