While many football fans and media remain skeptical about Tom Brady’s ability as a future broadcaster, Joe Buck is skeptical about Brady ever getting to the booth.

Buck joined The Dan Le Batard Show’s Stugotz and Mike Ryan Sunday morning at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe, where he was expectedly asked about the offseason’s unprecedented broadcaster realignment.

Shortly after Brady ended his brief retirement from the NFL, Fox announced he would be their eventual replacement for Troy Aikman. When Brady retires for good, Fox is set to have the 44-year-old quarterback partner with play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt. But according to Buck, the network initially envisioned him being the one to call games with Brady in the booth, whenever Brady decides to retire from playing for real.

“They floated that to me before I left” Buck said about Fox and their decision to hire Brady. “And I didn’t think it was completely realistic, I’m still not one hundred percent sure.”

Well that’s interesting. Brady has $375 million reasons to join Fox as their lead NFL analyst. But to Buck’s point, the 44-year-old quarterback has already demonstrated indecisiveness when it comes to his future by retiring and unretiring during the offseason.

“It becomes a job,” Buck continued of Brady’s supposed future in the broadcast booth. “There are a lot of people that have just been phenomenal players, wonderful people, smart, can talk, and then you just have to see – I expect him to be great because he’s been great at everything.”

Buck had two options this offseason: stay with Fox for a 29th year or go to ESPN and partner with Aikman for their 22nd straight NFL season together. While no one would choose Aikman over Brady on the football field, the broadcast booth belongs to Aikman right now, with Brady still very much a question mark.

“Staying with Troy, it’s a known quantity for me, at 53 years old at a place that’s now got Super Bowls. I’d rather take the known person and somebody I enjoy working with.”

Despite having a 10-year $375 million contract waiting for him at Fox, a lot can change with Brady. Would anyone be stunned if he decides to play for another three seasons? What if a minority ownership opportunity arises and Brady goes that route instead? Or what if he stays true to the $375 million contract, but he just stinks as a broadcaster? With Brady still a question mark, going to ESPN was the safer bet for Buck, even though it meant leaving the network he worked with for 28 years.

[The Dan Le Batard Show]

About Brandon Contes

Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com