'I don't see the excellence I saw in the past': Tom Brady slams NFL’s ‘mediocrity’ and ‘bad habits’
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Former NFL star Tom Brady, who retired in February after winning his seventh Super Bowl, has criticized the current state of the game and how it lacks the quality and "excellence" he witnessed in the "past."
In an interview with Stephen A Smith, Brady said he thinks there is a lot of "mediocrity" in today’s NFL and blamed it on poor coaching, player development, schemes and rules.
Tom Brady says coaching and player development are not as good as they were
Brady, who played for 23 seasons with the Patriots and the Buccaneers, said he thinks the coaching and the development of young players are not as "good" as they were when he was playing.
He said he does not see the schemes as good as they were and that the rules have allowed a lot of "bad habits" to get into the actual performance of the game.
“I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it’s been,” Brady said, as reported by the New York Post.
“I think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL” - @TomBrady pic.twitter.com/xyZ1q3ztUg
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 21, 2023
Defensive players are penalized for being physical, says Tom Brady
Brady also lamented how the rules have changed to favor the offensive players and how the defensive players are penalized for being physical.
He said he used to avoid throwing the ball to certain areas because he did not want to risk losing a good player to a hard hit.
“I look at a lot of players like Ray Lewis and Rodney Harrison and Ronnie Lott, and guys that impacted the game in a certain way, and every hit they would have made would have been a penalty,” Brady said.
He added that the offensive players need to protect themselves and not rely on the defensive players to do so. “The defensive player needs to protect themself. He shouldn’t ask the offensive player to protect him,” Brady said.
Tom Brady will be a Fox Sports analyst next fall
Brady, who won six Super Bowl titles with the Patriots and one with the Buccaneers, announced his retirement in February 2021. He will be joining Fox Sports as the network’s lead NFL analyst next fall.
In the meantime, he will be sharing his opinions on the game from a distance. He said he hopes to see more excellence and quality in the NFL in the future.