The wrestling world continues to invade the rest of the sports media world more and more. The latest example came from NFL on Fox broadcaster Tom Brady’s appearance at Fanatics Fest NYC Friday, where he came out to WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes’ theme song, threw down a New York Jets jersey, ripped up Eli Manning’s New York Giants’ jersey, and then got jumped by Manning:
Tom Brady came out to Cody Rhodes theme song, ripped Eli Manning’s jersey and got attacked by him at Fanatics Fest 💀pic.twitter.com/Mnhdybk8et
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) June 20, 2025
A heel turn from Brady is quite reasonable at a New York event given his playing history, especially in opposition to Manning. That ex-Giants’ QB is a fellow NFL commentator these days on ESPN/NFL Films/Omaha Productions’ Monday Night Football ManningCast, but he also twice led that team to Super Bowl victories over Brady’s New England Patriots. (And the bit here is further evidence that much of the sports world is leaning hard into wrestling inspirations these days.) But elements of a heel persona could maybe be interesting for Brady to adopt on a wider scale, though, perhaps especially in his NFL on Fox work that’s drawn so much criticism so far.
That’s not to say that Brady should openly antagonize his broadcasting audience. But a lot of that criticism thus far has touched on how Brady doesn’t always seem willing to fully speak his mind in the booth, including on teams and quarterbacks.
Brady doesn’t necessarily need to come out swinging on every play. But accurate criticism when warranted is something that’s won a lot of praise for many analysts (including Brady’s Fox colleague Greg Olsen, who, with Joe Davis, finished atop our reader-voted NFL booth rankings this year: Brady and Kevin Burkhardt finished 14th of 25 considered teams). So if Brady’s willing to bring some of this attitude to the booth, that might reap some benefits for him.