If you had been trying to assign a author to make the case for Fox NFL broadcaster Tom Brady as the 2025 Sports Media Person of the Year, one of the final individuals who must be assigned the piece could be a pundit who predicted that Brady would depart the broadcasting sales space after his first season.
The above phrases had been written by this fool pundit. But I now return, intellectually bloodied however not defeated, to make a unique case:
Brady is my 2025 sports media person of the yr.
Yes, Brady is the final person on earth who wants one other honor — even one which comes with no money worth — however take into consideration his 2025:
His yr started with Super Bowl LIX — simply his twenty second telecast as a Fox broadcaster — which earned him membership on the unique checklist of broadcasters to serve as the lead analyst of the Super Bowl for the community airing it. (There are fewer than 30 in the membership.)
In soccer vernacular, his Super Bowl name was a “game manager” efficiency. Nothing spectacular; he coated what he wanted to cowl. But here’s what was additionally essential: His name didn’t produce any vital blowback or social media vitriol, and it was the clear end result of a yr of enchancment. His producer, Richie Zyontz, instructed me final January that huge enchancment for Brady would come “between Year One and Year Two,” and that turned out to be the case.
Now, let’s get to the previous couple of months: Brady is far more snug with the mechanics of the job, explaining performs and being himself in the sales space. He’s by no means going to be on the Troy Aikman stage of delivering unvarnished honesty about coaches, officers or the NFL, however he’s gone additional in these areas throughout the 2025 season than he did final yr. In speaking to individuals this month on the Brady-Kevin Burkhardt manufacturing crew, they point out that he’s a lot better this season at describing what he’s seeing at the line of scrimmage earlier than the snap.
“Looking ahead is always what we thought would make him a great analyst, and that’s so much better this year,” one crew member instructed me.
Watching the Rams-Lions recreation final Sunday, I used to be struck by how a lot Brady was forward of the play in phrases of how the groups must be attacking particular conditions. Is he the finest NFL TV analyst? Not in any respect. But there’s not a lot point out anymore of him being a tv bust. Maybe that ought to have all the time been the case with a near-annual $40 million salary, but it surely may have gone a unique approach.
What else? Well, Brady acquired Fox Sports to make a strategic funding in Shadow Lion, the leisure and advertising and marketing studio that he co-founded. (Shadow Lion and Fox will develop authentic collection, movies, occasion programming and digital content material, although finest of luck promoting the public on a deliberate University of Michigan soccer program docu-series co-produced by Brady and Jim Harbaugh.)
Brady seems ceaselessly with Colin Cowherd to assist Cowherd’s TV present, and Brady launched a publication (“199”) that has actually made news and goes to millions (and reads fairly properly). I do know he’s helped Fox land some vital sponsorships for its NFL protection.
Even the soccer crew that he has a minority funding in, Birmingham City, secured promotion from League One after a 2-1 win at Peterborough United this April. The dude even did NFL power rankings this year, channeling his internal Peter King.
(He was additionally invited to Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s Venice wedding; no invite for Aikman, Collinsworth, Herbstreit or Romo, alas).
Yes, Brady’s position with the Raiders stays a battle, and I say that not caring one iota about the aggressive battle for different NFL groups however with the viewing viewers. There have lengthy been conflicts of curiosity in sports media, together with faculty soccer analysts employed by colleges. That’s simply fashionable actuality.
However, there’s a worth, and that’s subconsciously self-censoring as a result of of the possession scenario. There isn’t any approach Brady can inform viewers every part he is aware of. (Ironically, Brady’s broadcasting profession advantages proper now by how unhealthy the Raiders are, which limits claims of a Brady battle serving to the Raiders acquire any championship benefits.)
My colleague Andrew Marchand just named Ernie Johnson as his Sports Media Person of the Year, and the way can I argue with that? I’ve written dozens of items on Johnson, and he’s the gold commonplace of studio analysts. He’s additionally not possible to dislike. There are arguments to be made that ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith or Pat McAfee could possibly be named right here based mostly on how a lot affect and leverage they’ve at ESPN.
But my decide this yr could be Brady — and I’m now satisfied he’s going to be in the sales space for a while.