During a podcast earlier this week, sports media insider Andrew Marchand of the New York Post put the odds that Tom Brady actually calls NFL games for Fox at just “49%,” ramping up speculation that the legendary quarterback will not start his reported 10-year, $375 million deal in 2024.
Apparently that is news to Brady himself.
In a response to Sports Illustrated‘s story about Marchand’s prediction posted to Instagram, Brady issued a very clear response: “FakeNews.”
Marchand cited Brady’s famous work ethic as a reason that he may look to avoid jumping headfirst into another high effort job after retiring from football.
“I’ve talked to a couple of people recently close to Brady and I kind of feel like I’m going more 49% chance he does it, 51% chance he doesn’t,” said Marchand. “I don’t think he wants to travel that much. … I think Brady’s a guy who if he’s in, he’s all in. So he’s not going to be showing up day of games like Joe Buck and Aikman do sometimes. He’s going to be there early if he’s going to do it, so it’s a four-day event.”
Marchand added that Brady’s relationship with his children, whom he shares with ex-wife Gisele Bündchen, is very important to him, and that he has other avenues to make money, even with a very lucrative Fox deal on the table.
News of Brady’s agreement with the network dates back to 2022, after he announced his return to football following his brief retirement that offseason. Now that he has retired “for good,” Brady says he will take this year off to prepare for the next phase in his career, leaving Greg Olsen to call games with Kevin Burkhardt on Fox’s No. 1 team for another season.
“I think for me, I want to be great at what I do and even talking last week with the people at Fox Sports and the leadership there allowing me to start my Fox opportunity in the fall of 2024 is something that’s great for me,” Brady told Colin Cowherd in February. “So I’ll take some time to really learn, become great at what I want to do and become great at thinking about the opportunity and making sure I don’t rush into anything.”
