NFL
“Let’s say Daniel Jones throws an interception.”
Tom Brady didn’t hesitate to say the words “Daniel Jones” and “interception” in the same sentence on Friday.
On a panel alongside ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith at Fanatics Fest in New York City, Brady discussed his upcoming first season as the lead color commentator for NFL games on FOX. He was explaining how he wants to avoid being harsh when talking about players making mistakes during games when he used Giants quarterback Daniel Jones as an example.
“I just don’t want to be so critical. Because in some ways, I don’t necessarily know exactly what the problem was on that play,” Brady said. “Let’s say Daniel Jones throws an interception. … I didn’t mean to say it like that! That wasn’t even being critical of Daniel Jones! Maybe I was a little bit.”
The crowd initially belted out in laughter when Brady said the quarterback’s name. After the laughs settled down, several people in attendance booed. Given that the event is taking place in New York City, it makes sense that some folks weren’t too pleased with Brady’s choice of player throwing a hypothetical interception.
Over Jones’s five seasons in the league, he’s thrown 40 interceptions. Brady surely knew what he was doing by taking a jab at a player on the team that beat him in two Super Bowls over his 23-year-long career.
Now that he seems to be retired from playing the sport for good, Brady has immersed himself in the media side of football. He’ll step away from his several business ventures on Sundays to be FOX’s lead color voice alongside Kevin Burkhardt for the 2024-25 season.
Brady further discussed his goal of not being a cruelly analyzing player performance on television beginning in September.
“I just can’t say that on TV,” Brady said about the idea of calling a player “horrible.” “Because there’s parents and there’s family members and I don’t want to always necessarily say it in that way. If I was doing it myself, and let’s say I threw a really bad interception. I would walk to the sidelines and say, ‘You are the worst quarterback in the world. How can you possibly make that throw? That was terrible.’” But I just don’t want to be too critical.”
The seven-time Super Bowl champion will make his debut in the booth when the Browns host the Cowboys on Sept. 8 at 4:25 p.m. ET. Brady will also be the color commentator for FOX during Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025.
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