As Tom Brady prepares to join Fox amid massive expectations, Pat McAfee knows it might take time before the soon-to-be analyst is great.
Brady was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week, where the seven-time Super Bowl champion reaffirmed his plans to be the lead NFL analyst for Fox next season. Despite nearly two years of speculation surrounding Brady’s venture into broadcasting, he’s going to Fox, he’s going to be their lead NFL analyst, and he’s going to call next year’s Super Bowl. And while his $375 million contract undoubtedly comes with added pressure to be great from the start, McAfee understands there might be an adjustment period.
We had a great convo with Tom Brady yesterday..
“It was very cool getting to chat with him”@BostonConnr #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/WW9VdvFZpn
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 31, 2024
“He might suck early,” McAfee said Wednesday afternoon while rehashing the show’s interview with Brady. “He might suck early, and nobody will give Tom Brady like, ‘Hey, this guy needs to learn and maybe figure it out,’ because they’re coming fresh off Greg Olsen.”
That might sound harsh, but here’s the thing: Brady doesn’t necessarily disagree with McAfee. He probably wouldn’t say, “suck,” but he has cited potential “growing pains” while discussing his looming media career.
“There’s a lot of learning curve; obviously, it will be a totally new career,” Brady said during an interview with Dan Patrick shortly after his deal with Fox was announced in 2022. “It’s a new opportunity for me to try something that I’m going to work really hard to prepare to be as good as I possibly can be, knowing that the day I walk on the set for the first time won’t be my finest moment. There’ll be a lot of growing pains, and I’ll have to learn to be really good at it.”
Usually, an up-and-coming broadcaster can work through those growing pains without the pressure of needing to be the best. Greg Olsen, for example, called XFL games and lesser NFL broadcasts before he began keeping Brady’s chair warm as a lead analyst. But as Brady steps right into Fox’s top booth and attempts to replace a very popular analyst in Olsen, he won’t be afforded the same opportunity, at least in the public eye.
Still, it’s hard to imagine Brady sucking, even amid the learning curve of becoming a broadcaster. The biggest concern about Brady when his deal with Fox was announced centered around his desire to avoid saying anything noteworthy throughout his 23-year playing career. But in more recent interviews, the seven-time Super Bowl champion has started to come across as interesting. And for as calculated as he’s been throughout his career, Brady won’t set himself up for anything less than success.
