CNN —
Tom Brady was the ultimate winner on the field, but that success doesn’t guarantee the seven-time Super Bowl champion will make a seamless transition as he steps onto the television booth to begin his new role as senior NFL analyst.
Brady, 45, who retired from the National Football League on Wednesday after an illustrious 23-year career, agreed to join Fox Sports last May as his age-defying quarterback career came to an end.
Brady, whose intense preparation for games is well documented, has an unrivaled knowledge of the sport. If he can execute what he sees on the field as quickly as he processes plays as a quarterback, he could prove to be one of the best analysts.
But making the transition from the field to the TV booth isn’t always easy, and it can take time to relax, laugh at yourself, and not scream for attention.
“It will be a challenge. Tom’s a pretty serious guy, at least in terms of his public persona,” Neal Pilson, the former president of CBS Sports who now runs his own sports television consultancy, told Portal.
“He’s going to get a tremendous amount of money from Fox and I think he’s going to feel the pressure to entertain people and so far Tom’s method of entertaining people has been to play quarterback and show off how good he is .”
The terms of Brady’s deal with Fox Sports were never disclosed, but media reports say the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots quarterback agreed to a 10-year, $375 million deal.
Fox will broadcast the February 12 Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, but the network didn’t immediately respond when asked by Portal if Brady would be part of the lineup.
In pictures: NFL legend Tom Brady
Pilson suggests Brady would be better off if his debut as an analyst didn’t happen in the Super Bowl, as it would immediately expose him during the most-watched NFL game of the year.
There was no shortage of players who became football analysts after their NFL careers, including Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Shannon Sharpe.
Rob Ninkovich, who won two Super Bowl titles with Brady in New England and now works as an NFL analyst for ESPN, told Portal that having a job talking about football on TV can help ease some of the toughest parts of retirement .
“Michael Jordan could play a three-on-three pickup game somewhere and still, you know, still shoot a basket and get his feel for playing basketball,” Ninkovich said. “With soccer players, unfortunately, you hang it up and never put a helmet, shoulder pads on again.
“It’s trying to fill that gap with other activities, maybe a business or, you know, entrepreneurship or even television, still talking about football and getting involved in football – but you don’t get beat.”