The best (healthy) quarterback in the building at AT&T Stadium on Thursday was arguably Tom Brady, who was on the call alongside Kevin Burkhardt for a Thanksgiving matchup between the struggling Giants and Cowboys.
With New York down to Drew Lock and Dallas trotting out Cooper Rush in place of an injured Dak Prescott, quarterback play was never expected to be at its best — but Brady put the focus on the quarterback who wasn't there.
Brady ripped the way Daniel Jones handled his exit from the Giants, calling out the new Vikings QB for requesting his release after he was benched and demoted to the very bottom of the depth chart in New York.
Here's what Brady had to say about Jones' situation and what he would have done differently.
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What did Tom Brady say?
Brady sharply criticized Jones for requesting his release last week, arguing that he would have handled the situation much differently.
"I don't know how the whole situation went down," Brady said during Thursday's broadcast, "but to think that you would ask for a release from a team that committed a lot to you is maybe different than how I would've handled that."
The Giants benched Jones after a rocky first 10 games, but there was a bit more to the situation than just poor performance. Jones' contract included an injury guarantee, meaning the team was incentivized to sit him and avoid risking a major injury that might leave them on the hook for an additional $23 million.
Not only did the Giants bench Jones, but they demoted him to No. 4 on the depth chart and had him function as a scout team safety during practice. Jones read an emotional statement after practice last Thursday, thanking the organization and its fans, and he requested his release the following day.
Brady wouldn't have done the same, he claims. He explained that he didn't back down when "challenges" inevitably came his way during his 23-year NFL career and said he still "showed up every day" regardless of what wasn't going his way.
Team owner Tom Brady throws some shade at Daniel Jones for requesting his release from the Giants after getting benched pic.twitter.com/tve9TXOMf4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 28, 2024
"Some things didn't go the way I wanted, but the people that mattered the most to me were the guys in the locker room. I showed up every day," Brady said. "I don't care if they asked me to be scout team safety, scout team quarterback. I was going to do whatever I could to help the team win."
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Brady, of course, didn't quite face the same circumstances as Jones at any point in his career. The seven-time Super Bowl champion did start his career as a backup, but that's standard for a sixth-round pick. Once he took over as the Patriots' starter, Brady won his first Super Bowl and never looked back. He wasn't benched, nor did he come close to being benched, let alone demoted, from No. 1 to No. 4 on the depth chart.
The ultimate competitor, Brady seems to know exactly how he would approach such a situation — and it wouldn't be the same way Jones approached it. Brady is notably a minority owner of the Raiders, who were speculated as a potential landing spot for Jones after Gardner Minshew's season-ending collarbone injury.
Jones and the Vikings have at least three more games on Fox, which opens the door for Brady to call one of their games, but the former Giants QB likely won't be seeing the field in Minnesota unless Sam Darnold goes down with an injury.
