Tom Brady is supposed to join the Fox broadcast booth at the start of the 2024 NFL season.
But many are starting to question whether the greatest quarterback in NFL history will be a good fit for broadcasting.
And a veteran broadcaster made this surprising prediction about Tom Brady’s future at Fox.
Tom Brady signs a deal to join Fox as an NFL broadcaster
Prior to his February 2023 retirement, seven-time Super Bowl-winning Quarterback Tom Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million contract to join the Fox Sports broadcast booth as its lead NFL analyst.
Brady would join play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt to become the top broadcast team for the network’s NFL games.
By hiring Brady, Fox was following the lead of CBS Sports, which initially had success with former Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo as its lead NFL analyst but has seen his stock fall amongst fans in recent years.
The seven-time Super Bowl champion was supposed to start his time with Fox at the start of the 2023 season, his first since retirement, but postponed his broadcasting career to the start of 2024 in order to spend more time with his family instead.
But while Brady has been talking up his preparation for his new gig, former Fox lead play-by-play announcer Joe Buck claimed that sources inside the network told him they wouldn’t be surprised if the New England Patriots legend walks away from the contract altogether and never actually calls a game.
But even if the former quarterback takes the job, another veteran broadcaster is skeptical that he’ll succeed.
Mike Francesa thinks Tom Brady is the wrong fit for broadcasting
While Brady’s legendary career and more than two decades in the NFL have many believing he’s well-positioned to dominate broadcasting much in the same way he did as a player, longtime New York sports talk radio show host Mike Francesa believes Brady is missing a key quality.
Francesa predicted that he would struggle as a broadcaster.
“I don’t think his heart is in it,” Francesa said. “I don’t think his personality is such. I don’t think he’s going to be great at it. I really don’t.”
By joining Fox’s lead broadcast team, Brady is replacing future Hall of Fame tight end Greg Olsen, who is being demoted to Fox’s secondary broadcast team after thriving in the lead role and becoming a fan favorite over the past couple of seasons.
“I think there’s a unique quality that you have to bring that allows you as an analyst to see the game, see the game quickly, plus bring personality into it,” Francesa continued. “It’s a tricky job for the analyst in football because you’re going to spend a lot of time over replay.”
Personality is just as much a part of success in the broadcast booth as football knowledge.
“You’re going to spend a lot of time breaking down what happens on replay,” Francesa explained. “And you also have to be very personable and glib in how you do it. I don’t see him there.”
In a recent DeepCut podcast, Brady said that he would be willing to listen to an NFL team that reached out about signing him.
It remains to be seen if Tom Brady ever steps into the broadcast booth, but he’ll have to prove himself all over again if he enters the television world.
