Tom Brady’s first season as a broadcaster didn’t include many headline-generating comments from the booth. He did one Thursday during the Giants-Cowboys game.
Brady criticized Daniel Jones’ decision to request a release from the Giants.
“I don’t know how it all went down, but to think that you would ask for a release from a team that has committed a lot to you is maybe differently than I would handle it,” Brady said, via Jared Schwartz New York Post.
The most important part of this sentence is the first nine words: “I don’t know how this whole situation went down.”
Brady should at least suspect. The Giants made a trade decision to bench Jones in order to avoid the possibility of owing him $23 million in 2025. If he continued to play and suffered a serious injury, the Giants would owe a lot of money. to a player they wanted to release after the season, ideally without any further financial commitment.
The Giants essentially found a way to drop their full commitment to Jones by plucking him from the lineup and placing him in bubble wrap on the practice field. They’re done with him. So he decided to drop the charade and asked them to do now what they planned to do later.
Frankly, Brady should know. He covers the league for a living — a very good life, for $37.5 million a year. Business decisions are made all the time. The Giants made one and Jones made one right back.
He is not responsible for the result. They are giants.
Ask yourself. If Brady was ever benched not for performance reasons but for business reasons, would he accept that he would have no practice reps, except for playing the scout team safety during practices?
Then there’s the fact that Brady’s willingness to undermine the commitment Fox gave him by buying a piece of the Raiders kept him from being involved in production meetings. Does he not know how the whole situation turned out? Well, if he could meet with coach Brian Daboll before the Thanksgiving game, Brady could try to find out — either with an on-the-record or off-the-record quote.
Hell, he could have called Daboll, who spent nine years with the Patriots while Brady played there. At worst, Brady could have asked Daboll or GM Joe Schoen or co-owner John Mara on the field before the game.
It’s nothing complicated. And it’s not Jones’ fault. He wasn’t done with the Giants. The Giants ended up on Jones.
It’s surprising that Brady doesn’t know that. And it’s hard to believe he would have handled the situation differently than Jones.