Whether Tom Brady excels as an NFL broadcaster depends on both nature and nurture.
Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion, is finally joining the top Fox Sports announcing team alongside play-by-play man Kevin Burkhardt after signing a blockbuster 10-year deal worth $375 million in 2022.
His first game is Cowboys-Browns on Sept. 8 at 4:25 p.m. Eastern.
The Post polled several experts about what they expect from Brady and advice they would give him.
Bob Stenner, who was the longtime producer of the iconic John Madden and Pat Summerall duo for CBS and later Fox, and has been involved with NFL production since 1965, told The Post that the two keys for Brady are be concise and likable.
“He’s arguably the best player to ever play the game. He’s got the credentials and awards to prove it. Now the job is to get him in a comfortable place to deliver how he sees the game to the viewer,” Stenner said. “I think the biggest adjustment with him is that he has time constraints now. If you’re interviewed on a podcast or other shows, you can go on open-ended with your thoughts.
“In the football game, you talk about the play and then you have to be succinct to get out so when the offense breaks the huddle you turn it back to Burkhardt. Those are all mechanical things that he’ll get real quick.”
Al Michaels, the legendary play-by-play man who currently calls “Thursday Night Football” on Amazon’s Prime Video service, agrees that the duo should get on track expeditiously.
“One of the keys to success will be to develop a great rhythm with Kevin Burkhardt. Kevin’s a pro, so I see that happening sooner than later,” Michaels said.
Phil Simms, the former Giants great who was the longtime top NFL color commentator for CBS and currently co-hosts the “Simms Complete” podcast for Bleav with his son, Matt, acknowledged there was a big learning curve in being economical with words.
“You shorten the sentences, and adjust automatically. What happened with me early, I would be trying to go into detail and then all of a sudden the new play was starting and I tried to rush it out too fast. Keeping it concise is a huge deal. I’ve never heard one complaint about an announcer who doesn’t talk enough. Not one,” Simms said.
set before the AFC Championship Game between the Bengals
and Chiefs on Jan. 30, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri. Getty Images
“I learned this: Sometimes you’ve gotta take plays off. I had a sign that reminded me: ‘Shut up.’”
For example, if there was an ordinary three-yard rushing play, Simms would point at his partner to keep it moving: “Sometimes, be quiet, let the play-by-play guy tell a story or a fact about someone between plays.”
Speaking concisely can be learned but being likable is innate — you either are or you’re not. It can’t be coached.
“I don’t know that it can be said aloud and then you have to be that type of person. I don’t think that anybody who gets into this business is just an a–hole and that’s who they are, or they wouldn’t get a chance to do it,” Stenner said.
“Obviously, [Fox Sports leader] Eric Shanks and the people that hired him met him enough times and came away thinking he’s a good guy. The work ethic is there. He’s a proud guy. He’s not going to do this and let himself fail. When I see him in interviews he’s a pleasant guy and the people on that crew have said he’s beyond what they expected as far as being a good person.”
Simms said that he would urge Brady to not “get too deep into the X’s and O’s unless it’s really unique.”
“Talk to fans in their language,” he added.
Michaels doesn’t foresee this being an issue.
“He’s articulate, he has a sense of humor — big Howard Stern fan, so that’s a slam dunk — and he understands he’ll be informing and entertaining and not providing a clinic,” he said.
The consensus is that Brady, 47, will be relentlessly prepared for the booth, just as he was as a quarterback.
Michaels said Brady strengths will include knowledge of most of the NFL’s active players who he competed alongside and against, plus having honed his football acumen under the learning tree of Bill Belichick.
There could be some challenges down the road, as the NFL has indicated there would be restrictions on Brady if his long-sought minority stake in the Raiders closes, where he would not be able to watch practices or attend the pregame production meetings with coaches and players where proprietary information and strategy are freely discussed to help announcers prepare for the game.
Fox officials have indicated that they aren’t concerned “at all” about these potential restrictions, which wouldn’t happen before October at the earliest.
To compound the pressure of following his transcendent playing career and jumping into broadcasting with no experience, Brady is replacing Greg Olsen, who had blossomed into an elite analyst.
“Brady has lived with pressure his whole life and he’s come out on the right end of it every single time,” Stenner said.
“Year in and year out, with the expectations he had in New England and Tampa — he not only dealt with that, he conquered it.”
