In his career as a player, Tom Brady played in 10 Super Bowls and won 7, a record in NFL history that seems very difficult to match, even for Patrick Mahomes. But perhaps none of them represented as great a challenge as the one he will face on Sunday, February 9 in the NFL’s grand final between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
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In his first year as a FOX commentator, Brady will be in charge of the analysis, alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, for a game that could attract an average audience of 120 million people in the United States.
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What is the conflict of interest that complicates Tom Brady?
In recent weeks, Brady has been under strong scrutiny for his dual role as a commentator for FOX and as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, where he was actively involved in the search for a head coach.
TB12 wanted Ben Johnson, and according to some news reports, he met via zoom with the Lions' offensive coordinator just before he commented on the playoff game between Detroit and Washington. Interestingly, during the broadcast, he did not mention Johnson at all during the three-hour game.
Due to his ownership stake in the Raiders, at the beginning of the season the NFL imposed severe restrictions on Brady’s work as a commentator, including the prohibition of visiting the training sessions of the teams he is analyzing; meeting with the players and coaches of those teams, and making criticisms of the referees or the league.
Is Tom Brady a good analyst?
Brady's arrival at FOX caused some controversy because it displaced Greg Olsen as the main NFL commentator, who had formed a good duo with Burkhardt. Additionally, he entered a world where there are well-established references, such as Troy Aikman at ESPN, Cris Collinsworth at NBC, and Tony Romo at CBS.
The beginnings of the "GOAT" of American football as a commentator were not very smooth, as he often resorted to common phrases and did not delve deeply into his analysis. There was also no chemistry with the play-by-play announcer. It was questioned why, as the greatest quarterback of all time, he was not contributing to a more in-depth evaluation of the quarterbacks.
But an important change was noted in the National Conference final, between the Eagles and Commanders, where Tom Brady had his best game as a commentator, as even acknowledged by specialist Andrew Marchand from The Athletic.
Despite the criticisms and restrictions from the NFL, Don Yee, the representative of TB12, confirmed that he will return for his second season with FOX and that he is committed to fulfilling his 10-year, $375 million contract.