Fox exec calls Brady rumors ‘an endless merry-go-round’ of narratives

Even as Tom Brady goes through its first postseason and get ready to call him first Super Bowl as a television analyst, rumors about his future continue to abound, much to the dismay of Fox Sports.

Fox Sports president of production and operations/executive producer Brad Zager understands the spotlight Brady and the network are under. Still, Zager said Brady is in it for the long haul.

“The whole group that said he’d never be there turned out to be, he’s not going to be there. It’s just a never-ending merry-go-round of people trying to come up with the next narrative,” Zager said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Friday. “Tom has done nothing but engage with us every time he’s asked about broadcasting. When he was retired and came in, got ready, he talked about how excited he was about it, that he was 100% and has never wavered from it. So having people on the crew reading articles and stories and predictions about Tom not being engaged wears on you.”

Zager’s comments on Friday were the first about Brady by someone from Fox Sports. Brady has not been made available for media interviews this season. He has discussed his first season in the booth during appearances on Colin Cowherd’s show on FS1.

On Thursday, Don Yee, Brady’s agent, told the Sports Business Journal that Brady “has had a tremendous amount of fun working with Fox this year and is really excited about the future with Fox.” Brady signed a 10-year, $375 million contract with Fox in May 2022 while still playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He retired after that season and decided in February 2023 to take a year off before moving into the booth.

“Tom has had tremendous fun working with Fox this year and is excited about the future with Fox and his growth on their team,” said Yee. “And this year was the first year of a long relationship.”

Yee did not return an email or text message from the AP seeking comment.

Fox Sports has tried to deal with the rumors and criticism surrounding Brady’s future and his dual roles as an analyst on its NFL staff and minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Everything has come to a head this week with Brady and Kevin Burkhardt calling Saturday night’s NFC divisional round game in Detroit between the Lions and Washington Commanders.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are candidates for the Raiders’ head coaching opening. Brady is involved in the franchise’s selection of coaches and general manager.

Brady cannot participate in Fox’s production meetings with teams — either in person or via Zoom — watch practices or set foot in a team’s practice complex. The only team complex Brady is allowed in is the Raiders.

The league put those parameters in place during the season after Brady bought a 5% stake in the Raiders in May 2023. NFL owners approved the purchase October last year.

Zager said any inferences about a potential conflict of interest between Brady calling the game and being part of the Raiders’ decision-making process are unfounded.

“It calls into question his professionalism and integrity. It’s ridiculous,” Zager said.

Any question Brady would have for the coordinators or head coach Dan Campbell could be asked by Burkhardt or a member of the Fox crew in the production meetings. However, Brady receives the same film and statistical information as everyone else on the crew.

“Anytime you’re around crew members and doing something as a crew, it’s a good thing for the crew. So we’ve got to overcome that. You don’t want that time to bond,” Zager said. “But when it comes to analyze the game and learn information, what is available at the fingertips of the average fan now is probably light years ahead of what was available even to the broadcast team 15-20 years ago. Not being in the meetings hasn’t stopped him from growing as an analyst throughout the season.”

Brady’s analysis of teams and refs is subject to more league scrutiny because of his involvement with the Raiders, but it should be extremely critical or question the integrity of a team or ref.

Zager pointed out that Brady has been critical of play calls or strategy, as any analyst is expected to do.

“It’s been great to see Tom jump into this with no broadcasting experience and call the NFL’s biggest games. He continues to find his rhythm and the places where he can really shine during a game,” Zager said. I think he’s taking a big step as we head into the postseason in our biggest games. And I’m looking forward to the next three games, which are the three biggest games, and what he’s going to add to the broadcast.”

Attention and rumors surrounding Fox’s top NFL staff are nothing new. Troy Aikman and Joe Buck’s future through the 2021 season were constant fodder before both moved to ESPN’s “Monday Night Football.” However, Brady took a lot of pressure off the network before Super Bowl 57 in 2023 when he said early in the week leading up to the game that he would not be joining Fox in 2023, allowing Greg Olsen to answer questions about the game in place for his future and not be a one-year, lame duck analyst on a top network team.

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