Bill Belichick Won't Talk About Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, Only Players at OTAs

Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski are still staying away from the Patriots OTA’s, as they enter phase 3. Bill Belichick won’t even entertain questions about his two star players who look to be staging a power play.

“I’m not going to talk about the people who aren’t here. The guys who are here are improving, working hard. That’s who we’re going to focus on,” Belichick said.

and later, “I’m focused on the guys that are here and those are the guys we’re working with in the OTA process Phase 3,” Belichick said.

These OTAs aren’t meaningless when it comes to the offense, especially with the guy at the heart of the offense sitting it out as the offense is beginning to get installed. Back in 2013, Tom Brady talked about the importance of these OTAs where the passing game is developed.

"Q: Bill Belichick talked this morning that OTAs and mini-camp are a time to lay a foundation. Do you think that you guys have done a good job of that so far? TB: He talks about, you think it’s just an OTA in the spring time and it’s not that important and all those things that probably could enter your mind. The truth is, this lays the foundation for the start of training camp and if you have a good training camp, it usually means a good start to the season. A good start to the season leads to good position entering the second half of the season. Everything ends up having some significance to it. You’re not just out here running plays and going through different things that aren’t going to mean anything. We’re out here trying to get a lot of things accomplished. I think we have done that, but there’s still a lot of work to be done."

You know it’s killing Bill Belichick that Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski have the leverage to stay away right now. Tom Brady, depending on who you believe, had a role in Jimmy Garoppolo getting traded suddenly at the deadline to San Francisco last year. This offseason would look a lot different if that had not happened.