Eyebrows were raised when cameras captured Las Vegas Raiders minority owner and current Fox lead in-game analyst Tom Brady wearing a headset in Las Vegas’ coaching booth during the club’s 20-9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers this past Monday.
For a mailbag published on Wednesday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated revealed that “there’s definitely annoyance” among at least “the teams in direct competition with the Raiders” regarding information Brady picks up in production meetings leading up to Fox assignments that he could share with the Raiders.
Does Tom Brady’s Fox gig give the Raiders an advantage?
“The first question, when he got a couple of percentage points in that team, was going to be, ‘What sort of involvement is going to have?’ We now know he’s very involved,” an unnamed “ownership source” told Breer while speaking about Brady’s two NFL roles. “He’s in the coaches’ booth. He sat in on all the coaching interviews and essentially hired the new guys. So with that being the case, the second question is, ‘Is it an advantage to be in the production meetings?’ And, of course, it is. So you can’t dispute he’s very involved, and you can’t dispute he has an advantage. So, should the league not allow him to do it?”
Numerous analysts and reporters mentioned last year that Brady should “pick a lane” and either serve as a broadcaster or as a minority owner for a single franchise. That was before the NFL relaxed certain rules related to what Brady is permitted to do while preparing to call games for Fox.
Specifically, The Athletic’s Steve Buckley noted that Brady can now virtually participate in production meetings with players and coaches and also speak with players and coaches on the field ahead of a contest.
Meanwhile, it’s no secret Brady has been an active member of the Raiders’ organization since at least the end of the 2024 season. First-year Raiders general manager John Spytek was Brady’s teammate at Michigan, and head coach Pete Carroll said this past spring that Brady being approved as a minority owner of the Raiders last fall “changed my outlook to come here” during the offseason.
Will the NFL change the Tom Brady broadcasting rules?
Brady reportedly is set to earn $375M over 10 seasons per the terms of his Fox deal. That explains why he wants to continue calling games for as long as possible, but Breer added that the league could change what Brady can and can’t do while working for Fox “if enough owners are upset over” the issue.
