The Buccaneers never explained why defensive tackle Brian Price missed the team’s OTAs this week, but his agent revealed the unhappy reason to the Tampa Tribune.
Price’s older sister Bridget died in a car accident last week and dealing with that left Price so mentally and physically exhausted that he spent most of the week in the hospital. Charles Price, Brian Price’s agent who is not related to his client, said that the grief has taken a serious toll.
“He was ready to go with the OTAs (organized team activities) starting up on Tuesday, but between a complete lack of sleep and all that he has been dealing with from this loss, he just couldn’t do it,’' Charles Price said. “You never want to use the term ‘physical exhaustion,’ but there’s really no other way to describe it. He was dehydrated and after dealing with so much, his body just shut down on him.”
Bridget Price had two sons, aged seven and nine, who Brian Price plans to adopt. They will finish out the school year living with their grandmother and then move to Tampa to be with Brian.
Sadly, it’s not the first time Brian Price has dealt with the loss of a sibling. Two of his brothers were killed in shootings in the Crenshaw section of Los Angeles while he was growing up. Throw in his own injury issues over the last couple of years and it hasn’t been an easy road for the defensive tackle to this point in his life.