The absence of Tom Brady from training camp has had people buzzing this entire week. Most of the mainstream media speculation has centered on his health and what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are capable of without their quarterback.
That was until Friday when an internet theory that Tom Brady was fulfilling an obligation to FOX to appear on The Masked Singer started gaining steam. The theory has been fleshed out on reddit and shared by Kendall Valenzuela on The Fantasy Life Twitter account.
Pat McAfee took notice and talked about the theory on his show Friday afternoon. He noted that the details of Brady’s absence from Bucs’ camp work. He had a specific date he had to leave and was not able to tell the team when he would be back.
“What is something that has a beginning date that was planned, but doesn’t have an end date?” McAfee asked rhetorically.
The next season of The Masked Singer, a reality competition featuring celebrities in disguised competing in a karaoke contest, is set to debut in a month. McAfee says it isn’t hard to guess how FOX would dress Tom Brady if he were participating.
“He’s gonna have a goat head on him obviously.”
Part of the theory details the business relationship between FOX and Brady. When his playing career is over, the quarterback will start a ten-year contract with FOX that will see him in the booth alongside Kevin Burkhardt for the top NFL game on the network each week and have him serve as an ambassador for the network. The deal pays Brady $375 million and many believe this is the first of his duties under the terms of the contract.
“That seems, like, not possible, but maybe,” McAfee said. He noted that whether it was negotiations or a demand, FOX telling Tom Brady that they need him for The Masked Singer in the middle of the NFL preseason is hard to imagine.
“Fox has literally survived off the NFL, so I would love to hear the conversation between FOX and Tom Brady going ‘We’re paying you $375 million at some point, right? You’re gonna do The Masked Singer in the middle of training camp.’ That’s what would have had to have happened, right, for that to take place?”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers expect Tom Brady back in time to start the regular season. FOX has not said whether or not it has given Brady a date that it expects him in the broadcast booth.
