'A lot of mediocrity' - Tom Brady pulls no punches with scathing NFL assessment

21 November 2023 , 13:49

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Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady has not held back in his assessment of the league (Image: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady brandished the current state of the league filled as 'mediocre' in comparison to his early and prime years in the sport.

Brady retired - for a second time - from the NFL ahead of the 2023 season at the age of 46 - playing at an extremely high level while spending 23 years in the league and winning seven Super Bowls. Unlike his initial retirement call in 2022, he has shown no indication of a return, despite speculation.

The former New England Patriot and Tampa Bay Buccaneer is currently taking a year off before he is set to return to football, joining FOX Sports as an analyst for the 2024 season.

Ahead of that role, Brady has appeared to show a new side to his personality. In a break from his usually more reserved analysis he has opened up on his thoughts about the state of the league, and is not enjoying what he is seeing.

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Speaking to ESPN's Stephen A Smith on his podcast, Brady said: "There's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL - I do not see the excellence that I have seen in the past.

"I think the coaching isn't as good as it once was. I think the development of young players is not as good as it was... I think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it has been."

Brady's quotes back up some statistics from the NFL this past season, with scoring across the league down quite significantly from what we have seen over the past decade. Although it's also fair to point out that defenses have also improved after being on the receiving end for the last 10 years.

'A lot of mediocrity' - Tom Brady pulls no punches with scathing NFL assessment

Brady believes the league to be somewhat 'mediocre'

As the league continues to amend the rules to protect quarterbacks and penalise defensive players much more frequently than had been the case over the course of Brady's career.

Brady added: "The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into their performances.

"I look at players like Ray Lewis, Rodney Harrison and Ronnie Lott - guys that impacted the game in a certain way. Every hit that those guys would have made would have been a penalty (in today's NFL).

"You hear coaches about their own player being tackled... why don't they talk to their player about how to protect himself?

"We used to work on the fundamentals of those things all the time. Now they are trying to be regulated. Offensive players need to protect themselves and defensive players need to protect themselves.

"I did not throw the ball to certain areas because I was afraid players were going to get knocked out. I would never throw over the middle when playing against Ray Lewis because I couldn't afford to lose a good player."