Tom Brady Really Does Not Like 17-Game Season

Tom Brady has quietly been making news weekly now that he has a podcast, titled Let's Go!, hosted with Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald. The latest episode featured Brady discussing the 17-game season the NFL instituted this year.

To sum it up, Brady is not a fan. At all. He called it a "terrible decision" and expressed his belief that it's pointless before going on to say that the players need a stronger and more unified union so they aren't backed into corners by the owners. Transcription via Pro Football Talk:

“I think it’s pointless,” Brady said regarding the expanded regular season. “I thought it was a terrible decision. So I don’t like the fact that we’re playing a 17th game at all. I think sixteen is plenty. And, again, you’re eight games into the year and you’re not halfway through, so that’s kind of a little frustrating aspect. So whatever, I mean, we’ll play it."

So why do these things happen?

“Because the owners haven’t had to listen to the players,” Brady said. “Because usually what the owners want the owners get. So, you know, that’s just the way the business has gone. And we need strong union leadership from the player standpoint and a unified union in order to have the right amount of leverage to negotiate what we think is appropriate for an NFL player. But right now it’s more like we get told what to do and, yeah, there’s a vote and a CBA, but the choice is: don’t play or play under these circumstances."

Brady has emerged from his shell over the last calendar year and began to speak his mind without care for consequences, a rare happenstance when he was in New England. He has hammered the NFL's new jersey number policy on numerous occasions this season. Now he's criticizing both the union and the owners and the 17-game season.

By the end of the year, we might actually get uncensored Tom Brady. I wouldn't hold out hope, but we've already gotten further down that road than anyone ever anticipated.