Bennett connects with Brady
FOXBORO — Year after year, stories surface of rookies blown away by football’s top celebrity walking up to them in the locker room and saying, “Hi, I’m Tom Brady.”
As it turns out, even decorated NFL veterans get a kick out of getting to know the quarterback with six Super Bowl victories to his name.
“I think it’s good because Tom is one of,” three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett started to say of getting to know Brady, before he stopped himself and continued, “Tom is the greatest player to play in the NFL. It’s an opportunity to just talk life.”
What do they talk about? “I think Tom has a lot of experiences that I haven’t experienced, and I have some experiences that he hasn’t experienced,” said Bennett, who has made a nice living slamming quarterbacks to the turf. “I think just being fathers and being husbands, and talking about life, I think think that’s the greatest thing you can do with your teammate is to learn him as an individual.”
Bennett, 34, likes what he has seen from Brady the person, not just the quarterback.
“You know, you see people from the outside and you want to get to know them as a person, and I think Tom does a great job of connecting with his teammates every single day,” Bennett said. “Personally, I think that’s been good for me, to be able to come in and have a guy like Tom telling a story and just having a good time. Football takes care of itself, but building that camaraderie with your teammates, that’s the most important thing for me on this team, is to earn everybody’s trust.”
Bennett explained how he thinks the effort Brady makes to get to know new teammates makes their transitions easier.
“Football takes care of itself, but building that camaraderie with your teammates, that’s the most important thing for me on this team, is to earn everybody’s trust,” Bennett said. “From the top of the organization, to the media stuff, to the training stuff, just to let them know what type of individual I am and try to do that every single day. I think talking to Tom allows me to do that, and I take those days because you never know when you’re going to get a chance to talk to guys like that. Just to have that type of time, it’s cool. He takes time to get to know me as an individual, and I love that.”