Tom Brady is entering his first season as the lead broadcast analyst for FOX Sports, officially commencing his time working alongside Kevin Burkhardt, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi under a 10-year contract reportedly worth a total of $375 million. Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion and frequent league leader in several key offensive categories, is widely considered to be among the best players to have ever taken the gridiron. Ahead of his debut in Week 1 on Sunday, Sept. 8 as the Cleveland Browns face the Dallas Cowboys, he has been practicing his craft. Brady expanded on his approach and what he looks to bring to the booth during a recent interview at Fanatics Fest NYC airing on Monday’s edition of The Stephen A. Smith Show.
Brady was in Santa Clara, Calif. over the weekend practicing his commentary with Burkhardt from Levi’s Stadium during a preseason game between the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints. Pursuing a career in sports media was not something he thought about when he retired; however, seeing former teammates such as Teddy Bruschi, Willie McGinest and Rodney Harrison attain success in the field led him to recognize the association between leadership and disseminating one’s thoughts.
“So when I retired, it was just [I] met with FOX, and they said, ‘This is what we think we want you to do,’ and [I] didn’t realize that type of opportunity was out there,” Brady explained, “and then I couldn’t turn it down when they said, ‘Hey, you’re going to be the lead analyst,’ and I thought, ‘Okay, you know what? I still get to be a quarterback because in some ways now, I’m just quarterbacking something a little bit different,’ but in the end, you’re sitting in that hot seat, you’re in the one calling the shots, and that’s where I like to be, that’s where I’m most comfortable.”
Over the last several months, Brady has solicited advice from color commentators on NFL broadcasts, some of whom include Troy Aikman of ESPN, Cris Collinsworth of NBC Sports and Tony Romo of CBS Sports. There are aspects of each announcer that Brady likes and will look to incorporate into his style, but he is focused on trying to establish an approach that works for him after he had a different mindset towards watching games in the past as an active NFL quarterback when he would solely focus on the quarterback.
“I would say in the last 18 months, it’s totally transitioned to now I could care less what the quarterback’s doing,” Brady said. “I’m still watching, but I’m really listening to what’s going on between the two people – the analyst and the play-by-play guy.”
When asked by Smith about the personality he will bring to the broadcasts, Brady said that listeners should expect him to be authentic and close to his natural self. The difficult part will be suppressing his extreme criticism towards play in the NFL related to him and his team when on the gridiron. Smith followed up by asking why he would not just come out and say that something was horrible on television, leading Brady to acknowledge that there are parents and family members watching and that he does not always want to articulate it in that manner. Even so, his expertise on different plays is something fans are eagerly awaiting as the new season approaches.
“Yeah, I don’t think I’m going to dial it back to make something that was negative into a neutral or a positive,” Brady said. “I think if something’s not good, I’m going to point it out why it’s not good and how it can be better. That’s the important part, and I think a lot of it, even the criticism of a player vs. the criticism of a play is very different, and just because someone is attached to the negative aspect of a play doesn’t mean you’re being negative toward that player.”
After 23 seasons in the NFL, Brady did not immediately begin his work in color commentary, instead taking a year-long hiatus from starting his role with FOX Sports. Throughout that time, he has focused on other aspects of his life, including business ventures and co-hosting the Let’s Go! podcast with Jim Gray and Larry Fitzgerald. As he was told by longtime New England Patriots head coach and general manager Bill Belichick, he stored everything in his direction in a drawer that he would look at when the season concluded.
“I had a 23-year-old drawer, and that thing was full, and I needed, I think, 18 months to unpack that drawer [and] see what the hell was in that drawer,” Brady said. “Yeah, there was a few trophies in there, but I had to unpack that drawer and then figure out really what needed attention and really where I could reorganize some things to make sure the next 23 years of my life went the way that I wanted.”
