Tom Brady Addresses His 11-Day Tampa Bay Buccaneers Absence

NFL star Tom Brady is opening up on why he missed 11 days of practice earlier this month.

Although he had announced his retirement earlier this year, he later backed down and revealed he was going to play another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

But fans are worried that there might be drama going on behind the scenes as he missed almost two weeks of training for an unspecified reason.

While speaking to reporters on Saturday after his only preseason game (via PEOPLE), the 45-year-old athlete explained why he took some time off from practicing ahead of what many expect to be his final season in the NFL.

"Everyone has different situations they're dealing with, and we all have unique challenges to our lives," he told reporters. "I'm 45 years old, man. There's a lot of s--- going on, so you just have to try and figure out life the best you can. You know, it's a continuous process."

On Monday, ESPN Tampa Bay Buccaneers reporter Jennai Laine took to Twitter to give a first look at Tom Brady practicing on the field. "You can feel a difference when he's out there," she wrote. "There's a noticeable mood shift with everybody when he takes the field."

Earlier this month, a source close to the star athlete told PEOPLE that he was not injured and was just taking personal time off from practice. According to Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles, Brady and the rest of the team already discussed his absence before they started training in July.

"We allotted this time because he wanted to get in and get chemistry with the guys and go through two weeks of training camp, knowing he wasn't going to play the first two games," he explained.

"He didn't want to take away reps from Blaine [Gabbert] and Kyle [Trask] as well as Griff [Ryan Griffin] as far as going into these next two games," Bowles continued. "And it's something he needs to handle."

According to Pro Football Talk, Brady might have missed a few days of football to spend some time with his wife,  Gisele Bündchen, at "an exclusive resort" in the Bahamas. According to the website, "His commitment to family and having a personal life was at the heart of this hiatus from football, and there was no medical emergency, as speculated, or other reasons."

However, other fans have speculated that there might be another reason that Tom Brady has missed a few days of practice.

Rumors are swirling that Tom Brady might have filmed a performance or two for season 8 of "The Masked Singer." As TMZ reported, filming on the show ended on August 20 and Tom Brady showed up at base camp on August 22, so it does make some fans suspicious, even though Brady has denied being on the show.

The day that he arrived at training camp, Tom Brady tweeted that he "wasn't on the masked singer last week. Was wearing a mask though." Many fans were quick to point out that just because he wasn't on "The Masked Singer" last week doesn't mean he didn't make an appearance at all.

The show's official Twitter account even commented on the post, commenting, "Masks are a good look for you" along with a winky face emoji.

They later followed it up with their own tweet, saying, "Our lips are sealed."

Fans will just have to wait and find out when "The Masked Singer" season 8 debuts on Wednesday, September 21 at 8 PM on Fox.