Tom Brady on losing Wes Welker, "it was a sad day"

The friendship between Wes Welker and Tom Brady has been pretty well documented. It showed up on the field too, with Welker routinely catching over 100 passes a season with the New England Patriots.

Everyone assumed that Brady must've been livid when the Pats let Welker slip to the rival Broncos for a marginal amount of money. Now instead of tossing passes to his safety blanket, the Patriots will have to deal with him catching them from Peyton Manning. Brady wasn't only losing a friend, he was losing an asset. Still, he never admitted any emotions personally, until he let a little something slip in an interview with CNBC today.

ESPNBoston with the transcript:

"It was a very sad day for me losing one of my best friends, I'll say that. I know that he's moved on to a great team, and a great place. They have a great quarterback [Peyton Manning], one of my friends, but we're competing against those guys this year. We'll get a chance to take them on -- we have a lot of time between now and then. I love him. I wish him the best."

Obviously, this isn't anything earth shattering. It's obvious that Brady would've felt something when Welker left the team, he is human after all. Still, Brady has maintained that he doesn't get worked up over these things as he did years ago when Lawyer Milloy was cut.

Welker leaving puts Brady and the Patriots in a tough position on the field. His other top target, Rob Gronkowski, doesn't sound like he'll be ready for the start of the season. Aaron Hernandez is recovering from shoulder surgery, Julian Edelman from a foot injury, Jake Ballard is still getting over an injury from the Super Bowl two years ago and Welker's replacement, Danny Amendola, is famous for being injury prone. On top of that, Brady's other targets include Michael Jenkins, Donald Jones, two rookies and some other castoffs.

Wes Welker always seemed to be a sure thing. A luxury Brady doesn't seem to have this year.