Patriots quarterback Tom Brady fielded questions from a group of reporters for the first time since Super Bowl LI today, and when asked about his wife’s claim that he suffered a concussion last year, he declined to answer.
Asked specifically about Gisele Bundchen’s statement that Brady had a concussion during the 2016 season, Brady neither confirmed nor denied it.
“I don’t want to get into things that happened in my past, certainly medical history and so forth, I really don’t think that’s anybody’s business,” Brady said. “There’s people that do worry about that. My wife, my parents, my sisters, people that love me and care about me, but I do the best I can do to come out and be prepared to play mentally and physically and give the game everything I can.”
Brady said he is aware of recent research suggesting that most NFL players suffer some degree of permanent brain damage on the field, but he said he sees benefits to football as well.
“You’re not blind to it as a player,” Brady said. “It’s a contact sport and I think we all understand that. And there’s a lot of great benefits that football brings you. You certainly can be put in harm’s way.”
If Brady did suffer a concussion last season, it wasn’t disclosed publicly and it didn’t cause him to miss any time. That means it wasn’t handled properly, according to the NFL’s concussion protocol, which may be why he’d rather not talk about it.