Tom Brady's first season as NFL broadcaster did not go well. The man who Fox is paying $37.5 million per year to provide color commentary spent most of his on-air season stumbling in and out of awkward silences, while offering up so much boring analysis that at times it became fair to wonder how this guy became the greatest quarterback in NFL history. This was such an embarrassment for everyone—Brady, Fox, the league itself—that unprecedented steps are now being taken to help Brady get his act together.
One possible explanation for Brady's lack of juice in the broadcast booth is the fact that he was not allowed to attend pregame production meetings last season, which is where broadcasters can talk to coaches and players in order to gather insight that they can then use to sharpen their commentary during the game. Since Brady is a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, the NFL didn't want him attending other teams' practices and pumping people for info that could theoretically be exploited by the Raiders. This rule was sensible, and if it made Brady worse at his job, that's entirely on him. Nobody forced this guy to buy a piece of the Raiders.
But now that rule is gone, according to The Athletic. Desperate to get some kind of interesting thought out of this guy's head and over the airwaves, the NFL will reportedly allow Brady to start attending these meetings. From Andrew Marchand:
The NFL will allow Tom Brady, Fox Sports’ top TV game analyst and Las Vegas Raiders minority owner, to take part in production meetings with coaches and teams this season, sources briefed on the decision told The Athletic.
In Brady’s rookie broadcasting year, he was banned from these information-gathering sessions for nearly the whole season. The rules were in place due to his ownership stake. The NFL relented for the Super Bowl.
The Athletic reports that Brady will still be barred from going to team practices, so he's not going to get that much better at his job. But at least he'll be able to do the necessary research to say things like, "Yeah, Kevin, when we talked to Sean McVay this week, he told us that he wanted to see his offense get its zip back, and that's what we're seeing so far," in the first quarter. Aren't we all so lucky?
