Tom Brady opens up on nerves of broadcasting job, draws parallels with Patriots icon's NFL career
Tom Brady is set to don the hat of a broadcaster for FOX Sports. He signed a 10-year, $375 million deal with FOX in May 2022. The NFL icon spoke to Colin Cowherd about the nerves going into the role.
Brady appeared as a guest on FOX Sports' "The Herd" on Wednesday. When asked if he has nerves, Brady explained in detail about the anxiety that comes along as a player and compared it with the broadcasting job. [From 3:53]
"I always had nerves, because it's a performance when you'd go out there on the field... There was probably anxiousness and there were nerves, because the outcomes weren't guaranteed for any of us," Brady said.
Brady continued, emphasizing on preparation to combat the nerves.
"The only way that I knew how to combat the nerves and the anxiousness of the game was to prepare. So I was someone that got really, really good at my preparation over the course of my career."
Brady said that he got efficient with his time, to make sure the time he was spending preparing was really worth it. He added that he was taking the same approach to his broadcasting job as well.
"I'm working on the things that are actually going to add to the Broadcast rather than I'm just working on things to work on them that will actually never come up."
Tom Brady doesn't want to let down FOX as a broadcaster
Tom Brady's preparation to be a commentator is in full swing. He understands there are high expectations for him in his upcoming role and doesn't want to let down the people at FOX.
Brady is leaning on his strong preparation to deliver his best as a broadcaster. He said that he has reached out to people in similar roles to understand how they grade themselves for their performance, which Brady felt was a challenging aspect of this job. [From 2:33]
"I think for me, so much is going to come down to the preparation. Did I feel like I was prepared? Did I feel like our crew was prepared? Did I give them my best over the course of the week so that we could give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful for the fans?"
Brady added:
"From my standpoint, I'm gonna work as hard as I can ... to make sure that I do deliver because I don't want to let anyone down. I don't want to let the people at FOX down."
Tom Brady will make his NFL broadcasting debut on September 8, when the Cleveland Browns host the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season.