The long awaited debut of Tom Brady in the broadcast booth is here, with Brady joining Curt Menefee and Joel Klatt on a UFL Championship broadcast on Sunday afternoon.
He appeared fairly comfortable between the two more seasoned broadcasters, doing a nice job.
Check out an early clip of him in the broadcast booth below.
Brady’s debut has been long awaited after the long-time NFL quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion opted to take a year off before heading to the broadcast booth. Even then, there were rumblings that Brady might not make it to the booth after all.
Suffice it to say, those rumblings have now been put to bed.
So why exactly did Brady take a year off before getting into the next stage of his professional career?
Well, the future Pro Football Hall of Famer was a noteworthy preparer his whole career and this new venture wasn’t any different.
“For me it was the only way to do it,” Brady said on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina. “I realized that to come off of playing season and then to jump right into that, it’s a whole ‘nother discipline to learn and I really wanted to take some time to watch, listen and learn and talk to people.
“People who I really see as the greatest at what they’ve done, and everyone really opened their arms to embrace me and phone calls and there’s still more that I’m going to make before the start of the season. And I’m just very grateful for all the people that kind of shared a lot of incredible nuggets, ways to succeed, that I’ll be able to involve myself in as I go forward.”
Traina asked Brady what he’ll be good at and what he could improve going into the booth. There’s no doubt Brady can break down what he sees on the field, maybe better than anyone as a quarterback.
But it’s how he comes across is what Brady said will be the delicate balance.
“I think the analysis of what I’m actually seeing will be relatively straightforward for me,” Brady said. “It’s kind of what I’ve done every day. I think the preparation is something that I really enjoy. (But), I think the important part for me would be how do I just continue to make it fun for people to enjoy the viewing experience? Sometimes I get a little too serious because I’m very, I see myself as quarterback Tom Brady, as opposed to let’s enjoy a great game of football Tom Brady.
“Sometimes I become a little too critical. So I’m trying to make sure that I have the right tone. And you know, I was tough on my teammates. I was tough on Wes (Welker) and Julian (Edelman) and I was tough on the running backs, on the line and I was fiery and competitive. I’m very specific of how I think the game should be played and I want to see the game evolve and grow.”
On3’s Nick Kosko also contributed to this report.
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