Mike Evans Says He Didn’t Know Tom Brady Tore His MCL

July 25th, 2021

Mike Evans chilling after practice today

UPDATED: 2:13 p.m. The report has been out there just about everywhere over the past week or so: Tom Brady played all of last season on a torn knee ligament (MCL).

But who knew about it?

Joe asked Mike Evans if he knew Brady was grinding on that specific injury or whether he learned when fans did in recent days.

Evans said the torn MCL was news to him.

“I knew he was hurt, hurt pretty bad,” Evans said. “But you know, he’s as tough as you’re going to get. He was battling. I didn’t know it was torn. But it speaks to as tough as a player he really is.”

On if he saw a change today in post-surgery Brady.

“I can’t see a difference, but he looks very springy and wiry right now,” Evans said.

Sage of Tampa Bay Sports Ira Kaufman, the venerable JoeBucsFan.com columnist, asked Carlton Davis if he knew of Brady’s torn up knee last season. “No I didn’t,” Davis told Ira. “That’s crazy. He’s a tough guy. He’s the GOAT, so I wouldn’t expect nothing less from him.”

Joe wonders, did Evans ask Brady what was wrong with his knee in, say, September of last year? Did he get an answer?

It’s no surprise that Brady would be eager to keep his injury private, but Joe’s curious to what lengths Brady went to keep that injury from circulating. Joe supposes the answer will come out in a documentary or a book one day.

14 Responses to “Mike Evans Says He Didn’t Know Tom Brady Tore His MCL”

  1. crazybucs_CL Says:

    i thought they know each other, they are close …. and other buddy buddy stuff….
    you think your team mates should know what’s wrong with QB health so they can protect him better…. don’t get it… 😶🙄

  2. sasquatch Says:

    Either Brady is able to hide his medical situation really well, or the organization has told players to play dumb to cover its a$$.

    I thought the injury reporting only required “did not participate”, “limited participation” as designations in the week leading up to the game. If Brady was practicing, there’s nothing to report. Is that not true?

    I don’t know how the organization could be in any trouble if the status is based on practice participation.

  3. lambchop Says:

    This kind of explains how quick Brady was able to diagnose Mike’s hyper extended knee. He was already versed in the medical aspect from his own injury.

  4. Sparky Says:

    Who besides Rick Stroud says Brady had an MCL tear? Brady didn’t say it, the Dr. obviously didn’t say it, and everyone else says they didn’t know. Stroud didn’t even mention a source, just stated it like it was common knowledge. We know he had a knee injury of some sort and beforehand the surgery was described as non major. So where did this MCL tear come from?

  5. Joe Says:

    Who besides Rick Stroud says Brady had an MCL tear?

    Couple of things here. Stroud didn’t (originally) report this. Stroud claimed it was a strain. Ian Rapoport is the man who reported it was a full tear.

    Joe knows who Rapoport talks to so Joe is confident this is accurate.

  6. Chris Says:

    I gotta kinda agree with the earlier comment, if he was a full participant in all practices then why should they have to report anything? Damn near every NFL player is playing through knocks of some sort throughout the year, by the end probably not a single guy is 100% healthy, feeling like they’ve been on vacation for a month, but the only things reported are those that miss practice or have missed practice earlier in a given week. Its garbage. Hurt or not, he never missed a single practice, so nothing to report, and any punishment would just be another instance of the evil dictator roger just hating on Tom.

  7. Sparky Says:

    “Couple of things here. Stroud didn’t (originally) report this. Stroud claimed it was a strain. Ian Rapoport is the man who reported it was a full tear.”

    Stroud reported it was a partial TEAR. And THEN Rapoport reported it was a full tear. But in Stroud’s report he never even claimed to have a source, Rapoport at least went with “sources say.” Regardless, there are only two primary sources for this information, Tom Brady, and Tom Brady’s Dr, and neither one of them are the ones talking.

  8. black shoes Says:

    Multiple reporters in Boston who have sources close to Brady have confirmed this is true. Many of them talked to Alex Guerrero regularly over the past 20 years.

  9. black shoes Says:

    @Sparky : The injury happened late in Brady’s final season with the Patriots. Brady has always played with injuries. This surprises no one in New England.

  10. teacherman777 Says:

    Kings don’t complain.

    They fight.

    Tom Brady is the rightful King of Tampa, America, and Ireland.

    All Hail King Tommy Boy!

  11. black shoes Says:

    Multiple reporters in Boston who remain close to Brady have confirmed it was a full tear. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported a few months ago that he was told that Brady had been injured all year. Volin couldn’t confirm what the exact injury was but reported that he was told that if people knew what Brady dealt with “the legend would grow”. Turns out that was correct.

  12. black shoes Says:

    Multiple reporters in Boston who remain close to Brady have confirmed it was a full tear. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reported a few months ago that he was told that Brady had been injured all year. Volin couldn’t confirm what the exact injury was but reported that he was told that if people knew what Brady dealt with “the legend would grow”. Turns out that was correct. I remember Stroud playing that report down and saying he heard there was an injury but it wasn’t that bad.

    The injury happened late in Brady’s final year with the Patriots. He always played through injuries for his entire career. This whole thing surprises absolutely no one in New England.

  13. black shoes Says:

    The injury happened late in Brady’s final year with the Patriots. He always played through injuries for his entire career. This whole thing surprises absolutely no one in New England.

  14. Sparky Says:

    “Multiple reporters in Boston who have sources close to Brady have confirmed this is true. Many of them talked to Alex Guerrero regularly over the past 20 years.”

    Alex Guerrero is selling something that becomes a more desirable product the more it looks like Brady is invincible.

    I’m not trying to diminish what TB did. He’s incredible. But all manner of total and complete BS gets reported in sports as facts from “sources” and the vast majority of it is garbage, because no one bothers to think critically about it. I’ve seen at least 6 teams mentioned as the one TB was referring to about “keeping that asshole” and every single report said they had an inside source that verified it. Sports “reporters” looking to break a story are easily played by insiders with something to gain or PR flacks trying to hide something else.