If you read between the lines of Tom Brady's comments after Ben Watson's release last week, you could sense the New England Patriots quarterback perhaps wasn't thrilled with his current group of skill players.
But the NFL trade deadline is approaching later this month. So, will Brady go to head coach/de facto general manager Bill Belichick and lobby for more weapons?
Not quite.
"(Belichick) and I always talk football," Brady told WEEI's "The Greg Hill Show" on Monday when asked if he he has input into the Patriots' personnel decisions. "We have built a relationship for 20 years ... and when he asks, I certainly have opinions and so forth. But like I have said before, that is not my role.
" ... I am a player like everyone else. I am not in a position where I make authoritative decisions, so you can't become attached to making authoritative decisions, because then you just get disappointed when those things are out of your control."
Brady took a similar high road after the Patriots released his most talented pass-catcher, Antonio Brown, late last month, insisting to Westwood One's Jim Gray that he doesn't make the decisions in Foxboro.
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It's hard to imagine Brady has zero say in New England's personnel moves. He knows more than any other Patriots player what the strengths and weaknesses of the offense are, and he likely lets Belichick know if there's a player he holds in high regard.
But the 42-year-old QB also espouses the team's "Do Your Job" mantra, which means he knows there's a line in the sand.
"When you are in a position to make those authoritative decisions, then that is what your job is," Brady said. "My job is to do what I do, which is to try and play quarterback, realizing a lot those decisions do impact the way I play quarterback.
"But I also have a lot of trust that our organization is trying to win games, too. I would say it has worked."
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