To this point, we’re 13 weeks into the Tom Brady: Broadcaster experience.
And if there has been one moment that’s summed up how it’s gone thus far, it came on Thursday afternoon.
To be fair, calling a lackluster game between two losing teams playing their backup quarterbacks likely wasn’t how Brady envisioned spending his first Thanksgiving as Fox’s top NFL analyst. Nevertheless, there the seven-time Super Bowl champion was, left to opine about the state of the New York Giants and their messy breakup with quarterback Daniel Jones during a nationally televised matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.
“I don’t know how the whole situation went down but to think that you would ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than I would have handled that,” Brady said of Jones. “I always felt I wanted to get the trust and respect of my teammates regardless of the situation, knowing that I was trying to do the best I could for the team because that was the most important thing.
“There are some different things that happen in the NFL and everyone makes individual choices and I think we all at points in our career face different challenges. I faced them in college and some things didn’t go the way I wanted. But the people that mattered the most to me were the guys in the locker room. I showed up every day. I don’t care if they asked me to be scout-team safety, be scout-team quarterback. I was going to do whatever I could to help the team win.”
Team owner Tom Brady throws some shade at Daniel Jones for requesting his release from the Giants after getting benched pic.twitter.com/tve9TXOMf4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 28, 2024
Brady’s comments were met with a collective eyeroll on social media, with many expressing extreme skepticism that the three-time MVP actually would have taken a demotion in stride. There’s also the matter of Brady being a part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, which hasn’t just complicated his preparation for games, but also raises questions about the prism through which he’s providing his analysis.
Sure, this was just one moment and an easy opportunity to fire off pithy posts poking fun at the 47-year-old. But it also illustrated perhaps Brady’s greatest flaw as a broadcaster — his lack of self awareness, real or perceived.
To be clear, I’m not a Brady hater. While I didn’t think his debut in the Fox booth was anything to write home about, I did think he showed promise. And even as he’s become somewhat of a punching bag throughout the season, I’ve often felt such criticisms have come with a predetermined slant, especially considering the popularity of his predecessor, Greg Olsen.
In fact, when our podcast, The Play-By-Play, held its NFL broadcasters draft in October, I selected Brady with the top overall pick (much to the dismay/delight of my co-hosts). My thinking was that if Brady could just be passable — and I thought he was close — his star power was too unprecedented to pass up.
Here’s the thing though: I think Brady has been passable, or at the very least, reached a replacement level standard as a broadcaster. Sure, he’ll likely never live up to the billing of his $375 million contract or earn the same kudos that Olsen did as Fox’s No. 1 analyst. But if you were watching Cowboys-Giants without knowing who was calling the game, you might not have even batted an eye.
That’s, however, what I missed with my rationale of drafting Brady first: his star power isn’t an asset but rather a detriment to his broadcasts. While other broadcasters ranting about Jones asking for his release might have flown under the radar — or even been met with praise — Brady doing so rubbed everyone the wrong way, as did him drawing on his own experience as the greatest quarterback of all-time to opine on the play of Drew Lock and Cooper Rush.
Tom Brady constantly stroking himself is the worst part of listening to this commentary
— Sean Daily (@seandaily) November 28, 2024
Ultimately, there’s a reason why Brady’s star power in the broadcast booth is so unprecedented — because it typically doesn’t translate. Imagine Michael Jordan calling an NBA game and comparing everything on the court to his own experiences and mindset. Sure, it would initially attract a ton of eyeballs, but the novelty would wear off quickly.
That seems to be what’s happened with Brady, who hasn’t gotten much help from Fox’s schedule or the restrictions that have come as a result of co-owning the Raiders. But regardless of the reasoning, this simply isn’t working. I’d suggest Fox move Brady to its No. 4 team so he could get some more low profile reps — we already know he’d be cool with the demotion — but the unfortunate reality is he’s merely not a fit for the broadcast booth.
