A.J. Perez

USA TODAY Sports

(Corrections/Clarifications: An earlier version of this story said Tom Brady thought his teammates should put politics aside when deciding about the visit.)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said he respects his teammates' decision to skip the White House visit, although he prefers “putting politics aside."

So far, six Patriots players have said they will skip the yet-to-be announced meeting with President Trump. Players skipping the White House celebration is nothing new, of course, and many absences have been rooted in politics, although Brady told Pro Football Talk Live on Tuesday his 2015 no-show had nothing to do with former President Obama.

“It really is a great experience,” Brady told PFT. “Putting politics aside, it never was a political thing. At least, it never was to me. It as something that was a privilege to do. It meant you won a championship and you got to experience something cool with your team, with your teammates. Everyone has their own choice.”

Brady said the 2015 visit he missed was due to a relatively last-minute notice the ceremony would take place.

“Everybody has their own choice,” Brady said. “There are certain years, like a couple years ago, I wanted to go and didn’t get the opportunity based on the schedule. We didn’t get told until I think like 10 days before we were going, and at that point I had something I’d been planning for months and couldn’t get there.

"If people don’t want to go they don’t want to go and that’s their choice.”

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Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty, Chris Long, LeGarrette Blount, Alan Branch and Dont’a Hightower have each confirmed that they will not be a the White House, although not each cited Trump as the reason.

“With the President having so many strong opinions and prejudices,” McCourty said previously. “I believe certain people might feel accepted there while others won’t.”

Team owner Robert Kraft, who along with Brady and coach Bill Belichick were mentioned by Trump in speeches during the 2016 presidential campaign, commented on the issue on The Today Show on Monday.

"Every time we've had the privilege of going to the White House, a dozen of our players don't go,'' Kraft said on the show. "This is the first time it's gotten any media attention."

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