Any Tom Brady fans who were waiting for the legend to make his NFL broadcasting debut in the preseason game between the Rams and Cowboys might have been sorely disappointed if they logged into NFL Network. They would have heard a very capable team Andrew Siciliano, Mina Kimes, and Andrew Whitworth calling the game with no sight of the GOAT as he begins this new chapter.
But since Tom Brady’s contract is with FOX, he was in the broadcasting booth for the local network of the channel in the local area in Los Angeles. It’s more of a practice run than anything because he is supposed to officially begin in the fall when the regular season begins.
UPDATE: The #NFL messed up announcing that Brady would be calling his first-ever NFL game…
He is not announcing the game, he’s just practicing with the entire FOX crew.
Instead, we all have to listen to this ***amazing*** NFL Network broadcast.
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 11, 2024
Tom Brady’s official FOX contract begins Week 1
Tom Brady’s $375 million contract contract with FOX begins when the 2024 NFL season starts. Prior to that, everything he is doing is practice to get in the right frame of mind. Consider it his preseason as a rookie broadcaster.
Where is @TomBrady?
Was him broadcasting the Cowboys vs Rams fake news?
— Gambling Guru (@GamblingGuru_GG) August 11, 2024
He is supposed to take over from Greg Olsen and team up with play-by-play caller Kevin Burkhardt. In his Week 1 regular season debut, he will again cover the Cowboys, who will face the Browns on September 8.
This is not the first time he has been seen in that practice role, albeit this is the first time it is associated with the NFL, which is why it generated the buzz it did. During the spring football UFL Championship game between Birmingham Stallions and San Antonio, he was heard in the booth and also converted interviews with the coaches and the quarterbacks down on the field.
Tom Brady has been serious about his new job and has previously opened up about how he did not want to jump into broadcasting straight away after finishing his playing career. He took a ‘gap year’ to understand the nuances behind broadcasting and spent talking to people who had done this work before him.
He would have seen legendary quarterbacks like Drew Brees come into this job with a lot of hype surrounding him only to find themselves on the outside looking in, for whatever reasons, and looking for a way back.
But Tom Brady has been gradually building his experience in this arena beyond his playing record by speaking to different people, getting involved in podcasts with Larry Fitzgerald, appearing on ManningCast, and having Netflix specials where he speaks extemporaneously. He seems to be taking the new chapter of his life as seriously as he did his first.