Tom Brady on Kevin Burkhardt: ‘I value him as much as anybody I’ve ever worked with’

Tom Brady spent 23 seasons working with coaches and coordinators across two franchises, winning seven Super Bowls along the way. Two years into his broadcasting career, he’s putting Kevin Burkhardt in rare company.

“I love Kevin,” Brady told The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. “He’s like ‘a brother from another mother.’ We have a bond for life. He’s a world-class person. He is one of the most genuine, thoughtful, caring people I’ve ever been around. Not only that, he is so talented in what he does. He’s so embracing of everybody around him. It’s an amazing quality. I value Kevin as much as anybody I’ve ever worked with.”

Tom Brady about his broadcast partner, Kevin Burkhardt.

Quite a compliment https://t.co/8HQiAXbCTR pic.twitter.com/aDZl4xByig

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) January 25, 2026

The partnership has produced the results to back up that praise. Brady’s second season at Fox drew rave reviews during the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, when viewers noticed the chemistry between him and Burkhardt during the Seahawks’ 31-27 win over the Rams.

The improvement traces back to a conversation Brady and Burkhardt had after their first season together. They played golf and discussed how to make the broadcast more relatable and conversational. Brady realized he’d been trying to sound like a broadcaster instead of just talking like a quarterback, which is where his actual expertise lives.

“I started to transition this year into, ‘Let me do more of how I did it as a quarterback,’ because that’s really where my comfort is,” Brady told Marchand. “As opposed to, ‘Let me try to prepare as a broadcaster.'”

That shift meant trusting his instincts rather than relying on prepared notes. Brady admitted he over-prepared during his first season, saying he could have read from start to finish in a three-hour broadcast and still wouldn’t get through all the information he’d compiled. He was critical of himself while reviewing those early performances, often asking, “Why’d I say that?” or noting, “That made no sense.”

Burkhardt helped Brady understand that fans wanted to hear what made him the greatest quarterback of all time, not what he thought a broadcaster should sound like. The difference showed up in moments like Brady’s breakdown of throwing a football in heavy wind during the Wild Card Round, or his explanation of Sam Darnold’s 51-yard pass to Rashid Shaheed in the NFC Championship. Those insights felt natural because Brady was speaking as a quarterback who’d done those things thousands of times, not as someone trying to fit broadcasting conventions.

The partnership has worked because both adapted to each other. Burkhardt delivers play-by-play that rises with big moments without overselling them. Brady provides insights that only come from playing quarterback at the highest level for two decades. They’ve figured out how to complement each other instead of competing for airtime.

Fox gave Brady a 10-year, $375 million contract in 2022, betting that the greatest quarterback of all time could become an elite broadcaster. The first season raised questions about whether that investment would pay off. The second season answered most of those questions. Brady stopped trying to sound like what he thought a broadcaster should be and started just being himself in the booth. Burkhardt helped him get there by creating an environment where Brady felt comfortable enough to make that transition.

The partnership still has room to grow. This is only year two of a potential 10-year run together. But the foundation is there. Brady trusts Burkhardt. Burkhardt trusts Brady. They’ve figured out how to work together in a way that makes both of them better. That’s the same dynamic that defined Brady’s most successful playing relationships, and it’s showing up now in his broadcasting career.

Sunday’s NFC Championship broadcast won’t be their last big game together. Brady and Burkhardt called the Super Bowl last season in their first year as partners. They’ve got eight more years left on Brady’s contract to keep building on what they’ve started. The chemistry is there. The trust is there. And Brady’s willingness to credit Burkhardt for helping him improve suggests he understands that great broadcasting partnerships require more than just individual talent. They require people who genuinely value each other and are willing to help each other get better.

That’s what Brady found with Burkhardt. And based on how he’s talking about it now, it’s exactly what he needed.