Quarterbacks have long made the transition into broadcasting after retiring. Tom Brady, however, was the most accomplished one to arrive in the booth. Even so, defending the seven-time Super Bowl champion’s broadcasting skills has been difficult. Whether it’s the nervousness, the awkward pauses he takes while calling a game, or a delivery that often sounds like he’s reading straight from a script, fans have criticized Brady for quite some time.

And Dave Portnoy, a longtime New England Patriots fan and one of Brady’s biggest supporters, believes the legendary quarterback has simply been awful in the booth.

“Bad. Awful. Not good,” Portnoy told Megyn Kelly, when asked about his thoughts on Brady’s broadcasting career. “He just stinks at it. He’s the greatest quarterback. Not everybody is born to be a great announcer. I just don’t find him to be good at announcing football. Now, he’s brand new. It’s his first year. They gave him a gigantic contract, but he certainly didn’t come out of the gates like a natural.

“…Maybe anybody can eventually become a good announcer, I don’t know. It’s not the easiest thing to do. But he just didn’t come out of the gates. He’s almost to me, too elevated. He’s so great, like the way he talks. But no, he didn’t come out all guns firing.”

Brady had signed his $375 million FOX deal in May 2022, nine months before he officially retired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in January 2023. Once he made his debut, the former Patriots quarterback received mixed reactions for his performance in the booth. The Week 1 game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Cleveland Browns of the 2024 season featured stars like Dak Prescott, Myles Garrett, CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper, and you name it. However, Brady in the booth simply overshadowed everyone, but for all the very wrong reasons.

NFL fans took to social media and shared mixed opinions. Some argued that Brady looked nervous during his broadcasting debut and often struggled to put together his thoughts, while others believed he was simply a rookie in the booth and would naturally improve with time. Veteran broadcaster Gary Lezak happened to fall into the latter category. Lezak noted:

“Tom Brady is getting beaten up on X right now on his debut as a broadcaster. I spent 38-years in broadcasting, and he is a rookie on his first day. I can tell he is very nervous, and it isn’t something that gets better instantly. He will get much better, so give him some slack. And, let’s see him improve in the next few weeks.”

By Week 2, Brady showed improvement. Many noted that Brady sounded much more comfortable in Week 2 while calling the Cowboys vs. the New Orleans Saints. He was praised for breaking Derek Carr’s 70-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Shaheed. Still, the bigger issues remained.

The problem with Brady was not that he lacked experience as a broadcaster. In fact, it’s the knowledge that he had. Brady is a walking NFL encyclopedia. He knows too much, probably more than anyone, considering he has spent more than 2 decades in the NFL, while winning seven Super Bowl rings.

“These guys know so much about the game. Tom is a walking encyclopedia. His wisdom is beyond relief,” FOX Sports lead producer Richie Zyontz said. “You know how to start a thought. Everyone can start a thought, but it’s what’s the exit ramp for that thought? How do you end the thought? And I think that there’s where we still need to improve. But I think it’s imminently fixable.”

One major issue that surfaced with Brady was his tendency to begin explaining complex concepts. But instead of fully finishing his thoughts, the former quarterback would often trail off midway, forcing his booth partner, Kevin Burkhardt, to step in. On top of that, the technical side of broadcasting also became part of the discussion.

Brady had spent decades on the field throwing passes to his receivers and dodging the defenders. His focus has largely remained on what’s happening on the field. But that didn’t actually align with his broadcasting gig.

In fact, Brady needs to focus on the field as well as on the monitor to break down a play. Because he can’t watch the field while discussing something happening on a replay. At the same time, however, Fox Sports director Rich Russo admitted last year that Brady is now improving in the mechanical side of things as well. Per Russo:

“I think he’s gotten more comfortable with the mechanics. Even from last year, as the year went on, I think he’s definitely gotten more comfortable with the TV part of it. I think he’s really identifying the monitor with what’s going on in the field. Where do your eyes go during the game? He’s watching the field. How much do you watch the field?

“And then how much do you look at the monitor? How much do you watch the field pre-snap? And then how much do you watch the monitor… I think he’s finding that balance, and he’s really seeing the monitor, looking at the monitor, and just matching pictures.”

Still, Brady’s $375 million deal with FOX runs for many more years. And while it’s true that he’ll naturally improve with time, he’ll still be under the microscope for his broadcasting skills heading into the 2026 season. It’s been almost a couple of years since his FOX debut, but Brady has failed to impress Dave Portnoy and many others with his broadcasting skills.

And while it’s clear that Portnoy has been a long-time admirer of Brady and the Patriots, the Barstool Sports founder hasn’t shied away from taking a dig at Brady in the past few months.

Dave Portnoy wants the Patriots to remove Tom Brady’s statue

Dave Portnoy has never shied away from defending Tom Brady and calling him the greatest quarterback of all time. But ever since Brady distanced himself from the Patriots, at least in Portnoy’s eyes, the Barstool Sports founder has rarely missed an opportunity to call out the former New England quarterback. That was evident when he decided that the Patriots should remove Brady’s statue, located in Patriot Place Plaza.

“It’s starting to sound like a broken record here where Tom Brady is slighting the New England Patriots,” Portnoy said. “…It’s just one thing after another, to the point that if you’re a Patriots fan, you can come top not other conclusion other than that he hates the New England Patriots. It’s not an accident. We just put up a statue of the guy. I say tear it down. Thank you for your Super Bowls. You’re just a guy. Go play in your flag football games. Go be in a million different ads, but I don’t need you in my life anymore, and you don’t need us.”

Six Super Bowl rings and a dynasty that lasted for two decades were enough for New England to honor Brady with a statue outside Gillette Stadium. The Patriots unveiled the monument last August. However, the fact that Brady left New England for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and later became a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders following his retirement has divided the fan base. This is exactly why Portnoy remained one of Brady’s biggest critics when the Patriots unveiled his statue.