Fox Will Pay Tom Brady To Say Mostly Nothing, Which Actually Makes Sense

When Kansas City travels to Tampa this NFL season on the night of Sunday, October 2, NBC can get a jump on Fox
FOXA
Sports. The Peacock folks should have hometown Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady do TV commentary between his snaps from center and those of the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes.

Impossible?

Brady never heard of the word.

Which means it doesn’t matter the New York Post said Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. agreed to a 10-year contract worth $375 million to become the richest lead NFL analyst in history despite never doing the job before.

Fox corporate spokesperson Brian Nick said, “What has been reported isn’t an accurate description of the deal, and we have not released details beyond what was disclosed on our quarterly earnings call.”

Whatever. Brady will get paid. Big time.

This is the same Brady who has spent the majority of his media interviews over 22 NFL seasons uttering little worth mentioning.

That said . . .

Remember 28-3?

Now recall how Brady survived all of those “gates” — TuckGate (yeah, that was a fumble), SpyGate (still can’t believe NFL commissioner Roger Goodell destroyed those incriminating tapes on Brady and his New England Patriots), and DeflateGate (well, maybe that was more hot air than not enough air involving footballs).

Then came Brady spending his first season in Tampa two years ago winning a seventh Super Bowl after two decades with the Patriots. He followed that by using his 44-year-old arm last year to complete an NFL-record 485 passes while leading the league in passing yards (5,316) and touchdown passes (43).

This dude can do anything.

We haven’t even mentioned the other stuff. He’s a fitness guru, with his operation called TB12. According to his website, it uses the “concept of Pliability, a muscle state which is supported by balanced nutrition, optimal hydration, mental fitness, and functional strength & conditioning. It is designed to help those that practice it live pain-free and perform their best.”

He has Autograph, his own NFT company. He runs 199 Production, which is the number corresponding to where he was picked during the NFL Draft in 2000, and the company develops documentaries, films and TV shows.

So, it makes sense that the guy Forbes ranks No. 9 among the world’s highest-paid athletes at $76 million is underpaid. Not only that, but Brady has pocketed only $333 million overall during an NFL career that has pushed him past his idol named Joe Montana as the league’s all-time greatest quarterback.

Which brings us to how we discovered even more this week that Brady has spent half of his life giving a Superman effort for Clark Kent pay.

You know, relatively speaking.

How else could you explain Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch announcing Tuesday during a corporate investor call that Brady will join his network as soon as his career ends to start what would be an unprecedented TV contract?

We’re barely two years past the time CBS gave former NFL quarterback Tony Romo that distinction with a 10-year deal worth $180 million. Then ESPN used a chunk of change to snatch Joe Buck and former NFL quarterback Troy Aikman from Fox for “Monday Night Football” this spring, and then Amazon
AMZN
did the same to pair announcing great Al Michaels with ESPN star Kirk Herbstreit for NFL Thursday night telecasts.

Unlike the others, Brady hasn’t spent years standing before national cameras preparing to broadcast a football game.

Unlike Brady, those others never turned a 25-point deficit near the end of the third quarter during a Super Bowl in early 2017 against the Atlanta Falcons into a victory for the Patriots in overtime.

Never bet against Brady at anything.

Ask Fox executives.