Tom Brady can’t have it all, at least according to some.
During an appearance on “The Varsity” podcast with John Ourand, Pro Football Talk founder and NBC analyst Mike Florio said there’s been a sense among NFL circles that Brady doesn’t want to do all the work required to prepare for the booth.
“There’s an interesting theory that’s making the rounds in league circles, because there had been teams that have said to the league, ‘We want Tom Brady to be involved in the production meetings.’ And through that push and pull because the league says no, no, no, no, no exceptions even if you waive it,” Florio said, referring to the restrictions the NFL gave Brady due to him being a minority owner of the Raiders. “It doesn’t matter.
“There’s been a sense that maybe Brady doesn’t really want to do it anyway. Because you think of how thinly he’s spread, all of the different things that he’s doing, it may not be that he wants to be the absolute best at everything he does. It may just be that he wants us to think he’s the absolute best at everything that he does, and he’s doing a lot of different things and he’s making a lot of different appearances and he’s making a lot of money.
“Him being an owner and him being a broadcaster I think it keeps him from being the absolute best he could ever be. And it just always seemed beneath him — he’s Tom Brady… I just wonder how many years he’ll continue to do it.”
Brady, 47, signed a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox Sports in May 2022, and took a year off before joining play-by-play voice Kevin Burkhardt in the booth as Fox’s No. 1 broadcast duo this season.
The former quarterback agreed to acquire a minority stake in the Raiders back in May 2023, but the deal was delayed due to questions about Brady’s role in the media.
Florio explained he believes Brady holding both roles is an issue.
“I am more troubled with this compulsion by Brady that he’s going to have his cake and eat it too where he’s gonna own a chunk of the Raiders and presumably be very involved,” Florio said. “He wanted both and I think the league I think tried to kind of suddenly give him the hint that it wasn’t the best idea. They applied the restrictions for his broadcast work, but they wouldn’t tell him no. Everybody wants to have a cool friend and all the owners want to have their cool friend and that cool friend is Tom Brady.
“That’s the bigger issue to me. How is he going to be the best possible broadcaster he can be and the best possible owner of a team he can be?”
Brady has to follow a different set of rules as a broadcaster now that he is an NFL owner.
The future Hall of Famer can’t enter team locker rooms and he can’t publicly critique officials, among other things.
Florio’s comments came after Dan Patrick said he believes the NFL has “Tom Brady rules” in place for him to juggle both roles.
