Tom Brady Is Set for TV Debut This Fall. So What’s All the Talk About?

Greg Olsen is heading into his final NFL regular-season broadcast as the top game analyst for Fox Sports. Next year, Tom Brady is scheduled to take over the No. 1 position as part of his 10-year, $375 million contract, despite ongoing speculation that the seven-time Super Bowl champion is not serious about his next gig. 

With the move into the TV booth getting closer, more pundits are weighing in—including Brady himself. “I’ve got a big broadcasting job that’s going to start in September,” he said on his Let’s Go! podcast this week. “I’m already working hard on trying to make sure I’m ready for that opportunity, and I’m prepared mentally and emotionally for that challenge.” 

Devin McCourty, Brady’s former teammate with the New England Patriots, backed up that statement during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, saying people have told him that Brady has been studying and preparing for the broadcast booth.

Joe Buck, ESPN’s top NFL play-by-play announcer, who spent decades at Fox, said Brady has talked to intermediaries about working with him to get ready for his broadcasting debut. “Which I’m totally open to doing and would love to do,” Buck said on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast. 

Meanwhile, longtime sports broadcaster Bob Costas recently chimed in on the matter, saying Brady would be better suited for the studio. “The level of preparation to work a game and what it takes to get the hang of it, it’s just an easier fit in the studio,” Costas told the New York Post.

The Olsen Dilemma

Olsen will call Fox’s playoff games this month but his future after that is unclear. His partner, top Fox play-play-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, will likely be paired with Brady during the 2024 NFL season. Olsen, who celebrated Fox’s accomplishments in 2023 and said on X that he is “ready to do it again” in 2024, has also noted that he would be interested in interviewing for the head coaching vacancy at his former team, the Carolina Panthers.

Sources have told Front Office Sports media reporter Michael McCarthy that Fox brass would be happy to get a season or two out of Brady “before he sails off into the ranks of NFL owners.” (Brady’s deal to acquire a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders remains up in the air). If Olsen were to slide back into the No. 2 game analyst slot for Fox, he could theoretically return to the main booth if Brady were to leave.