Tom Brady’s first season as Fox’s lead NFL color analyst had its moments, but it was mostly a work in progress. While there were flashes of insight, his debut campaign was defined by inexperience and a struggle to translate his football IQ into digestible commentary.
His performance in Super Bowl LIX was a microcosm of the season: competent but unremarkable. Brady admitted early in the year that he had difficulty simplifying complex football concepts for viewers.
However, Rob Gronkowski, his longtime teammate and fellow NFL on Fox personality, has a different view. Speaking with On3 Sports, Gronkowski praised Brady’s improvement and insisted he was “proud” of his growth.
“He’s doing an excellent job, and I’m so proud of him,” Rob Gronkowski told On3. “He has definitely improved as well since his first couple games, which is understandable. I mean, it’s such a tough job to do; there’s so much pressure on you. You never called a game ever, for that long in your life, to be up in that booth and break down plays like that.
“But you get better as you go on, and that’s all… I expect nothing less from Tom Brady as well, to get better because he loves to practice good habits, he loves to get better, he’ll do anything it takes to get better. And just to see his improvement from week one to where he is in the playoffs now is just tremendous, didn’t expect anything less. And he’s done such a great job in the playoffs; it’s like he’s a veteran now.”
Of course, Gronkowski’s praise for Brady should be taken with a grain of salt. He’s always been one of Brady’s biggest supporters, never offering a critical word even when Brady was clearly struggling early in the 2024 season.
Maybe Gronkowski genuinely believes Brady has been enjoyable in the booth. But it’s fair to wonder if he’ll ever be truly objective when assessing his longtime teammate’s on-air ability.
One valid point from Gronkowski is that Brady now has real experience. He wasn’t exceptional, but he wasn’t a disaster either. And while he’s far from the “veteran” broadcaster Gronkowski claims, calling high-stakes games could help him grow heading into the second year of his 10-year, $370 million deal with Fox.