Tom Brady is taking a gap year before joining Fox to seek help on honing his broadcasting skills. And apparently, former NFL on Fox lead analyst Troy Aikman is one of the people he sought advice from.
Aikman and his longtime broadcast partner Joe Buck joined the latest episode of Jimmy Traina’s Sports Illustrated Media Podcast. During the conversation, the former Dallas Cowboys quarterback was asked about giving Brady advice on going from the field to the booth.
“I think he’ll be great,” Aikman said after acknowledging that he has spoken to Brady about becoming a broadcaster. “Tom’s one of those guys that has been great at everything he’s done, and he works hard at it, puts in the time, doesn’t take shortcuts.”
Aikman also discussed the will-he-or-won’t-he speculation around Brady and broadcasting.
“The question is, is he gonna do it? I think he has every intention of doing it. I think he’s watching this year and seeing what he can pick up. I’m sure at some point, if he hasn’t already, he’ll be in the trucks or be in the booths at some of the games, watching.”
Ever since Brady agreed to a whopping $375 million contract with Fox to serve as the network’s lead NFL analyst, there has been mass skepticism about whether we’ll actually see him follow through on the deal. But the further we get into the NFL season, the less it seems like Brady will unretire for a second time.
And that subsequently makes it seem more likely that the next time we see Brady featured on an NFL Sunday, it will be in the booth for Fox.
Throughout most of Brady’s playing career, he did his best to avoid saying anything all that interesting or worthy of a headline, making him a curious pick as a lead analyst. But Aikman is less concerned about Brady’s past reluctance to be thought-provoking.
“Tom and I are a lot alike, to be quite honest with you,” Aikman told Traina. “He runs pretty hot as a competitor, we’ve seen that side of him, and he definitely has opinions on how he feels the game should be played and as a quarterback, he didn’t have much patience for it.”
“It’s the reason why he was able to have the career that he had. Part of it is finding his voice and who he’s working with and how he’s able to say what he wants to say…But yeah, I think he’s gonna give an honest, unvarnished opinion and I think he’s gonna be really good.”
Aikman added that it’s a “great job” for a single father with young kids, as Brady is, because of the flexibility the schedule offers throughout the year. However, Aikman also noted the amount of travel the job requires over a five- or six-month period during the season.
“For him, that’s a decision that he has to ask himself with where he is in life, how much time does he not want to miss out on? And that’s what he talked about,” Aikman explained. “But if he does it, and I assume he will, I think he’ll be fantastic.”
[Sports Illustrated Media Podcast]
