Everything seemed set for Tom Brady to begin a successful career as a sports analyst. However, the NFL tripped up its former star, limiting his access to team information, which has caused a unanimous reaction of rejection towards the league, led by veteran sportscaster Rich Eisen.
Media and fans were eager to see the former New England Patriots quarterback’s debut in this new role. His first broadcast will be the Week 1 game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns. However, the job of an analyst depends largely on his ability to talk to players and coaches, which is exactly what the NFL recently banned.
According to Eisen, the NFL has barred the seven-time Super Bowl winner from entering team facilities, and he will not be able to interview players or coaches. He will not even be able to attend the production meetings before the games he is to analyze.
The reason, Eisen explained, is that Brady filed a request to acquire a minority stake in the Las Vegas Raiders. This set off alarm bells among the owners of the other teams, who immediately tried to protect their secrets from the former player’s view.
Eisen rips NFL
In a commentary on “The Rich Eisen Show,” the veteran commentator revealed, “These rules are in place now cuz he’s petitioning to be an owner of the Raiders. So as long as these papers are in to try and be an owner they’re already placing these rules on him, which is a major handicap to Brady’s ability to do the job.”
Eisen claimed that the restrictions against Brady were a way to appease the “highly secretive and paranoid” owners of the teams. The commentator showed his anger against the NFL by saying that even if the Raiders wanted to take advantage of Brady’s role as an analyst, the former quarterback would not lend himself to it.
“That is insulting to Brady, that he might actually utilize his platform with Fox as to be sort of a mole for the Raiders. Like he would put the Fox team, that he now calls his new colleagues, in Jeopardy by not being the lead analyst for the team, but actually to be a mole for the Raiders,” Eisen said.
It’s not all bad, says McAfee
Despite the growing backlash against the NFL’s stance on Brady’s new role at Fox, other analysts, such as Pat McAfee, believe there is still a silver lining to it since at least Brady will not have to attend the tedious pre-production meetings that can last between four and six hours.
NFL Network insider Adam Schefter disagreed and noted that attending these meetings is vital to covering a live game. He stressed that he would not accept an analyst job if he could not attend the pre-production meetings.
The controversy is on the table, and all the unknowns that most veteran sportscasters are raising will be resolved this Sunday when Brady steps into a broadcast box for the first time as an analyst in a regular season game.
