Legendary quarterback Tom Brady’s first year as an NFL analyst for Fox didn’t go as well as he’d hoped, but it provided the motivation he needed to improve in his new career.
While speaking to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, Brady detailed the work he did to improve as a broadcaster following his up-and-down debut season in 2024, revealing that he returned to the mindset he had during his playing days.
“I started to transition this year into, ‘Let me do more of how I did it as a quarterback,’ because that’s really where my comfort is,” Brady told Marchand. “As opposed to, ‘Let me try to prepare as a broadcaster.'”
Brady was very critical of himself while reviewing his broadcasting performances from his rookie season, often saying things like, “Why’d I say that?” or “I didn’t like that,” or “That made no sense.” He admitted that he over-complicated things by relying on prepared notes rather than reacting naturally.
“I used to say, ‘All the stuff I prepared, I could read from start to finish in a three-hour broadcast, and I wouldn’t get through all the information,'” Brady said.
The 48-year-old learned to rely on the broadcasting veterans around him, including his play-by-play partner Kevin Burkhardt, who he called “a brother from another mother.” Brady found a groove in his second year and is now considered one of the top in-game analysts in the business, but he won’t take all the credit for his success.
“I don’t think it’s kind of like a team — it’s 100 percent a team,” Brady said. “And it’s 100 percent an orchestra. There’s a conductor of the orchestra, which is our producer, and we’re all playing our part. We’ve got so many other people working in coordination. And if you’re out of rhythm, the broadcast will feel it.”
