Tom Brady’s first season as a broadcaster did not include many headline-making comments from the booth. He made one Thursday during the Giants-Cowboys game.
Brady criticized Daniel Jones’ decision to request his release from the Giants.
“I don’t know how the whole situation went down but to think you would want a release from a team that did so much to you. Maybe different from how I used to manage” Brady said, via Jared Schwartz The New York Post.
The most important part of that sentence is the first nine words: “I don’t know how the whole situation went down.”
Brady should at least have a glimpse. The Giants made a business decision to bench Jones to avoid the prospect of being owed $23 million in 2025. If he had played and if he had suffered a serious injury, the Giants would have been owed a lot of money. To a player they wanted to release after the season, ideally with no further financial obligations.
The Giants essentially found a way to back away from their full commitment to Jones, removing him from the lineup and placing him in bubble wrap on the practice field. They were done with him. And so he chose to part with the charade and told them to do now what they planned to do later.
Frankly, Brady should know that. He covers the league for a living — a very good living, $37.5 million per year. Business decisions are made all the time. The Giants have one, and Jones has one right back.
He cannot be held responsible for the results. the giants
Ask yourself this question. If Brady had ever been benched for business reasons rather than performance, would he have embraced not getting practice reps with the exception of playing a scout-team safety during walk-through drills?
Then there’s the fact that Brady’s desire to undercut the promise Fox made to him by buying a piece of the Raiders prevented him from getting involved in production meetings. He doesn’t know how the whole situation went down? Well, if he could meet with coach Brian Double before the Thanksgiving game, Brady could try to find out — either with an on-the-record quote or an off-the-record conversation.
Hell, he could have called Double, who spent nine years with the Patriots while Brady played there. At worst, Brady could have double-checked or asked GM Joe Schoen or co-owner John Mara about it on the field before the game.
It’s not complicated. And it’s not Jones’ fault. He didn’t give up on the Giants. The Giants released Jones.
It’s amazing that Brady doesn’t know that. And it’s hard to believe that he would have handled the situation differently than Jones.
