Tom Brady isn't tarnishing his legacy with a potential WWE match, he's doing what every legend should

Tom Brady is facing criticism over a potential WWE match, but the backlash misses the point. His post-NFL career doesn’t have to fit anyone else’s expectations.

Look, nobody is ever going to accuse me of being a Tom Brady fan. I’ve hated the guy my entire life. I’ve always thought Peyton Manning was the better quarterback and that Brady was somebody who took advantage of being on a great team. I’ve had my moments where I’ve come around on him a little. I remember listening to him on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert and thinking, okay, maybe I kind of like this guy. But what it really comes down to is respect. I respect the man, I respect the person, and I guess I respect the player. Like just about every other football fan, though, I got tired of him constantly showing up in the Super Bowl, the AFC Championship, the big game, year after year.

So what I’m about to do is something I never thought I would do: stand up for Tom Brady.

Brady and the WWE make too much sense

This is funny because just a few weeks ago I wrote an article that maybe scathed him a little bit for his tone-deaf take on practice squad players. But this time I’m going to have his back. Brady, now that he’s out of the NFL, is going out and doing stuff with his life. He’s in Pizza Hut commercials, gambling ads, all of it. And now he’s venturing into something that brings my two worlds together: the WWE.

I cover the Detroit Lions for a living, so I’m used to seeing Jahmyr Gibbs at WWE events. Just a couple of weeks ago at Fanatics Fest, Amon-Ra St. Brown was doing the Batista entrance, and Gibbs was coming out with the Roman Reigns entrance. Dan Campbell himself feels like a WWE wrestler. The guy is constantly cutting promos. So I’m familiar with this crossover world.

Here’s the thing, though. Most wrestling fans are guarded. This is our world, and we’ll welcome certain people into it, but we won’t allow everyone in. Bad Bunny came in and immediately showed he could go. Maria Menounos proved she could wrestle. What we don’t like is Snooki doing a backflip and expecting us to clap. Or Jelly Roll. Or Pat McAfee, who was cool for a minute and then it just became too much.

Right now it looks like the WWE is getting into bed with Brady, and I would almost guarantee he will have a match at this year’s WrestleMania against Logan Paul. Logan Paul is another guy wrestling fans have been weird about, but everybody knows Logan Paul can wrestle. Nobody will deny that. It’s just that nobody likes Logan Paul the person. So I think Brady winds up getting cheered for slapping around Logan Paul, because everybody respects Brady in some way, shape, or form. Whether they liked him on the field is irrelevant. They know he’s a legend.

The ‘tarnishing his legacy’ talk is pearl clutching

The weird thing is this backlash against Brady. There are think pieces and interviews with guys saying he’s ruining his legacy, tarnishing what he built. What are we talking about, man? What is this guy supposed to do? Retire and then talk about football on TV for the rest of his life and that’s it? The guy is 48 years old. He’s still relatively young. He’s only eight years older than me, and if he’s old, then that means I’m old, and I am not going to allow that to happen just yet.

Nobody says anything when other guys go do different things. Nate Burleson became a respected member of the media. Michael Strahan is hosting shows with Kelly Ripa. Those things were fine. Other guys have tried music, tried acting and movies. Nobody said a word. But why is wrestling the bridge too far?

If I’m Tom Brady, I want to do whatever I can in this world. If they want to pay me to go wrestle and I think it’s fun, then hell yeah, I’m going to go do that. It’s not like he’s going to wear wrestling trunks and slap on knee pads and have some ridiculous entrance. This will probably be a tag team match. Logan Paul is in The Vision, so it’ll likely be Logan Paul and Austin Theory versus Brady and a tag team partner. I’ll throw LA Knight out there. Brady will come in, do a couple of spots, throw a few punches, maybe kick somebody, and that’ll be it. Everyone will remember it as a fun moment.

It’s never going to change the fact that Brady is looked upon as the greatest quarterback of all time. Nobody is going to change their mind on that because he takes a body slam or throws a few punches in the ring. It just feels like pearl clutching at this point. I don’t think Brady’s thing should have been to just throw on a suit, talk football, be a part of the Raiders ownership, and be quiet about everything else. That doesn’t make any sense.

I will be watching WrestleMania. Not for Tom Brady. But when he comes on and does his thing with Logan Paul, which I guarantee you is going to happen, I’m just going to sit there and think, oh well, there’s Tom Brady doing some wrestling. We’ll see it when it happens. Until then, let’s calm down on the whole “Brady’s ruining his legacy” talk.

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