When it comes to Tom Brady joining FOX’s NFL broadcast booth, we’ve all buried the lede.
Everyone except Chris Long, that is.
Brady and FOX on Tuesday announced the legendary quarterback will join the network as a lead analyst once he retires. The 44-year-old, currently planning to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season, will call games alongside Kevin Burkhardt. Brady’s contract with FOX reportedly is a record-setting deal that will pay him an average of $37.5 million annually.
Shortly after the news broke, Long, who played for the New England Patriots in 2016, made the best point of all.
“All I can think about is the couple production meetings he’ll have with Bill Belichick,” Long tweeted.
It’s standard practice for NFL broadcast crews to meet with the head coaches, as well as some players, from the two teams whose game they’ll call that week. Such a meeting led to a controversy in 2020 when ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” crew quoted Belichick as being somewhat dismissive of Josh Allen.
Obviously, the idea of Brady meeting with Belichick before calling a Patriots game is fun to think about. Oh, to be a fly on that wall.
That said, this scenario is predicated on Belichick still being New England’s head coach once Brady joins the FOX booth. Considering the possibility of Brady continuing to play past the age of 45, it seemingly is possible that Belichick is out of the picture by the time Brady and Burkhardt call a Patriots game.
By the way: FOX owns the broadcasting rights for four of the next 11 Super Bowls.
