Brady on surprise departures: ‘The sun will come up tomorrow without you'

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FOXBORO -- You may consider him the King of the North but Tom Brady knows that -- in business terms -- he’s a grain of sand on the NFL’s million-mile beach.

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Asked Wednesday about whether the trade of Jamie Collins is a reminder to the transitory nature of NFL life, Brady answered, “You can’t be around this long and not realize that the world will keep spinning and the sun will come up tomorrow without you. That’s just the way it goes. You enjoy the experiences you have and also understand that it just keeps going on. It can happen to anybody. You just have to keep showing up for work, do the best you can do every day and let your performance just speak for itself.”

Brady’s seen innumerable friends put out to professional pasture in his years in the league. His capacity for surprise and disappointment hit its high point 13 years ago when Lawyer Milloy was released days before the opener. Brady isn’t immune to being bummed when it happens -- Chandler Jones said he and Brady were both on the verge of tears when they face-timed after Jones’ trade back in the offseason -- but Brady does say it has to be compartmentalized.

“You’re just a human and you have personal relationships with a lot of players. I’ve had a lot of great relationships with all those guys and I still do,” said Brady. “I don’t think that ever changes. I also understand there’s always change in the NFL. It’s a challenging part of it. I think the older you get, the more you see, the more you understand, the faster you process that, that’s just the way it has to go. The changes take place in the offseason. They take place in training camp. We could lose a player to injury. It’s always changing and evolving and it’s the NFL and it’s inevitable but everyone will still be in touch with him and he’s our friend for life. That doesn’t change.”

Will the team pass through the disruption easily?

“We’ll see,” said Brady. “You can stand up here and say yes or no or a lot of different hypotheticals but we’re just gonna have to wait and see. We as players, (trading player is) not our choice. We don’t do anything about it. We just gotta do our job whatever it is and that’s to make improvements this week.”

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