Andrew Marchand and other sports media personalities are sharply criticizing Tom Brady’s performance as a broadcaster after another blunder in the booth for Fox.
After an all-time quarterback career, Brady signed an astonishing ten-year deal worth $375 million to become the lead NFL analyst for Fox alongside Kevin Burkhardt.
However, the six-time Super Bowl winner’s first season was anything but smooth. Given his status and the amount of money the network pays him, every time Brady ends up on the industry’s cutting board – and there have been a handful.
Brady didn’t help himself Saturday when he called the Baltimore Ravens game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
First, he incorrectly referred to Steelers running back Najee Harris as Najeh Davenport. Although the latter played in the position for the team, he had not done so since 2008.
The shame didn’t stop there. While breaking up a second-quarter touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman, Brady said Lamar [Jackson] caught the touchdown pass before immediately correcting himself.
Tom Brady was slammed by sports media personalities after another embarrassing mistake
Andrew Marchand of the Athletic wrote about Brady’s regression during Saturday’s game
“This is Cory Trice on the corner,” Brady said. ‘The second-year player who doesn’t have much playing experience yet. They have a high-low concept and he just takes the cheese to Likely and exposes the safety of this easy throw here to Lamar.”
While showing his lack of experience as a broadcaster, veteran journalists highlighted Brady’s routine mistakes. During the Ravens-Steelers broadcast, the Athletic’s Marchand noted Brady’s decline.
“Brady has deteriorated this week,” he wrote on X. “No additional insight all day. He said ‘chunks’ a thousand times.”
Marchand wasn’t alone in his transparent assessment, as his fellow sports media veterans weighed in on Brady’s lackluster tenure.
“Tom Brady replacing Greg Olsen in the booth is like Mac Jones replacing Brady in New England,” said Safid Deen of USA Today.
“Having to listen to Tom Brady makes this even harder,” said Jeff Hartman, a podcast host on the Steel Curtain Network.
“If FOX doesn’t fire Brady after this season, some respect will be lost,” wrote former MLB writer Jed Weisberger. ‘He is absolutely terrible as an analyst and is not capable of doing this job. I wish I was still writing for the national media. Worst ever.’
The red flagged call followed another incompetent performance by Brady. Last week he mistook Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott for David Akers.
Akers retired from the NFL in 2013 and hasn’t kicked for the Eagles since 2010.