Tom Brady confirmed this week that, after his playing career is done, he will turn his attention to TV, becoming NFL lead analyst for Fox.
“People think it’s just a conversation,” said Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, an ESPN analyst.
He has spent more than 20 years answering questions on the other side of the microphone, observing how TV people and other media members do their jobs, and dispensing information — sometimes very little information — in succinct sound bites.
Peyton was curious, he’d ask questions and stuff about the role and the job, the responsibilities, the schedule.
You can work from home during the week, and it’s a little bit of a grind during the season, but it keeps you around the game and it’s a pretty good transition.
“You go from being great at something to wondering if you’re ever going to be good at anything else,” said Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, now an NFL Network analyst.
“That’s one of the challenges as you get into television: What am I going to be as an analyst?” Warner said.
“Everybody’s afraid of, I don’t want to offend anybody, but I also want to do my job and I want to do it really well.
You can’t just be a nice guy and really be good in this business.
He had to shift his thinking when he got into TV — just as Brady will — and that’s not always easy to do.
“When Tom speaks to the press, he’s a master — like Peyton and others who were great at this, every time they spoke, they were speaking to their linemen,” Young said.
It’s no longer a way of gathering his teammates, which has been a huge part of his success.
Gannon still cringes at the thought of the first game he called, Buffalo at Tampa Bay in 2005, when the J.P.
Hard game to call, blah, blah blah.’ He goes, ‘Well, here’s my thoughts.
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his “long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football,” Sam Farmer has covered the NFL for 25 seasons.
