Tom Brady doesn’t want his son Jack to play football. But it’s not for the reason you might think.
The recently re-retired and future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback sat down for an interview with ESPN’s NFL Live this week, in which he was asked about his 15-year-old son Jack, who plays quarterback in high school. Specifically, Brady was asked about his hopes and concerns for Jack regarding football. While many may not be surprised that the former Patriot didn’t want his son playing football. Many might be surprised that his reasoning has nothing to do with concussions.
“I hope Jack finds the things in his life that allows him to get up every day, to be internally motivated, to work hard at something he loves to do,” Brady said.
“I wouldn’t choose for him to do football because there’s too many crazy expectations that people would put on him – most of them probably very unfair, actually.”
There can be no doubt that Brady is correct about this. On the football field, Jack Brady will only be known as Jack Brady by his teammates, family, and coaches. However, to everyone in the stands and anyone who watches on TV (assuming he progresses far enough to one day be televised), he will be known as Tom Brady’s kid.
That’s unfortunate in a sense. But, in another sense, there are probably a lot of cool things about being Tom Brady’s kid.
But having your every single move and every single play hyper-analyzed and compared to the greatest quarterback who ever played the game, who also happens to be your dad, is not going to be fun.
However, if he sticks with football, Jack Brady clearly knows what he’s getting into. And if he chooses to stick with it despite the hyper-scrutiny he will undoubtedly face, it’ll be proof that he has mental toughness and really loves football.
Just like his dad. Did I compare Jack Brady to his dad? Oops.