Andrew Marchand and other sports media personalities are harshly criticizing Tom Brady‘s performances as a broadcaster after another blunder in the booth for Fox.
After an all-time career as a quarterback, Brady signed an astounding 10-year, $375million deal to be the lead NFL analyst for Fox alongside Kevin Burkhardt.
However, the six-time Super Bowl winner’s first season on the job has been anything but flawless. Given his status and the amount of money the network is paying him, Brady ends up on the chopping board of the industry with every mishap – and there have been a handful.
Brady did not help himself on Saturday while calling the Baltimore Ravens game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
First, he mistakenly referred to Steelers running back Najee Harris as Najeh Davenport. While the latter did play the position for the team, he had not done so since 2008.
The embarrassment did not stop there. While breaking down a second-quarter touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman, Brady said that Lamar [Jackson] caught the touchdown pass before correcting himself immediately.
Tom Brady got slammed by sports media personalities after another embarrassing mistake
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand wrote about Brady’s regression during Saturday’s game
‘This is Cory Trice at the corner,’ Brady said. ‘The second-year player who hasn’t had much playing experience. They run a high-low concept and he just takes the cheese up here on Likely and exposes the safety to this easy throw here to Lamar.’
While showing his lack of experience as a broadcaster, veteran journalists highlighted Brady’s routine lapses. During the Ravens-Steelers broadcast, the Athletic’s Marchand noted Brady’s regression.
‘Brady regressed this week,’ he wrote on X. ‘No extra insight all day. He said ‘chunks’ a thousand times.’
Marchand was not alone in his transparent assessment, as his fellow sports media veterans weighed in on Brady’s lackluster tenure.
‘Tom Brady replacing Greg Olsen in the booth is like Mac Jones replacing Brady in New England,’ said USA Today’s Safid Deen.
‘Having to listen to Tom Brady makes this even more difficult,’ said Jeff Hartman, a podcast host on the Steel Curtain Network.
‘If FOX does not discharge Brady after this season, some respect will be lost,’ former MLB writer Jed Weisberger wrote. ‘He is absolutely horrendous as an analyst and has no ability to do this job. Makes me wish I was still writing national media. Worst ever.’
The red-marked call followed another incompetent showing from Brady. Last week, he mistook Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott for David Akers.
Akers retired from the NFL in 2013 and has not kicked for the Eagles since 2010.