Stephen A. Smith takes issue with Cam Newton hinting racial bias played role in Tom Brady’s $375,000,000 job with Fox

Tom Brady will start a record-breaking $375 million sportscasting deal with Fox in September, calling NFL games for a decade. It is possibly the most highly anticipated debut of the 2024-25 season.

But Cam Newton claimed that there was an underlying racial bias to it on last week's episode of his "4th & 1" podcast (starts at 1:30):

“‘How in the world are they the only ones that’s getting access to these types of contracts?’... How can we get other minorities to skip the line, too? Because we all know ball.”

However, Stephen A. Smith heavily disagrees with that notion, Smith highlighted Brady's credentials, saying on his eponymous show:

"Take Tom Brady out of the quote, out of the sentence, take him off the subject matter. He's a seven-time Super Bowl champion, okay. He has the credentials to talk football, he knows it inside out. You played the same position, you went to one Super Bowl and lost. You see the difference?"

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Geoff Schwartz weighs in on Tom Brady getting Fox broadcasting gig

Speaking of "skipping the line", Geoff Schwartz understands why Fox would allow Tom Brady to become its top man immediately after his retirement, even if the seven-time Super Bowl champion decided to delay his debut by a year to study his new role.

The former guard and current radio host recently appeared on Jess Kleinschmidt's "Short and to the Point" podcast to give his thoughts on the hiring. He used his personal experience to discuss the media hierarchy among athletes, specifically, the notion that the more famous and successful a player like Brady is, the likelier that he will get more prestigious jobs and opportunities to draw more viewers than normal (go to 0:23 for the quotes):

“I had a buddy who was at NBC Sports, I met him in New York when I was with the Giants. He was one of the people who hired for NBC Sports. And he said, ‘I can’t put you on a major program at the Super Bowl, because you didn’t play in the Super Bowl.’ And I get the logic of that.

I don’t know what preparing for the Super Bowl feels like. It doesn’t mean you can’t broadcast, but I understand the point of hiring someone who can talk about those specific instances.”

Brady's NFL broadcasting debut will be at the Dallas Cowboys-Cleveland Browns game on September 8.