Tom Brady Was Asked Whether He Could Be an NFL Head Coach Right Now

The question comes after Jeff Saturday, a former player with no college or NFL coaching experience, took over as the Colts’ interim head coach.

The NFL world has been buzzing about the surprise hire of Jeff Saturday, who recently became the Colts’ interim head coach and made his debut over the weekend with a 25–20 victory over the Raiders. 

Although he is a former player, Saturday has faced significant criticism from players, coaches and members of the media given his lack of coaching experience. He previously told Peter King of Football Night in America that he hopes “many other former players will get opportunities like I’m getting.” 

Jim Gray recently asked Tom Brady on the quarterback’s podcast, Let’s Go!, whether he felt he could be a head coach given his two decades-plus of experience. And while the legendary football player acknowledges he has the experience and knowledge, there’s a different aspect at play—“the desire to do something like that,” which he said “is totally different.” 

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Brady highlighted that there’s similar traits shared by coaches and players, such as “preparation, discipline, leadership, work ethic.” And while many coaches have these qualities, Brady feels a key to “being a great coach is the desire to be a great coach. You know, not whether a player can become a coach.” 

He continued, “I think having the knowledge to do football, but is this something that you’d want to do and enjoy in order to maximize and actualize your potential as a coach? Those are things for different people to answer. Some people love being in the arena and some people love talking about it. You know, it’s up for everyone’s desire to do what they want, but to have the opportunity to do it I think is pretty cool for former players as well.”

Back in May, Fox announced that the Buccaneers quarterback would join their booth as a lead analyst following his retirement.  

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