“Keep Playing, Tom.”

June 13th, 2022

A Super Bowl quarterback who spent 17 years in the Sunday Night Football booth has firm words of advice for Tom Brady.

Hopefully, Brady pays attention.

Joe Theismann, the former Redskins legend and Pro Bowler, was on CBS Sports Radio last week saying Brady should keep playing and avoid his waiting FOX broadcast job as long as he can still play.

Hey, Theismann should be a guy Brady respects. He worked in the network broadcasting world before he even retired from the NFL, and he was extremely successful in the job.

“First of all, I’d say, ‘Keep playing, Tom,'” Theismann began. “Just keep on playing because whatever you faced on the field, it’ll be different once you go in the booth. You have three hours, roughly, to communicate the game to people. I don’t think he’s ever really worked in that environment. Like everything else, there’s a transition period. … Let’s say he leaves the game at 45. Do we expect Tom Brady at 55, or at 50, to still be in the booth? I don’t know. I wish him a lot of luck. He’s extremely intelligent about the game, has terrific communication skills.”

Joe has made a similar point when it comes to Brady sticking out his reported 10-year, $375 million contract with FOX. Joe would wager that Brady doesn’t last five years traveling 20-plus long weekends a year. Plus, it’s a seven-days-a-week job for a guy who claims he is yearning to be a family man, in addition to his many business interests.

Theismann went on to say the routine of the game analyst will be a huge transition for Brady and it will take real work for him to develop chemistry with a play-by-play man.

Theismann is right. “Keep playing, Tom.”

22 Responses to ““Keep Playing, Tom.””

  1. Mark A Swygert Says:

    Brady didn’t enter the league as the goat remember. He couldn’t beat Drew Bledsoe for the starting gig his first two training camps. It was an injury that gave him his shot, and though the Patriots did do a lot of winning his first few years, his stats were pedestrian compared to what was to come. His willingness to work harder than the other guys is what led to his quantum improvement. Maybe it will be a similar trajectory with color commentary.

  2. BucsFanSince1976 Says:

    Brady is just a WINNER plain and simple. Winners do whatever it takes to win , so I have no doubt Brady will become one of the best color commentators ever , if he decides that is what he wants to do.

  3. Lt. Dan Says:

    @Joe from a previous thread ref my BroMosa search..I reside in Richmond VA.

  4. Bucco Bruce Says:

    @Mark
    Couldn’t beat Bledsoe out because of Bledsoe’s contract and history with the team. No way even if in camp Brady was better that they wanted to swallow the 6th rounder beating out the vet with a massive contract. Then the injury happened and the rest is history.

  5. PSL Bob Says:

    …”has terrific communication skills.”

    I disagree. He doesn’t typically complete sentences. He’ll start a thought and then jump to the next without finishing the first. He certainly comes across as a nice guy, and no one questions his knowledge of the game, but as a communicator, I just don’t see it.

  6. Lt. Dan Says:

    Brady will be fine in the booth…has the guy ever really failed at anything?

  7. Wade Landry Says:

    For Licht’s sake …keep playing

  8. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    I think a better option for Tom is the LIV Golf Tour…..perhaps a $300 million signing bonus…..and he wouldn’t even have to win a tournament….

  9. Defense Rules Says:

    PSL Bob & Lt Dan … Agree with both of you ref Brady’s future stint at Fox. Communications-wise he’s very ‘guarded’ IMO & tends not to give away his own personal positions on things all that often. Maybe what I see is just that he’s very conservative in terms of what he shares with the media.

    How much of that he’d have to compromise ‘in the booth’ is anybody’s guess. I’m confident that he’ll adjust fairly quickly to the demands being placed on him, BUT my gut feel is that he won’t be very ‘fulfilled’ doing it. I can’t see him lasting 10 years in the booth, or even 5 years actually. But he’s a sharp businessman, and more than likely there are plenty of ‘outs’ written into his contract with Fox … for BOTH sides.

  10. BucsFanSince1976 Says:

    Saudis could sign Brady as the commissioner of their new football league and stroke him a check for 1 billion , at least Brady would finally have more money than the fraulein.

  11. Chris Tucker@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:

    I tend to agree with Joe Theismann, because look at what happened with Drew Brees ?
    Even though Tom Brady has excelled at Football, that is no assurance he will also excel in the broadcast booth.’
    I have to wonder how long Fox will wait for Brady to join them ?
    IOW, did they give him a time limit to join them ?

  12. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Does anybody watch the NFL because of who’s announcing?

  13. Stone crab sam Says:

    I dunno Alan. I was always captivated by a good ole fashioned ‘turn out the lights this party is over’ dandy don rendition on Mnf. 😂

  14. SPARKY Says:

    I think his main problem will be being critical of the players. He’s just too nice a guy. I have never heard him say a bad word about anyone.

  15. GOB Says:

    For someone who loves football as much as Brady, I just can’t see him walking away, when he’s still playing like this. Throw the wife and kids excuse out the window. His job at Fox will probably keep him away more. commentators don’t get home games, or very very seldom. Granted he won’t have 300 pounders attacking him in the booth, but I digress. 99% of these guys retire because they physically can’t play anymore. They get pushed out. I legit think he could play another two -three years after this one.

  16. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Stone crab sam- I agree there are and have been entertaining announcers-original MNF group was great as were Madden and Summerall. But I don’t know if I’d’ve watched if they were announcing a Lacrosse game.

  17. Dooley Says:

    The only football commentator I go out of my way to watch a game that he’s calling is, Kirk Herbstreit

  18. Buc1987 Says:

    I hope he’s a Buc until he’s 50!

  19. K2 Says:

    Only time will tell how much he will enjoys collecting $35 million a year while not getting hit by 300 lbs guys. I think Tom could last…clearly he doesn’t need the money.

  20. Trey Long Says:

    According to Belichick , by Brady’s 2nd camp he was playing better than Drew, but Bill felt obligated to play Drew for contractual reasons being the highest paid qb. Drew getting hurt gave TB his shot and the rest is history.

  21. August 1976 Buc Says:

    lol, football is such a small part of life, does Brady really want to spend a huge amount of time on football. This dude is living a life few even come close to. There are actually many different things you can do, to make peoples lives better around the planet, then call football games, the billions of people do not even have a clue about. I mean there are over 2 billion people in China and India alone, that are not watching NFL football lol lol. I live in the Philippines. lol, people here have no clue as a whole, except Expats from the US like me. I watched the Bucs win the Lombardi, and walk outside here after the game, and they do not even know what the Super Bowl is lol REALITY CHECK. Yes I love football, but in the scope of the planet, ahhh, it is wayyyyyyyyy down the list lolol The GOAT will be grazing in many pastures before he breathes out his last breathe on the Planet. Reality Check lol

    GO BUCS!!!!!

  22. Brandon Says:

    Mark A Swygert Says:
    June 13th, 2022 at 6:48 am
    Brady didn’t enter the league as the goat remember. He couldn’t beat Drew Bledsoe for the starting gig his first two training camps. It was an injury that gave him his shot, and though the Patriots did do a lot of winning his first few years,

    ————————–

    He wasn’t allowed to compete nor expected to beat out Bledsoe for the job. He was 4th string for most his rookie season. In season 2, Bledsoe got hurt, again, no matter what Brady did, it wasn’t until Bledsoe got hurt that he got a chance. Bledsoe had just signed a huge contract. Nobody was beating him out. Oh, and they did very little winning in his rookie season. They were bad, it wasn’t until Bledsoe got hurt did everyone get to see that having a QB that could get the ball out on time, not take sacks, and keep the chains moving, that Bledsoe was a big reason for the team’s failures.