Tom Brady ‘pleads the fifth’ on being appreciated by Patriots’ Belichick, Kraft

May 1 (UPI) — Tom Brady said that he pleads the fifth on the issue of being appreciated by the New England Patriots.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback made the comment Monday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was doing a question-and-answer session with Jim Gray.

During the session, Gray asked Brady if he felt appreciated by the Patriots.

“I plead the fifth,” Brady responded, according to Boston.com and NBC Sports Boston.

He went on to elaborate with his murky answer.

“Man, that is a tough question,” he said. “I think everybody in general wants to be more appreciated more at work, in their professional life. But there’s a lot of people that appreciate me way more than I ever thought was possible. You have different influences in your life and the people I work with are trying to get the best out of me. So they’re trying to treat me in a way that they feel is going to get the best out of me.”

The question comes after Brady’s wife Gisele Bundchen made a comment about the AFC East power not appreciating arguably the best quarterback in NFL history.

“The last two years were very challenging for him in so many ways,” Bundchen said in a segment for Brady’s Facebook Watch series Tom vs Time. “He tells me ‘I love it so much and I just want to go to work and feel appreciated and have fun.’”

Bundchen’s comment came after an ESPN report revealed tension within the Patriots organization between Bill Belichick, Brady and owner Robert Kraft.

The Patriots called the ESPN report “unsubstantiated, highly exaggerated or flat out inaccurate.”

Brady also confirmed that he is returning for the 2018 season during the interview. He has yet to report to the team’s offseason workouts.

The 2017 NFL MVP is due $14 million in 2018. Former Brady backup Jimmy Garoppolo is guaranteed $42.6 million in 2018.