Tom Brady is officially returning to the NFL. No, he won’t retire again; this time, he is returning as announcer. His move from the player side to the media side is something that has been in the works for some time, and now we know which game will kick off his new work.
Brady will be the color commentator for a Week 1 matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Browns in Cleveland at 4:25 p.m. ET. The GOAT was 7-0 against the Cowboys in his career and 7-2 against the Browns. There are two teams he knows well, but instead of being on the other side, now he will be in the booth.
“Awesome. Obviously having the Cowboys is a big draw,” Brady said in response to what it would be like to call Cowboys-Browns. “As ‘America’s team’ – it’s going to be a little hard for me to say this all the time, I understand they were the competition for a long time. But in this new role, I know the Cowboys, how important they are to this network, they have great stories, come on, Dak Prescott, let’s see if he finally makes it through.
There are plenty of reasons to be excited about Seven Times Super Bowl champion will be calling his first game. To begin with, seven times Super Bowl champion has never called a game before, because other than Brady, no player (or team) has ever won so many Lombardi Trophies.
Here are three of the main reasons we’re excited to hear TB12 comment on a NFL game:
1. We finally hear the GOAT breaking down a football game in his highly anticipated debut
For years, we’ve watched Brady dominate the football field, from putting on a clinic demolishing defenses to executing two-minute drives that beat the odds, to running up scores and taking significant losses – we’ve truly seen him do it all. His career spanned several decades, from 2000 to 2022. During that period, he played in 335 regular season games, starting 333, so he has just one small experience on the football field.
He learned from one of the greatest coaches of all time, Bill Belichick, and while the debate over who is responsible for the New England Patriots’ two dynasties will forever continue, there is no doubt that having a head coach with such a high level of football O IQ went to TB12.
In his day, Brady played with quarterbacks-turned-receivers, threw touchdown passes to former college lacrosse players and broke records with future Hall of Famers. He will be able to identify potential talents in underdog players, because his career has been full of players like that. He also knows firsthand what playing alongside some of the best can do for a QB.
Brady knows how to read defenses, so having him in the booth to explain what he sees will give viewers a glimpse into the mind of the future Football Hall of Famer, a place opponents have tried to get into for years. The countless hours watching tape, running drills and participating in workouts will now pay off in a new way.
During the year 2000 NFL Draft, Brady wasn’t among those enthusiastic quarterbacks everyone said would be a starter in the league. His scouting reports had many negatives and he was left waiting for a team to call him, hearing 198 names announced before his. The No. 199 pick had to prove himself early on, and the experience of coming up through the league will allow him to bond with players who do the same.
two. NFL fans can watch him without worrying about whether he will beat their favorite team
If you weren’t a Patriots fan from 2000 to 2019, or a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan from 2020 to 2022, you probably didn’t enjoy seeing Brady’s face on television. Most of the time, this meant his team would lose.
Brady’s regular season record was 251–82, a NFL record, and he went 35-13 in the playoffs, another NFL record.
The sixth-round pick put opposing fans in a bad mood and quickly became one of the most hated players in the league because of it. For nearly 20 years, the AFC passed by the Patriots because of number 12, and even when he switched teams, they not only made it to Super Bowlbut he won at his stadium.
Now, Brady can finally appear on your TV screen without fear of embarrassing his favorite team.
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3. Brady Roast Part II: How will the longtime QB talk about the many players/coaches he has built relationships with over the years?
We learn that Brady has a good sense of humor when participated in a live roast earlier this month. Hopefully he’ll bring some of those jokes and quips to the booth, maybe even criticize some of the guys he played against during his time in the league.
While many rookies weren’t even born when Brady was drafted into the NFL, there are still plenty of players on the field that Brady played alongside or against. Some he played with are still in the league or are coaches in the league. First-year Patriots coach Jerod Mayo was Brady’s teammate from 2008 to 2015, with the two winning a Super Bowl together.
With these personal relationships and experience preparing to face some of these players, Brady will have stories, insights and commentary that many wouldn’t.