This is the strangest part of the Tom Brady mystery absence

BOSTON -- I am respectfully curious about Tom Brady's absence from Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp.

It's a respectful curiosity, of course, because Tom Brady is a human being who is very likely dealing with a human being situation. One would imagine. And even though he's extremely famous, and even though he uses his fame to sell expensive T-shirts and vibrating massage balls and electrolyte powder, there's still plenty about his life that is absolutely none of anyone's business.

Still, the most competitive football player the sport has ever seen is in the midst of a 10-day training camp hiatus while getting ready for the season. Despite the insistence from the Buccaneers and from reporters "in the know" that this was "pre-planned," the fact is that built-in vacations during training camp don't happen. Not for rookies, not for veterans, not for head coaches, not even for the GOAT. They don't. Players have from February (or January) through most of July to get their ya-yas out, visit Tahiti, shoot some commercials, or do whatever it is they want to do. Once training camp begins, that's it. It's football season.

So everything about this Brady absence has been weird, right down to head coach Todd Bowles stating on Thursday that there's no definitive date for Brady's return, only to state a day later that he knows exactly when Brady will be back.

But the weirdest part of the whole thing -- and, frankly, the reason that's most alarming -- is the fact that Tom Brady has gone radio silent on Instagram.

For most 45-year-old men, failing to regularly post content on Instagram would not be a notable event. But not for Tom Brady. Tom Brady loves Instagram. Brady posts on Instagram as much as anybody, both for personal reasons, and for football reasons, but mostly for sales reasons. The fella is always pushing something on that Instagram account.

Fittingly, as best as recollection can be, the last time he posted to his Instagram stories was for a giveaway of Brady Brand products on his birthday. Do you know how Tom Brady spent his birthday last year? He reshared EVERY. SINGLE. STORY. Everyone that wished Brady a happy birthday to Brady on Instagram got a reshare on Brady's stories. That went for the day before his birthday, the day of his birthday, and several days after his birthday. Birthday stories for days. Literally. This year? Nothing but the promo. 

As far as actual posts go, Brady has posted just once in the month of August -- the aforementioned product giveaway. That's a bit strange, as he made six posts in July, eight posts in June, and nine posts in May. Once in the first 19 days of a month is strange, but whom among us has not gotten so wrapped up in the IG Story life that we've lost sight of the posts? That happens. But outside of sending out a nice retirement message for former teammate James White, he hasn't even been posting to his stories. And that never happens. (There's no way to view old stories or track the number of posts per day. It's possible Brady has thrown one or two out there in recent weeks ... but I do not believe that to be the case. Source: I stare at my phone a lot, every day.)

Really, it's just been jarring -- and concerning -- to fire up Instagram for all these days without the illuminated circle surrounding Brady's head at the top of the screen. Anyone who follows Brady on Instagram -- and there are 12.5 million of us -- has grown accustomed to being bombarded with Brady content at all hours of all days. Not so for the past week-plus.

Is that kind of a silly reason to be concerned about Tom Brady? Kind of. But the Instagram account is essentially the marketing wing of Tom Brady, Inc. And for quite some time, the lights have been completely turned off in that department.

Add that to the pile of oddities this summer. He seemed awfully grumpy at his press conference on Aug. 1. He missed multiple practices that week. Oh! And he was named in a relatively large scandal that all but confirmed the reports that suggested he tried to wiggle his way out of Tampa Bay in order to become a minority owner and/or executive of the Miami Dolphins in the middle of it. 

Maybe everything is connected. Maybe it isn't. Perhaps, as the people are saying, this absence was "pre-planned." It's just hard to figure out what might have required both a physical absence from Brady at training camp and a social media absence at the same time. (Even that "Masked Singer" theory, which is delightful, wouldn't necessitate silence on social media. If anything, that reality would probably lead to plenty of down time.)

As a result ... there's some real reason to have respectful curiosity as to what is going on with Tom Brady. He wouldn't give up his favorite online activity and his lucrative marketing activity if he weren't dealing with something real.

You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.