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Tom Brady has been very talkative this offseason, which is kind of surprising, because the superstar quarterback isn't exactly known for being chatty during his interviews, and if he does talk, he usually goes out of his way to avoid saying anything controversial. 

As a matter of fact, during an appearance on HBO's The Shop over the weekend, Brady admitted that "90 percent" of what he says in press conferences isn't actually what he's thinking. Translation: Not only does Brady give boring answers, but he knows he gives boring answers and he doesn't care at all. 

However, Brady did say one thing this offseason that actually "shocked" Troy Aikman and the Hall of Famer explained why during a recent appearance on The Ringer's "Flying Coach" podcast. Back in May, when the NFLPA was calling for players to stay away from offseason workouts, Brady jumped on a teleconference and argued that the NFL needs to stop pushing players so hard during the offseason if the league isn't willing to cut down on the number of workouts.  

"We shouldn't have overly competitive drills in May and June," Brady said, via the Boston Globe. "There's no (bleeping) pro baseball player that's throwing 95 mph in the middle of December."

The fact that Brady was calling for fewer practices was something that shocked Aikman. 

"I was surprised to hear Tom Brady say 'Yea, the players need more time off,'" Aikman said. "He was very vocal. It shocked me, because I know Tom well." 

After thinking about Brady's comments though, they made sense to Aikman: The Hall of Fame QB thinks Brady made them so that he could get a competitive advantage over other teams. 

"And then I realized, that's the greatness of Tom Brady, because I can assure you, he's not taking those days off and that team is not taking those days off, and so he views it as a total competitive advantage," Aikman said. "If teams are practicing less and he's practicing more, that's going to give him a leg up on the competition, and I think that was really the whole motivation in his comments."

When you're ultra competitive like Brady, the idea of trying to get a leg up on everyone makes sense, which is why Aikman's theory isn't all that crazy. Brady has already proven that he's willing to practice when no one else is practicing. Back in 2020 when the the NFL's offseason got canceled due to the pandemic, Brady still found time to round up his teammates to hold private workouts together. 

The way Aikman sees it, getting your teammates together for a private practice is how the best players get better. 

"I'm all for getting rested," Aikman said. "I'm all for all those things, but at some point you have to pose the question: Do you want to be great or do you not? Do you want to be a great team? Do you want to be a great player? And if you do, that means you have to put in the time."

No one understands that more than Brady, who has arguably put in more practice time than any NFL player ever as he heads into his 22nd season.