The item that stuck out to me came when the quarterback was asked if he'd like to see Welker get a long-term contract and remain with the Patriots with him for the remainder of their careers. Brady paused for a moment before giving his answer.
"I wish there was an easy answer. I always support Wes. None of those decisions are up to me, and these things end up working themselves out at some point," Brady said. "I don't know how or when or who or why, but sometimes I get emotionally involved in those types of situations and it doesn't work that well for me so I just try to support him as a friend. We're all in this business, and it's a tough business, and you always hope for the best. I don't know what's going to happen. I love Wes, I'd love to have him here for as long as I'm playing. None of those things are really up to me."
Brady chose his words carefully and seemed reluctant to simply endorse a Welker extension. It's possible he didn't want to oppose any potential actions the team may have moving forward with the franchised wideout, but for whatever reason it was interesting to hear his response.
One other interesting question came when Brady was asked about incorporating new receivers into the offense. That is something that hasn't always gone smoothly, especially in recent seasons, and Brady explained some of the challenges newcomers face when entering New England's challenging system.
"It's different with different players," Brady began. "There's a lot of things that go into being a good player, especially on our team. Coach [Bill] Belichick always tells us it's not an easy program that he runs. Some guys come from other teams, and maybe they're not really held as accountable on a daily basis, but Coach Belichick – if I throw an incompletion, I'm going to hear about it. I think guys come, maybe they've been in the league for a while, and they're like 'Why is he always yelling? Why is he so tough on us?' He just tries to keep the pressure on us, because he feels that's the way that he gets the most out of us.
"I think that you can tell relatively early the way that a guy responds to that type of coaching, you can look in his eyes in the huddle and see how confident and comfortable he is in what you're asking him to do. Sometimes you get in the huddle and I'm looking at the guy and he's looking at me, and he's got this expression on his face like, 'Oh God, what's the play? Am I going to know where to go? Am I going to know how to do it? Am I going to be able to do what the coaches are asking me to do?' Some guys you know right away, some guys it takes a couple of months. Obviously it can't take forever. This is a performance-based business, if you're not on the field performing and helping the team win, you're not going to be around long, you can't just think that you're going to have two redshirt seasons and then you're going to be the second string behind the fourth-year senior and then you're going to get your chance to play. You're going to have to establish your own role for yourself. If you don't, you're not going to be in this business very long."
Brady, who will once again be part of the annual Best Buddies event this weekend with a football game Friday night at Harvard Stadium and Saturday's bike ride, also took time to discuss the organization he's been part of since arriving in New England 2000.
"I'm looking forward to it, it's this weekend. It's something that I've been a part of since I got to this area, 12 years ago," Brady said. "I'm excited, every year we've grown, we've raised more money for the Buddies and all the different programs that we run. I'm looking forward to the football game at Harvard Stadium on Friday night and the ride on Saturday, it's always something I look forward to. I hope the weather holds off, I'm also crossing my fingers. I rode in the rain before, and I didn't really like that nearly as much."