Rob Gronkowski Defends Tom Brady Amid 'Unfair' Pressure to Start Broadcasting Career

The bar was set extremely high for first-year Fox broadcaster Tom Brady entering his debut season, given his remarkable playing career and the $375 million deal he signed to join the network's No. 1 NFL team alongside Kevin Burkhardt. So far, the Brady experience has been a mixed bag.

The former quarterback has certainly improved during the course of the year, but he's been far from the plug-and-play star that Tony Romo was in his first few years at CBS after retiring from the Dallas Cowboys.

Rob Gronkowski, Brady's former teammate with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, told RG's Crissy Froyd that Brady has gotten some unfair treatment this season as a result of the hype for his first broadcast season.

“I love what Tom’s doing. He’s been developing throughout the whole year. He was like a rookie quarterback coming in as the No. 1 pick," said Gronkowski. “A lot of pressure. There’s no doubt about that. I think it was kind of unfair, some of the pressure he was getting at the beginning of the year.

“Some of the expectations were extremely high to the point that everyone thought he was going to come in and be the best broadcaster of all-time because of how much it was talked about."

Brady is coming off of his playoff debut, calling the Philadelphia Eagles' 22–10 win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Gronk believes that was just the start of a postseason run that Brady will dominate in the booth, as he so often did on the field in January. His first broadcast season will culminate with the call at Super Bowl LIX.

“He has shown tremendous improvement from Week 1 to now where he has such a great grasp of it that he can handle any situation and it’s super enjoyable watching him succeed. He is going to absolutely dominate when it comes to the playoffs and the Super Bowl.”