Tom Brady Reveals Weakness in the Booth and How He’ll Handle Backlash from NFL Fans

Tom Brady made a historic playing career out of turning his weaknesses into strengths, and he will be tasked with doing the same thing now that he is preparing to move into the broadcast booth for the 2024 NFL season.

Appearing on the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina (starts at 7:40 mark), Brady explained his biggest weakness will be learning to turn off the player part of his personality to make sure he has the right tone while providing analysis:

“I think the important part for me would be, how do I just continue to make it fun for people to enjoy the viewing experience. Sometimes I get a little too serious ’cause I see myself as ‘quarterback Tom Brady’, as opposed to ‘let’s enjoy a great game of football Tom Brady.’ Sometimes I become a little too critical, so I’m trying to make sure that I have the right tone. … I’m very specific on how I think the game should be played, and I want to see the game evolve and grow.”

Another aspect of moving into the booth that Brady might have to deal with his backlash that comes from fans simply because of the success he had against their teams when he was a player.

In response to how he intends to handle the potential negative feedback (starts at 10:45 mark), Brady said his playing experience between his time in college at Michigan and the NFL allowed him to harness the ability to stay focused on the job in front of him.

“Everyone has their own preference for who they like, and you’re never gonna please everybody. I think, for all of us in this role, it’s really about am I satisfying the person that I’m looking in the mirror. Did I prepare hard? Did I put my best foot forward? Did I do this with the right intention? Did I give my best to the team that I work for? Did I go out there and give my best to the audience? And if I did that, then I’m good. You may not like it, and I understand. It’s okay. But, you know, I’m just giving you what I—my commentating, my analysis. It’s really, in the end, kinda like I played quarterback was about satisfying me. I could have had a bad outcome, but if I thought the process was good, alright, let me just work on the process to get the outcome I want. If the outcome was great, it was ‘what did I do right that enabled me to be prepared and be successful in the moment?'”

There are few athletes better equipped to handle feedback than Brady. He was deemed to be the most hated athlete in the country in an unofficial study of fans conducted in 2021.

Brady is set to join the No. 1 broadcast team, alongside play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt, for Fox’s coverage of the NFL this season. He originally signed a 10-year, $375 million broadcasting deal with the network in May 2022 that would kick in after his playing career ended.

Even though Brady retired in February 2023, he opted not to move into the booth last season to give himself more time to prepare for his new role.

Brady was officially inducted into the New England Patriots’ Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday night. Patriots owner Robert Kraft also announced the No. 12 jersey has been retired and a 12-foot bronze statue of Brady will be placed outside the front gates at the stadium.

Fox announced in May that Brady’s first regular-season game as a broadcaster will be the Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns matchup on Sept. 8.