Bucs quarterback Tom Brady had an excused absence on Thursday’s joint practice against the Dolphins. It’s the third of the last six training camp practices for the Bucs that Brady was either given a vet day off or an excused absence.

Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times first reported that coach Todd Bowles would give an update after practice as for why Brady has been missing so much.

Of the three practices he missed, one was a day off for his birthday on August 3. The next was the following practice on August 5 before Thursday’s practice. Brady will also not be participating in Saturday’s home preseason game against the Dolphins, which Bowles stated the previous week.

After Thursday’s practice was over, Bowles revealed that he will be absent all of next week, as well.

Bowles said the plan was for Brady to miss the first two preseason games. That means he’ll only play in the preseason finale at Indianapolis.

Bowles said his confidence in Brady playing in the season opener at Dallas on September 11 is “pretty high.”

With Brady out, it’s been Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask getting the share of the reps. The Bucs also have new players in the passing game to work with. That includes Russell Gage, Julio Jones and Kyle Rudolph. For the latter two, they’re still fresh to the playbook. Jones signed on the first day of training camp and Rudolph just a couple of days before.

Brady has been very active when practicing in this training camp. He’s taken on his usual vocal leadership role that we’ve seen when working together with others on the offense.