Brady 'desensitized' to Branch, Koppen cuts

FOXBORO -- Tom Brady has long ago given up trying to play the role of general manager for a football team. He admitted as much on Wednesday when he said he's become desensitized to releases like the ones that saw Deion Branch, Brian Hoyer and Dan Koppen cut as part of the Patriots final 53-man roster cutdown last Friday. 

"I mean, there’s turnover every year on our team, on every team, coaches players and staff and so forth, so I don’t think about it too much," Brady said. "I think I learned at a young age that you worry about what you can control and certainly playing quarterback and my attitude is what I think about on a daily basis. That’s pretty much it."

For Brady, he had Super Bowl winning experience with Branch and Koppen. But on Wednesday he said even with that experience, the front office is going to make the personnel decisions they feel are best for the team. 

"I think in some ways you become a bit desensitized to it," Brady said. "It’s not my decision, so I can’t really think about it too much other than supporting your friends and what they’re going through. But it’s not like I can go in and lobby for guys; It’s what decisions have been made or what coach always feels is in the best interest of the team. You just try to worry about going out there and doing your job. And we had practice that day, so we went out and practiced and you try to have a good practice regardless of who is out there because if you don’t, you're really doing a disservice to yourself, your teammates and the franchise. You have to go out and compartmentalize things and go out there and have good practices and ultimately be prepared for the game.

"I think you realize at a young age that you really don’t know what you don’t know, so you see guys in the springtime that have great spring camps. I remember my second year, we had a receiver, Aaron Bailey, that was pretty good. I thought, ‘Man, this guy is really good,’ and then we released him and I couldn’t believe it. ‘Man, we released that guy. He's the one that made all the plays.’ That's just what happens. You see a lot of players come and go and you just learn to deal with it, learn to live with it, and you understand, like, what my job is – it’s challenging enough as it is. I don’t have to worry about too many other jobs."

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