Tom Brady is a minority owner in the NFL. He also happens to be the lead NFL analyst for Fox.
But he still gets calls from people in the league — a lot of them. During a live episode of The Shop at Fantastic Fest, Brady said he’s regularly in touch with coaches, general managers, owners, quarterbacks, and wide receivers. And maybe that explains his reluctance to criticize the very players he now covers.
We at Awful Announcing didn’t exactly pull any punches in assessing Brady’s rookie season as a broadcaster. It was a debut season he later described as having gone “great,” despite some uneven outings that suggested he wasn’t quite ready for Fox’s top booth.
Since then, Brady has openly admitted he’s not all that interested in critiquing players.
So what is he interested in?
“How do we keep elevating the sport?” Brady asked. “I want to continue to see football get better and better. The good thing about being on TV — I get to broadcast the games on Sunday — I get a great voice when I don’t see it being done the right way. And guys not playing the right way. And coaches not calling the right things.”
It’s an interesting position for someone who’s said he doesn’t want to be overly critical. Brady frames his role more as a steward of the game than a traditional analyst. He seems like he wants to be someone who highlights what’s working and nudges what isn’t without calling anyone out directly.
“It’s something to be able to do because I think we all want to see everything continue to get better and deliver the product of football,” Brady continued. “The game’s getting better; the better decision-making. And guys [are] playing longer, less injuries. I just think if you can do that, it’ll continue to get better and better.
There’s nothing groundbreaking in what Brady said, except for the fact that he’s now framing himself as someone who can hold the sport accountable, just not the players or coaches directly responsible.