Tom Brady alongside Kevin Burkhardt on the call of the Steelers-Ravens Week 16 game Photo Credit: Fox
FoxNFLBy Reice Shipley on

Thus far, Tom Brady has perhaps expectedly had a hard time living up to the incredibly lofty expectations for his broadcasting career following his legendary NFL career. And while some have argued that he has shown growth throughout the season, his performance on the call of the Steelers-Ravens Week 16 game was perhaps a bit of a regression.

Fox has of course invested a great deal into Brady, giving him a 10-year $375 million deal to be the color analyst of their A-team alongside Kevin Burkhardt. And the results thus far have been average at best in the eyes of most football fans.

Last week, Brady made headlines for the wrong reasons when he mistook Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott for David Akers. Akers has of course been retired since 2013 and hasn’t been a kicker for the Eagles since 2010.

Saturday’s Ravens-Steelers game on Fox featured a similarly embarrassing incident where Brady referred to Steelers running back Najee Harris as Najeh Davenport. Davenport did indeed play running back for the Steelers but hasn’t played in an NFL game since 2008.

This wasn’t the only miscue from Brady on Saturday. When breaking down a touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman in the second quarter, Brady mistakenly said that Lamar, referring to Lamar Jackson, had caught the touchdown pass before quickly correcting himself.

“This is Cory Trice at corner,” said Brady. “The second-year player who hasn’t had much playing experience. They run a high-low concept and he just takes the cheese up here on Likely and exposes the safety to this easy throw here to Lamar.”

It may be nitpicking to call this a significant mistake, as it is fairly obvious what Brady meant here. However, this kind of lapse perfectly encapsulates Brady’s tenure in the broadcast booth thus far.

Brady obviously knows as much as anyone when it comes to the X’s and O’s. But when it comes to some of the intricacies of broadcasting, Brady quite clearly needs some more work.

Another example of this, as pointed out by The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, is Brady’s constant use of the word “chunks” throughout the call of the game to describe big plays offensively.

Because of this, Marchand ultimately believes that Brady has somewhat regressed in the booth in Week 16.

Marchand is not alone in this assessment. Many sports media personalities took to social media throughout the game to share their criticisms of Brady.

“Tom Brady replacing Greg Olsen in the booth is like Mac Jones replacing Brady in New England,” said USA Today’s Safid Deen.

“Having to listen to Tom Brady makes this even more difficult,” said Jeff Hartman, a podcast host on the Steel Curtain Network.

“If FOX does not discharge Brady after this season, some respect will be lost,” wrote former MLB writer Jed Weisberger. “He is absolutely horrendous as an analyst and has no ability to do this job. Makes me wish I was still writing national media. Worst ever.”

Most assumed that Brady would be a long-term project in the Fox broadcast booth. But at this point, it’s certainly worth asking whether Fox has some buyer’s remorse when it comes to the six-time Super Bowl champion.

[Alex Kozora on X]

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley