Tom Brady retired after the 2022 season. Since then, he’s largely remained out of the media spotlight, save for Hertz commercials that run in front of approximately 67% of all YouTube videos. The future Hall of Famer said he was planning to take a year off to “become great” in his next career while managing his personal life.
As this NFL season winds down, Brady is already looking forward to the next one. And for good reason. He’s going to make a ton of money as an analyst.
Brady has agreed to a ten-year deal with FOX that will pay him a whopping $375 million over the course of the contract. He’ll serve as the lead broadcaster for FOX football games beginning in September.
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The average annual salary of $37.5 million is more than any other broadcaster, and the total also surpassed Brady’s on-field earnings over his 23-year career. He made about $333 million in salary between the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Of course, his position as a star quarterback gave him plenty of endorsement opportunities, so he ultimately earned more than half a billion dollars during his playing days. But in terms of on-field salary alone, Brady didn’t get quite as much money as FOX has put on the table.
There’s another interesting subplot here: what FOX does with Greg Olsen. The former tight end has quickly become a fan favorite on the network, pairing with Kevin Burkhardt as the team’s No. 1 broadcast team over the past two seasons. Burkhardt and Olsen replaced the long-entrenched duo of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and brought a fresh perspective to the games.
Olsen is making $10 million in his role, and a demotion to the No. 2 team would normally come with a pay cut to $3 million per year. But FOX is pleased with Olsen’s work, so maybe they could find a middle ground. Olsen may look at joining another network, such as NBC or Amazon Prime Video, to eventually replace Cris Collinsworth or Kirk Herbstreit, respectively.
Brady is also exploring an ownership stake with the Las Vegas Raiders. Though owning a piece of the team wouldn’t conflict with his FOX duties, it would prevent him from broadcasting Raiders games. And his level of ownership could change, which might stop him from finishing his contract with FOX.
Those are all hypotheticals that could come down the road. What we do know is Brady is going to be the No. 1 guy in the FOX booth next season. We’ll see if his second career is as legendary as his one on the field.