Ryan Fitzpatrick seems to have a beef with Tom Brady, but that’s news to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback.
Retired quarterback and Amazon NFL analyst Fitzpatrick had been doing media rounds where he claimed the seven-time Super Bowl champion had “zero respect” for him. He recalled an incident where Brady refused to shake his hand after the game.
Fitzpatrick went even further to claim he was the “(expletive)” referenced in Brady’s iconic “The Shop” comments from when he appeared on HBO. It’s not exactly clear who Brady directed it toward, but many think it’s about Derek Carr after UFC president Dana White revealed how Brady and Rob Gronkowski almost ended up with the Las Vegas Raiders.
But according to Fitzpatrick, he thinks it was a shot at him. The Miami Dolphins, who Fitzpatrick played two seasons for, did get penalized for tampering with Brady. The quarterback took to his “Let’s Go” podcast with Jim Gray on Monday to address Fitzpatrick.
“Oh god, not this again,” Brady said when Gray mentioned he wanted to talk about Fitzpatrick. “Yeah, go ahead, let’s talk about Ryan, and I love Ryan, but somewhere he’s got it out for me. I actually talked to Ryan Griffin, who’s one of our quarterbacks. He said, ‘Ryan’s always all over you. I don’t know why.’ Maybe Ryan and I need to have a talk. Ryan’s a hell of a guy, too, and I competed against him. I mean, he’s a Harvard guy. Now he looks part homeless. Now he’s on TV doing what my future job’s going to be. I think Ryan’s got a good thing going. I don’t know why he needs to think I’m after him or something like that.”
When asked if Fitzpatrick was the “(expletive),” Brady added: “You know Scratchy (Gray’s nickname), I like to keep them guessing, and unfortunately, with this coming out, I have to tell him, it wasn’t him.”
Brady later joked LeBron James’ business manager, Maverick Carter, may have given him a little too much tequila, which made him blurt out his iconic line on the show. He was also confident Fitzpatrick’s Harvard degree can help him figure out another talking point for his broadcast career.
