Ringing endorsements don’t come much better for first time NFL head coaches than when you get praised by The GOAT himself.
Appearing on Tuesday’s edition of “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN, Tom Brady spoke very highly of his former teammate Jerod Mayo, calling him, “a great leader, a great captain and a great friend”. Brady played alongside Mayo for the linebacker’s entire career from 2008 through the 2015 season (Mayo retired in February of 2016). Brady famously called him “Jerod Belichick” years ago in an interview, highlighting just how much of a coach-in-waiting many thought Mayo to be.
Mayo, the 15th head coach of the Patriots, could use all the praise and even perhaps help he can get, given the tall task he has of rebuilding the Patriots roster, hiring new coordinators and much more. Good to hear Brady thinks he's cut out for the job.
“He’s got a great understanding of how things need to be done. Jerod does an incredible job of relating to everyone in the locker room, all the coaches, and I think he’ll do a great job.”
Brady appeared on McAfee today to promote the merger of his clothing lines, BRADY Brand and TB12 with NOBULL Project out of Boston (a company that oddly enough counts Mac Jones as one of their brand athletes). Brady spoke of his excitement for his upcoming massive FOX Sports NFL broadcasting career, which will pay him $375 million over 10 years. “Next year I’m going to be calling a Super Bowl for FOX, which is going to be incredible… I’ve been working hard on my FOX broadcast opportunity, which I’m super excited about.” He also offered praise for the former player and number one color analyst, Greg Olsen, of FOX, who Brady is displacing. “I think Greg’s done an incredible job. I have so much respect for him.”
He also answered questions on his relationship with now former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, whom Brady has offered nothing but the highest praise for in recent months, saying that the tough love Belichick showed him not only raised Brady’s level of play, but that of the team around him as well. “If the coach was going to be hard on me, I was going to accept the difficult coaching because I needed to hear it. And again, it motivated me.” Brady, who won six Super Bowls with Belichick, added, “There were a lot of players on our team that would see me get coached hard and then they would say, ‘OK, I gotta step my game up because I don’t want to get yelled at. If Tom’s getting yelled at, I don’t want to get yelled at. How do I up my game?”
To watch the full clip of Brady on McAfee click here.
