Fox Sports has every reason to get the most out of its new top NFL analyst Tom Brady.
Not only is the company paying him a record salary for a broadcaster, but a significant part of why you pursue a legendary name like Brady for your booth is because he draws attention.
So far, Brady has popped up in commercials and as a hologram during Fox’s pregame show. He even does a digital video for the network with his weekly power rankings and runs his own YouTube vlog where he takes viewers behind the scenes of his Fox job.
But he has been notably absent from Fox Sports’ biggest daytime show.
Heading into the season, Brady appeared twice on The Herd with Colin Cowherd to preview the year ahead and break down his approach to his first stint as a game analyst. The spots were filled with smart commentary as a more loose Brady fielded questions from Cowherd and offered takes outside the rhythms of a game broadcast.
Cowherd even went so far as to explain his strategy with Brady as a guest on The Colin Cowherd Podcast, explaining that while Fox execs were nervous about Brady’s first appearance on his show, Cowherd wanted it to serve as an introduction ahead of what he confirmed would be recurring spots throughout the season.
However, Brady hasn’t been back on The Herd since Sept. 3.
That could be part of a PR strategy by Fox.
On the SI Media Podcast this week, host Jimmy Traina revealed Fox is prohibiting Brady and partner Kevin Burkhardt from any interviews so far this season.
Traina’s guest and former top Fox Sports voice Joe Buck weighed in, saying he was surprised because Fox never cared about managing his public image.
“One of the many beauties of being at Fox was that they really didn’t care about that kind of stuff,” Buck said. “Going on with (Traina), going on with Pardon My Take, going on and saying s*** where you’re a real person and you’re a real guest … I’m surprised.”
An interview on a media podcast or with Barstool is one thing, but The Herd? It seems like Cowherd setting Brady up to analyze the NFL big picture and show a different side of himself would be a net positive for Fox.
Whether Brady put these restrictions in place personally or merely agreed to Fox’s strategy is unclear, but it’s a loss for NFL fans expecting to hear from Brady more regularly as a voice on the network.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.