Tom Brady joining Fox Sports as its lead analyst is not only the top sports media story of the NFL season, but a top 5 overall NFL story. The man many consider the greatest player in NFL history will work in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, debuting in Sunday’s late afternoon game between the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns. He’ll also call Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Feb. 9.

It is not the only major media story of this NFL season, as Brady’s ex-coach, Bill Belichick, will be everywhere, Jason Kelce joins ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown,” and CBS’ “NFL Today” had a facelift with Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms out and Matt Ryan in. Meanwhile, the ratings game will be played under the scope of a presidential election, which historically means a dip.

As Week 1 arrives, The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch and Andrew Marchand break down the big NFL media stories of 2024.

Marchand: Richard, let’s get it started with Brady. How do you think he’s going to do?

Deitsch: There was a time in sports television when Brady would have been allotted a rookie broadcasting season of working on lower-profile games and learning the mechanics of television. That’s the logical way to approach this, but that world no longer exists. Brady will be judged, fairly or unfairly, right from his first broadcast.

The two best things Brady has going for him are his currency (he played against a lot of the players and coaches in the league) and an excellent lead producer (Richie Zyontz), lead director (Rich Russo) and an extended production crew. He has a play-by-play person (Burkhardt) who will do everything to make him look good and feel comfortable. He has veteran sideline reporters in Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi.

I think Brady will have moments during the year where you are blown away by his insight and other times where you can’t believe he’s doing No. 1 games. But the restrictions placed on him in his role as he awaits approval to become a part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders will be a factor no matter how much Fox Sports pushes publicly that they are not worried. It’s not as much about missing production meetings — Brady has plenty of contacts around the NFL — but what amounts to subconsciously self-censoring some things merely because of the ownership situation.

Still, I predict the experiment will be a success because viewers will really want to hear what he has to say, and I think he’ll say more interesting things than not in Year 1. But I’ll stick with my long-term prediction that he will not be in broadcasting for long. What do you think?

Play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt and analyst Tom Brady form the new No. 1 NFL crew for Fox, with their regular-season debut set for Sunday. (Kevin Terrell via AP)

Marchand: I think you covered it well. Brady has talked to a lot of people in the business, but if he is going to be good, he will need to trust his own spontaneity. You can’t be stiff or think, “What am I supposed to say?” You have to be quick and have some instincts. If he does that and is natural, I think he will likely do just fine. I can’t wait. Great sports media story.

Before we get into Brady’s former coach, Bill Belichick, I have a business question for you. We are only in the second year of the NFL’s 11-year, $110 billion contracts with ESPN, NBC, Fox, CBS and Amazon Prime Video, and now, come Christmas, Netflix will have a doubleheader. What do you make of that move?

Deitsch: I think the Christmas Day deal represents a seismic shift for the streaming giant. It’s a three-season deal, so this goes well beyond the “sports-adjacent” philosophy that we’ve always heard from Netflix’s C-suite whenever the company would address its live sports aspirations. Netflix has moved from a pure subscriber company to one that’s now swimming in the advertising business, so getting into top-tier live sports makes sense.

They are not in a position to produce games — CBS will handle that — but I really believe this is just the beginning for Netflix. Do I think they will get, say, the Fox or CBS package next decade? No. But I would bet big that they get some sort of package of NFL games and one that would have global appeal.

On another topic, Belichick is everywhere. He’ll be a regular guest on Pat McAfee’s show, he has a permanent guest spot on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli,” he’ll play a role on the CW’s “Inside the NFL,” he has a 30-minute show with Peyton Manning on ESPN+ that will focus on that week’s “Monday Night Football” matchup; he’s hosting “Coach with Bill Belichick” — a weekly football analysis show for Underdog Fantasy that will run on YouTube — and he’ll be doing some work with SiriusXM during the NFL season. This dude has become Ryan Seacrest in one offseason. What do you make of this?

Marchand: Money talks. Belichick is getting paid. I don’t know the exact math, but it’s got to be approaching $10 million. Not a bad way to spend your gap year.

Meanwhile, two guys to watch at CBS are Matt Ryan and Jason McCourty. McCourty has already added ESPN duties post-“Good Morning Football” and now will be in the booth with Andrew Catalon and Tiki Barber. Ryan is someone CBS really is high on. I think he could have a big future for them if he fulfills what their executives think he is as a broadcaster.

At ESPN, Jason Kelce is part of the “Monday Night Football” pregame crew. How do you foresee that going?

From Pat McAfee to ESPN to the CW, Bill Belichick will be just about everywhere in his first year since leaving the New England Patriots’ sideline. (Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

Deitsch: The Wondery deal for the “New Heights” podcast tells you everything about Jason Kelce’s currency right now: He’ll never be a bigger commodity as a broadcaster. I really have no idea how he’ll do long-term, but I do know, as you do, there was interest from multiple outlets.

He was a very good interview for the press in Philadelphia, and that’s often a precursor for success. He’ll be aided by the quality people around him, such as Scott Van Pelt and Marcus Spears. He’s crossed over so much given the connection to Taylor Swift that it’s a no-brainer for ESPN to put him in a prominent position.

I’m curious how you see the changes to “NFL Today” and what you think the long-term plans are for “Fox NFL Sunday.”

Marchand: It wasn’t surprising that Esiason and Simms were out. They were beloved by CBS, but the network wanted to become more contemporary. Simms definitely didn’t want to go, while Esiason remains a fixture on mornings with Gregg Giannotti in New York on WFAN.

Ryan is one to watch as CBS plans for the present and future. He was a borderline Hall of Famer, near Super Bowl champion, which I think makes him a little hungrier to be a broadcaster. He was great, but if he did a little more on the field, he may have started in that No. 1 category. I think, to echo your initial point on Brady, he will be helped by the experience he gained working with Catalon and Barber on a lower booth. Fox’s Greg Olsen excelled early, but he also was aided by being on the No. 2 crew for a year before prime time. Brady won’t have that luxury, and all eyes will be on him.

Let’s end on politics and football. What effect do you think the presidential election will have on ratings?

Deitsch: Ah, politics. Such a rational topic these days. NFL viewership has historically declined in U.S. Presidential election years. I’ll give you some examples: NFL games averaged 16.5 million viewers in 2016, down from 18.1 million in 2015. The 2020 season is a little tricky because of COVID, but games averaged 15.4 million viewers, down from 16.5 million. The 2012 season averaged 16.6 viewers, down from 17.5 million in 2011.

News consumption drawing audiences away from the NFL is a real thing, and NFL officials have openly discussed this publicly in preseason calls with reporters. They know it’s real. Nothing is more popular in American culture than the NFL, but in a highly polarized political environment, I’d predict it has a slight impact on NFL viewership through the month of November.