One of Tom Brady’s former teammates is skeptical that the old quarterback could learn new tricks.
During a recent appearance on the “Pivot” podcast, Brady expressed admiration for how much fun Patrick Mahomes has on the football field and implied he might do things differently if he could start his career over from scratch.
Christian Fauria, a former Patriots tight end who is now a talk radio host at WEEI in Boston, had his doubts.
“I think Brady is a liar,” Fauria said in a lighthearted tone. “When I heard it, I was like, ‘Who’s he kidding? He can’t change. He can’t downshift. This is not who he is. He’s not wired like Mahomes.’”
Fauria’s NFL career spanned from 1995 through 2007 and he was on the Patriots from 2002-05, contributing to two of Brady’s early Super Bowl championships.
“I’ve seen him have a great time; I’ve heard him laugh and joke around,” Fauria continued.
“But when it came to the game, you could see it during certain passes, or where he won a game or got a first down.
“He’s extremely happy, he’s celebrating like a little kid, but the reality is he is just wired so differently than Mahomes. Everything about him is different.”
Brady won seven Super Bowl championships in his 23-year career with New England and Tampa Bay, and is slated to join the top Fox Sports NFL booth with Kevin Burkhardt this season.
On the “Pivot” podcast, he spoke about what he sees in Mahomes, whose Chiefs have won three of the last five Super Bowls.
“When I see these young players, I see like Patrick out there at quarterback, running around, laughing, having fun,” Brady said. “I’m like, ‘I used to be like that. What the hell happened?’
“I just got too serious, but, again, I can only look back and think,” said Brady. ‘Okay, if I do it again, which I’ll never do again, I would be different.’ But the reality is, you can’t.”
