Tom Brady did not hold back while sharing his thoughts on current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield’s recent jab, in which Mayfield claimed his predecessor’s intensity caused the team to be “stressed out” and not have “fun” during his tenure as QB.
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady, 47, said, while commentating during the Buccaneers versus Philadelphia Eagles game on Sunday, September 29. “There was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I was going to go to Disneyland with my kids.”
Brady continued, “There’s a way to approach this game and it’s that with the right mindset, and try to push each other outside of our comfort zone.”
Brady pointed out that former teaMMAtes — including Rob Gronkowski — do just that. “There’s high expectations for us,” Brady continued. “We gotta make sure we go out there and deliver.”
After fellow commentator Kevin Burkhardt joked on Sunday that Brady has “competitive juices still flowing,” the former Tampa Bay and New England Patriots star replied, “Still in there. No apologies.”
Mayfield raised eyebrows with his dig at the NFL legend, which he made during an appearance on the “Casa de Klub” podcast earlier in September.
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out,” Mayfield claimed. “They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to Football a little bit for guys who weren’t having as much fun. And just continue to raise the comPetition level. … As a player, you really can’t ask for much more than that.”
Brady took a brief exit from the NFL in 2022 before departing from the league in 2023. During his career, Brady won seven Super Bowls — including 2021’s Super Bowl LV where he led the Buccaneers to victory.
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Since leaving the sport in 2023, Brady returned in a broadcasting role earlier this month after signing a 10-year $375 million contract with Fox Sports in 2022.
Brady’s debut earned mixed reviews, but he noted that he had “certainly a lot of fun” in a video posted to his YouTube channel earlier this month. “Definitely things to clean up. It’s all a learning process, man,” he said.
Brady added that he’s “absolutely” excited to continue with his new gig. “I felt like I was doing what I should be doing,” Brady said. “I just know it’s going to get better.”
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