Tom Brady gave a fiery speech rallying NFL players to skip workouts in effort to change offseason work conditions

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Tom Brady gave a fiery speech rallying NFL players to skip workouts in effort to change offseason work conditions
Tom Brady.Chris O'Meara/AP Images
  • Tom Brady thinks it's time to change the NFL offseason.
  • During a union meeting, Brady spoke out against the structure of offseason workouts.
  • "There's no f---ing pro baseball player that's throwing 95 mph in mid-December," Brady said.
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Tom Brady is hoping to change the structure of the NFL offseason.

During a call with the NFL Players Association on Friday, Brady reportedly gave an impassioned speech encouraging his fellow players to skip offseason workouts. The hope is to solidarity as a way to help players negotiate a better offseason program.

"We shouldn't have overly competitive drills in May and June," Brady said, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. "There's no (bleeping) pro baseball player that's throwing 95 mph in the middle of December."

Brady's call for change comes as players on several teams have already gone public about their plans to boycott the offseason. As of mid-April, the NFLPA had put out statements on behalf of players of 11 teams - the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Atlanta Falcons - stating that some players would be refusing to attend voluntary offseason workouts.

But even in those statements, it was clear that not all players were on board with the idea. "Many of us at the New England Patriots will be exercising our right not to attend voluntary workouts this offseason," the New England Patriots statement read.

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The reason for such a split inside of a locker room comes down to what different players get out of attending voluntary workouts. While established superstars such as Brady might not need the extra throws, or the top-of-the-line equipment that working out at team facilities provides, for players on the margins of rosters across the league, there are benefits to working out with the team.

NBC Sports' Peter King explained the split further:

Some players have lucrative offseason-workout bonuses built into their contracts; the union won't urge those players to stay away. But for the majority of players, a per diem of $235 is paid each day they are on the premises. As one club official told me the other day: "How about the guy making the minimum who has to work out anyway? If he lives in the city he plays in, he goes to the team facility with state-of-the-art equipment. He probably gets breakfast and lunch, and a healthy breakfast and lunch. He can watch tape, meet with his coaches. And he gets a thousand bucks a week. Some guys need that money in the offseason. There's a lot more of those guys, and rookies who want to get started, than there are guys making $7, $10, $15 million a year."

While players across the league might be split on the decision to boycott offseason workouts, Brady's status as a veteran and one of the league's superstars mean his words have an impact.

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