Patriots news: Bill Belichick doesn't talk about Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shot down questions about Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, who were both absent at the start of OTAs, and said he's not going to talk about people who aren't here.

The New England Patriots were without quarterback Tom Brady, who was not present at the start of their organized team activities. Predictably, head coach Bill Belichick was asked about his star QB’s absence; predictably, Belichick shut that line of questioning down in a hurry.

“I’m not going to talk about the people who aren’t here. The guys who are here are improving, working hard. That’s who we’re going to focus on,” Belichick said per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.

Belichick was also asked about tight end Rob Gronkowski, who similarly wasn’t in attendance, and he basically echoed the same response.

“I’m focused on the guys that are here and those are the guys we’re working with in the OTA process Phase 3,” Belichick said.

While Gronk is expected to report to OTAs soon — possibly as soon as his contract is finally reworked — it remains to be seen whether Brady will report at all. It also remains unclear what Brady’s true reasons are for skipping a part of the offseason he’s valued in the past. Although, he is reportedly expected to show up during the mandatory part of the team’s offseason program in June along with Gronkowski.

As intriguing as Brady’s absence for OTAs is, Belichick likely isn’t going to add any more detail to the story, as he’s wont to do. It’ll just be up to the all the curious minds out there to figure out exactly what is going on with Belichick and Brady because Belichick’s lips are once again sealed.