NFL legend and Fox Sports’ Tom Brady recently called for a radical change.
Over the weekend, Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence became the victim of a violent hit by Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.
During an appearance on The Herd, Brady surprisingly defended Al-Shaair after his blistering hit. He told Colin Cowherd that he thinks quarterbacks have to do a better job of taking care of themselves.
Brady then took it a step further and suggested punishing the quarterback on late slides.
“Maybe they fine or penalize a quarterback for sliding late,” Brady said via Pro Football Talk. “You know, and say, ‘Look, if we don’t want these hits to take place, we’ve got to penalize the offense and the defense rather than just penalize the defensive player for every single play that happens when there’s a hit on the quarterback.”
Brady’s suggestion that the offense gets a lot of leniency is correct. However, it seems like his point misses the mark here.
It’s hard to suggest sliding late should offer any penalty for the quarterback. The quarterback just gets blasted anyway, as it is.
Brady’s attempt at calling out this situation missed the mark a bit. Nonetheless, his voice was heard. But it’s probably unlikely to suggest the NFL will convene on this topic. If anything, they’ll go out of their way to protect the quarterback even more.
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022