Tom Brady Says He’s “Going to Destroy Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels” Ahead of Fanatics Flag Football Classic

Football isn’t supposed to be this loud in March. But when Tom Brady, while hyping the upcoming Fanatics Flag Football Classic, starts talking like it’s January again, it was natural that the whole feel around the sport would get a playoff season-like fervor.

The upcoming Fanatics Classic has suddenly become more than a celebrity exhibition, largely because Brady is treating it like the Super Bowl. And the Patriots legend has been at it at multiple levels.

According to Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin, the retired quarterback has been calling him daily, talking trash, and counting down the days until kickoff.

Rubin shared that Brady told him, “I’m going to destroy Joe [Burrow] and Jayden [Daniels]. I’m going to destroy Team USA.” Brady even joked that the other players were “little punks,” and that he’s gonna “kill them.”

The competitive edge that Brady brings in is exactly why Rubin structured the event the way he did. Instead of spreading NFL stars evenly across three teams, organizers stacked two rosters with league players, led by Brady and Jalen Hurts on one side and Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels on the other. He kept the U.S. national flag football team intact.

The goal is simple: Let the pros go at each other while giving the specialists a chance to prove that flag football is its own sport, not just a lighter version of tackle.

Brady, unsurprisingly, has leaned into the theater. During the draft for the event, he took a playful jab at Daniels. Brady said that he was “just happy his mom let him play” after the Washington quarterback missed most of last season with injuries. Daniels didn’t bite the bait, though.

Daniels kept things calm. He merely replied, saying he feels healthy again after a year that saw him deal with a knee sprain, hamstring strain, and eventually a dislocated elbow that shut him down after seven games.

The jabs and trash-talking apart, the event is more than about bragging rights. The NFL is using it to push flag football ahead of its debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics. And several players, Daniels included, have already said they’d seriously consider trying out for Team USA.