Brady rules make TV job impossible

The NFL owners’ vote this week on whether Tom Brady should become part owner of the Raiders was unanimous: 32-0 yes.

Public opinion about whether he can and should continue as a Fox broadcaster is far from unanimous. Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox and just six games later, 71% of readers in a Front Office Sports According to a newsletter poll, he won’t be on the job in three seasons.

As an authorized partner, Brady faces the following restrictions in his job as a Fox broadcaster:

• He cannot criticize teams or referees.
• He is not allowed to enter the team facilities.
• He can’t go to training.
• He cannot participate in pregame production meetings with teams or players, either in person or virtually.
• He is subject to the league’s gambling and tampering policies.

I’ve seen other commentators point to the “no criticism of the referees” rule as the biggest problem, but Brady – who has been relatively unimpressive in his comments so far and has responded to trademark player comments – shouldn’t find it difficult have reserved their criticism.

A bigger problem is not being able to criticize the teams. If Deshaun Watson throws his third pick of the game and Brady can’t tell how badly the Browns screwed up by giving him the most guaranteed money in NFL history at that point, that’s a major hindrance to Brady’s job close .

And it seems to me that the biggest obstacle is missing these meetings with players and coaches. These meetings are obviously meaningful and bear fruit – for example, we constantly hear Buck and Aikman refer to insights they gleaned from their conversations in the days leading up to a match. (Anyway, the Cowboys told ESPN this week that they want Brady in those production meetings; it’s not clear whether a team can get an exemption from the Brady Broadcast Rules.)

Of course, the defense attorneys respond, his people (Kevin Burkhardt, colleagues, Fox producers, other insiders) will feed him the information anyway, so what’s the difference? Oh, just extra work for everyone around him to address his complication and the lack of context that comes from learning things first hand.

Another retort from those who think this is all fine (cue the dog in the bowler hat sitting in a burning house): Brady has already been operating under these restrictions all season (since the Raiders deal fell through). , and he succeeded in the job anyway.

Okay – did he do well? Your opinion will likely determine whether you think the restrictions are a problem. In my opinion, the idea of ​​the color commentator having a $200 million financial stake in one of the league’s 32 franchises is a very obvious problem and neither nuanced nor complicated.

At least he certainly won’t be calling the Raiders games, right? Wrong: He will still call Raiders games, the NFL confirmed Thursday.

To be clear: I say all this as an unapologetic Tom Brady fan. I grew up in New England and my high school and college years coincided with the Brady-led Pats dynasty. I’ll be grateful to that guy for the rest of my life. But off the field he was never a particularly charismatic figure. Being the greatest or one of the greatest to ever play your position doesn’t mean you’re going to be great on TV. (See: Emmitt Smith, Drew Brees, Jason Witten.)

My opinion: The restrictions will be left to him. Maybe not this season, maybe not next season, but at some point, well before his 10-year contract expires, Brady will retire early as a broadcaster; He can say he enjoyed the experience and wants to focus on his role as NFL owner and his other business interests.

Duke basketball legend turned 20-year-old ESPN analyst Jay Williams says: Tom Brady isn’t going to give up anytime soon. Speaking to me on stage at our Tuned In sports media summit in September (after Brady called just two Fox games and didn’t get good reviews), Williams said, “I love that Tom Brady got some criticism [for his debut]. Good for Tom Brady. The one thing Tom Brady needs more than anything else is ammo. … I want Tom Brady to be ready to thrive and be the guy I know he is as soon as we get some pops.”

For the Brady we see on Fox, he becomes the Brady, who friends and teammates have long said needs to come out in private, requires Brady to become more comfortable and relaxed. It’s hard to imagine the limitations of the owner, and the extra control that comes with it (adding to the already very high level of control!) will help them get there.