Troy Aikman has some broadcasting tips for Tom Brady ahead of the 2024 NFL season.
“Just to be himself,” Aikman told Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. “I have no illusions as to what it might look like for Tom. I think he’ll be fantastic. He’s been great at everything he’s done. The reason he has been so good is because he puts in the work. And that’s the key. You can fake it for a little bit, and then it catches up to you. You’ve got to put in the time.”
Interestingly, CBS’ Tony Romo was repeatedly accused of not putting “in the time” throughout the 2022 campaign.
Aikman added he believes Brady is “gonna be a huge success,” in part because the seven-time Super Bowl champion is taking a “gap year” following his latest retirement to prepare to enter the Fox booth in 2024.
“I’m sure he’ll use this year to study, kind of the mechanics of it, how it works,” Aikman said. “And be as prepared as he can possibly be when he starts.”
Aikman may be the best person to give Brady advice about the fellow signal-caller’s second career. While Aikman is already a Hall of Fame quarterback, Brady won’t have to wait too long for his day in Canton. Aikman previously worked for Fox before he and Joe Buck made the jump to ESPN/ABC after the 2021 NFL season, and Brady is set to join Fox via a 10-year deal reportedly worth $375 million.
Last May, Hall of Famer Kurt Warner warned that Brady can’t be afraid to offend current players and even former teammates while calling games. As Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing pointed out, sports radio legend Mike Francesa said during an ESPN appearance on Feb. 1 he doesn’t think Brady is “gonna be a great analyst.”
However, The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch reported that same day that people who had “been in production meetings with Brady on the TV side” said that “they all believe he will do better at the job than you might expect.”
Deitsch continued: “Everyone I spoke with said they were impressed by Brady’s ability to communicate football concepts in a clear way. They all said he was opinionated in those meetings. They described him as someone who could be very funny and occasionally profane and came off like a normal person who simply had an irregular, amazing career and life.”
Current Fox lead NFL analyst Greg Olsen made it known last month he is “not gonna roll over and die” so Brady can take his job at any point. Fans ultimately may not miss Olsen too much if Aikman is proven right about Brady the broadcaster.
