Tom Brady’s journey to the broadcast booth began 28 months ago when FOX CEO Lachlan Murdoch made the stunning announcement on an earnings call that the storied quarterback would be joining the network’s top announcing team … eventually.
At the time, Brady had reversed course on his initial retirement announcement and committed to another season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He took a “gap year” during the 2023 season, prompting questions about whether ‘Brady the broadcaster’ would actually ever happen. Finally, when the Cleveland Browns host the Dallas Cowboys at 4:25 p.m. ET Sunday in America’s “Game of the Week,” the most decorated player in NFL history will hold the microphone in his much-anticipated second act.
Brady has discussed his new career little during his sporadic public-speaking engagements. FOX has not made Brady, any of their top broadcast team talent or production staff available for comment on the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s preparation.
Brady requires little promotion. But his new career will be one of the most notable storylines of the 2024 NFL season, all the way until he calls Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans.
“It’s going to take a while for all of us to get used to Tom Brady,” longtime broadcaster and media personality Boomer Esiason said. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”
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What to expect from Tom Brady in broadcasting
Over the past year, Brady has done his due diligence in learning the broadcasting trade. He’s reached out to top analysts at other networks, such as NBC’s Cris Collinsworth and ESPN’s Troy Aikman, for advice. According to The Athletic, he watched a January Miami Dolphins home game from the NBC production truck. He and broadcast partner Kevin Burkhardt have called practice games; Brady would apologize to Burkhardt after mistakes, and the play-by-play man offered reassurances, Brady said in a sit-down interview with FOX “NFL Sunday” host Curt Menefee.
“I want to get up every day and try to prove to them, ‘Hey guys, I know I’m the rookie, but I’ve got your back, too,’” Brady told Menefee.
Because of this level and type of preparation, Esiason said Brady’s entrance into the business is unique.
“Nobody has done it the way he’s done it thus far,” the New York radio host and former broadcaster told USA TODAY Sports.
Early on, Esiason said, the broadcasts may sound more like an interview between Burkhardt and Brady. As they built chemistry, the pair will sound more like a traditional booth. Brady won’t be perfect and will make mistakes, and Esiason believes Burkhardt is the ideal broadcaster to be the safety net alongside a rookie announcer.
“I knew he was going to be good. And he turned out to be great,” said Esiason, who started watching Burkhardt while he was the reporter for the local New York Mets’ television broadcasts. “FOX found a replacement for Joe Buck. That’s how good ‘KB’ is.”
Esiason knows the importance of starting on the right foot with a new broadcast partner. He and Al Michaels famously did not work well together in their lone season in the “Monday Night Football” booth on ABC. Burkhardt, 50, is three years older than Brady, and Esiason predicted the duo would have enough in common to form a foundation during their first go-round.
“I think that’s the perfect guy for a guy going into it for the first time,” Esiason said.
How critical will Tom Brady be of NFL players, coaches?
Since actually retiring, and even during his final years in Tampa, Brady has been unafraid of offering his opinions through a variety of media, mainly his SiriusXM podcast, “Let’s Go!” Last season, while speaking with Stephen A. Smith, Brady was critical of the league’s coaching and rules that protected offensive players.
“I think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL,” Brady said.
The three-time Most Valuable Player posted on social media last December that quarterbacks should “throw the ball to the right places” following a hit that injured Indianapolis Colts wideout Michael Pittman Jr.
Prior to his New England Patriots’ Hall of Fame induction ceremony in June, Brady told Yahoo! Sports that “quarterbacking has gone backwards a little bit in the NFL” due to coaching at both the college and pro levels.
The purest form of football commentary comes from “somebody that’s devoid of friendships and somebody who isn’t afraid to criticize,” Esiason said.
Brady curtailed expectations about how harsh he might be during Fanatics Fest in New York last month. On a panel with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Brady said he might want to make a remark that a play “was horrible.”
“I just can’t say that on TV,” he said.
‘Why not?’ Smith asked.
‘Well, because there are parents and there are family members, and I don’t want to always necessarily say it in that way,’ Brady said. ‘But if I was doing it myself, and let’s say I threw a really bad interception, I would walk to the sidelines and say, ‘You are the worst quarterback in the world. How could you possibly make that throw? Terrible!’
‘But I don’t want to be so critical, because in some ways I don’t necessarily know exactly what the problem was on that play.”
In 1997, the New York Times wrote about how Esiason’s relationship with Cris Collinsworth had taken a hit because of Collinsworth’s assessments early in his broadcast career.
Collinsworth’s advice to Brady was what everybody at FOX told him – and is one of the core tenets of sports television: be yourself.
“Just be yourself,” Brady told Menefee. “I’m like, ‘That’s the worst advice.’”
The kind words are a bit different in tone from what Collinsworth told the Times 27 years ago.
“This is a nasty business,” Collinsworth said then. “But I can only rationalize what I do by seeing myself as a coach. If everyone loves you, you’re not a good coach.”
Restrictions are already shaping Brady’s work. As he pursues a minority ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders, Brady is not permitted to enter another team’s facility, thus barring him from traditional production meetings and access that rights holders are accustomed to. Burkhardt, the production team, and sideline reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi are still allowed to hold those meetings, and Brady can also acquire original information similar to how Peyton Manning does for his “ManningCast” shows.
Permitted to call Raiders games, Brady must abide by the league constitution and bylaws, the NFL said, which could “prohibit public criticism of officials and other clubs.”
Aikman, who formerly sat in Brady’s chair at FOX before joining “MNF” two years ago, told the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast in June that Brady will have to find his voice in that respect.
“I think he’s gonna give an honest, unvarnished opinion,” Aikman said, “and I think he’s gonna be really good.”
How will fans react to Tom Brady’s announcing?
On the other side of the criticism spectrum is how Brady will receive the inevitable detractors. Brady will always have a handle on what’s happening on the field and is eloquent enough to relay it, Esiason said. An adjustment period will occur nonetheless.
“His voice is a little bit higher-pitched,” Esiason said, “so people are going to have to get used to that for three-and-a-half hours.”
Working against Brady is that football fans already have an opinion of him. Followers of teams in the AFC East not named the New England Patriots likely won’t have the kindest feedback at the outset.
Social media has only amplified the negativity. At some point Sunday, Esiason said, Brady will be trending. The criticism going his way is “gonna come hot and heavy.” There will be trolls and supporters.
“I don’t think Tom would be overly affected about that,” Esiason said, “but you never know.”
Brady does have instant credibility and respect of most fans due to his individual accomplishments and commitment to the game.
“Still, everybody will nitpick,” said Esiason, who called ‘Monday Night Football’ and the Super Bowl for Westwood One from 1999-2018 and was a member of CBS’ ‘NFL Today’ on Sundays until this year.
The job of a lead network analyst requires thick skin.
“Reptile skin to get in there (the booth),” Esiason said.
Which leaves Esiason asking the question everyone else has on their minds as the GOAT smiles for the camera and fires up the telestrator.
“Do you really want to do this?”