With ex-NFL quarterback Troy Aikman headed to ESPN to step into the Monday Night Football booth for five years and somewhere in the range of $90 million, Fox has to find a replacement for the three-time Super Bowl winner.
According to The New York Post, Fox may be hoping a seven-time Super Bowl winner can fill Aikman’s loafers.
Needing a top-tier talent to pair alongside play-by-play broadcaster Joe Buck in the network’s No. 1 NFL booth, Fox will be reaching out to Tom Brady to gauge his interest in becoming an NFL analyst starting next season.
Brady, who said he is stepping away from football but never actually used the word retirement and could certainly keep playing if he wants to, is working on a number of non-football projects, including a very odd road-trip film and would probably command a salary in the range of Aikman’s even though he has no broadcasting experience.
But he also doesn’t need the money and there’s no reason to assume he’ll take an offer from Fox when the network comes calling. The same goes for Amazon, which may come after Brady to take a role on Thursday Night Football, which will move to the streaming giant exclusively starting next season.
“There’s no reason to think Brady would want to do it. But the phone call is cheap. Much cheaper than it would be to actually hire Brady,” per ProFootballTalk. “He has become much more willing to speak in recent years, even if his primary platform for talking is inherently friendly and non-confrontational, since he owns the Let’s Go! podcast. Taking a high-profile TV job would keep him firmly in the public eye, and the total time commitment would allow him to handle other business interests that could position him, someday, to buy a team of his own.”
In addition to pursuing Brady, Amazon is also believed to have Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay in mind if he decides to walk away from coaching. It would be a shocker, but it is possible the 36-year-old coach decides to take his Super Bowl trophy and run.
“He has said he doesn’t want to be an NFL lifer, wants to be around for his family, while the win-now Rams mortgaged their future for their title,” per The Post. “McVay clearly will be able to get a TV job anytime he walks away from coaching, but these networks are basically only paying its top game analysts these eight-figure-per-year deals. If McVay waits, the No. 1 game analyst chairs at ESPN, CBS, Fox and Amazon may all be filled. There will always be seven-figures out there for him, but this might be the right time if he truly desires $15 million plus and weekends off.”
In related news, The Sports Business Journal reports that NBC-affiliated gambling platform PointsBet has met with NFL insider Adam Schefter in advance of his ESPN contract expiring this summer. Should Schefter wind up with PointsBet, it’s likely he would make regular appearances on Football Night in America and possibly even Sunday Night Football given the sportsbook’s affiliation with NBC.
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