Tom Brady made his debut last year in the Fox booth, amid considerable fanfare and unreasonable expectations.
He failed to meet the high bar his employer had set for him.
Appearing recently on The Joel Klatt Show, Brady reflected on his first season in broadcasting.
“For me, I was, like, really going into the year and I thought I was prepared because I had done a lot of research and I had a year to kinda prepare and a lot of practice games, but there was absolutely nothing that I did that could have prepared me for what I was about to endure,” Brady said, via Chris Cwik of Yahoo Sports. “There was a lot of growing pains through the year for me just in terms of prep and then obviously going on air. And there’s things you messed up. And there’s things [where] you make mistakes.
“And [it’s] probably a lot like being an NFL quarterback. You think, ‘Hey, I’m prepared and I got it and I practiced.’ And then you go in the real game your rookie year and you’re like, ‘Oh my god, it’s a lot different. It’s a lot faster. Where are my eyes? What am I doing?’ And then it gets a little better in Week 2 and a little better in Week 3 and then sometimes you regress a little bit.
“By the time I got to the Super Bowl, I was way more comfortable. It was just a really rewarding year. And it wasn’t perfect by any means and I certainly didn’t expect it to be perfect. But [I’m] just excited about now going into Year 2 with one year under my belt.”
It’s a fair characterization of the adjustment he’s still making. Which is why Brady perhaps should have spent a year or so with a lower profile. The problem, however, is that Fox pays Brady $37.5 million per year. He was hired to be the No. 1 NFL analyst, and he was marketed accordingly.
If he succeeded, he was supposed to. If he failed (and, relative to the hoopla, he did), he’d face criticism and scrutiny.
It created a no-win situation for Brady. Except, of course, when it was time to collect his paychecks.
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