When he retired from the NFL in 2023, many wondered what Tom Brady would turn his attention to next.
And two and a half years later, the merging of two of his main interests is causing consternation among some.
Brady agreed to become the lead analyst for Fox Sports, signing a massive 10-year contract reportedly worth $375 million to become the face of the channel’s coverage of the NFL.
On top of that, Brady became a minority share owner of the Las Vegas Raiders last year after purchasing a reported 5% stake in the team.
But the collision of these two worlds has presented problems for both Brady and the NFL.
Due to his involvement with the Raiders, Brady was restricted from attending the typical pre-game production meetings or having access to team facilities last season in his maiden year in the booth. This was a step to ensure Brady was unable to – wittingly or unwittingly – feed information on how teams are going to play or details from their playbook back to the Raiders.
It led to a unique situation where Brady was kept out of the loop by missing those behind-closed-doors discussions and unique insight offered by coaches or players ahead of primetime games, while at the same time his Fox colleague and lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt was in those meetings and privy to the information.
This season though, the NFL has relaxed those restrictions around Brady, allowing him to attend production meetings remotely and therefore gain access to the insight which usually remains secret. However, he still isn’t allowed to watch another team’s practices or go to a team’s training complex for production meetings.
The complex arrangement came to a head this week when Brady was shown on ESPN’s coverage of the Raiders’ Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday, sitting with the Las Vegas coaching staff in the stands of Allegiant Stadium with a headset on, allowing him to hear communications between coaches.
The sight of Brady sitting just yards away from Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was a jarring one, once again raising the question about his involvement in the day-to-day playing side of the game.
CNN Sports has reached out to Brady for comment.
An NFL spokesperson told CNN Sports that Brady was sitting with the Las Vegas coaches in his role as a limited partner and that the league has “no policies” on restricting an owners’ access to the coaches’ booth or wearing a headset during a game.
Brady isn’t the only NFL owner to be seen wearing a headset during a game, with Indianapolis Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon seen marching the touchline of Colts games with a headset and a playbook.
“All personnel sitting in the booth must abide by policies that prohibit the use of electronic devices other than league-issued equipment such as a Microsoft Surface Tablet for the Sideline Viewing System,” the NFL statement continued.
In light of Brady being seen in the Raiders booth, the contradictory nature of his two roles has been the subject of much debate online.
“It’s abhorrent for me for his job. I love it for his team,” former NFL defensive end Marcus Spears said on ESPN’s “First Take.” “This should not happen with him being a commentator of NFL football games. It actually questions the integrity of the NFL.
“Now teams have to be smart and not divulge information when he’s on a call because, at some point, the Raiders are going to play a team that he’s sitting in on these meetings. There’s information shared when you have these pre-production meetings before games. There’s plans that coaches have. There’s guys that they tell you to be on the lookout for how we’ll use them.”
Domonique Foxworth – former cornerback for the Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens, and former NFL Players Association president – said he “would be upset or uncomfortable if I were a player on his team.”
“I don’t think it matters whether (players or coaches) are guarded or not (in pre-match production meetings). The thing is, you do not want the perception or the opportunity for any impropriety,” Foxworth said on ESPN’s “Get Up.” “And if you’re going to take this risk, I would think that you would take this risk because the benefit was so great.
“In that case, it doesn’t seem to line up necessarily that he’s either such a great owner that he can’t walk away from that or he’s such a great broadcaster that he also has to be an owner or they just let him show up and do the games.”
James Palmer, Bleacher Report’s NFL insider, wrote on X: “Tom Brady meets with Chip Kelly 2-3 times a week to go over film and go through the game plan.
“And every weekend Brady is calling a game for Fox, gathering as much information as possible from players and coaches from both teams to be at his best in the broadcast booth. Got it.”
However, Brady is coming at this unique situation with professionalism, Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said on Tuesday.
“I think Tom’s tried to honor that really strictly and with all respect to the situation of, you know, concerns like you’re talking about, and I think he’s been really good,” Carroll told reporters. “He’s not planning games with us; he’s not talking to us about anything other than our conversations we have that are, really, that are random.
“They’re not set up; they’re not structured in any way. He knows. He’s very respectful of what he does otherwise, and he’s of the opinion that he doesn’t want to be that kind of a factor and so he’s not.”
Brady’s involvement with the Raiders and his TV obligations will continue to rear their head throughout the season – in fact, the Raiders play the Commanders on Sunday and Brady called Washington’s season-opener in Week 1, meaning he was in pre-game production meetings with Commanders coaching staff and players, potentially gleaning information he wouldn’t otherwise have on their scheme and personnel.
However, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said he’s not really bothered by Brady’s dual interests.
“It’s unique for sure, but they have a job to do, too, so I get that like that’s our responsibility to help them give some insights, what it could be, what could be there for the game. So, it’s really just for this game, like that’s what I think about,” Quinn told reporters.
“But not just because of Tom calling it and his relationship obviously with the Raiders, but really in every game because it’s just what do you have to do to win this game? You know, the information here wouldn’t be applied to another team in that way.”
Despite the people involved in the NFL games seemingly being OK with it, the potentially conflicting nature of his broadcasting job and his ownership stake could continue to ruffle feathers as the season goes on.
