Tom Brady won’t go away.
Nearly three years after the legendary quarterback played his final game, he’s still a fixture in the NFL world — and on your TV screen.
But late Monday night, during the final game of Week 2, Brady showed up as we’ve never seen him before: sitting in the Raiders’ coaching booth, wearing a headset and looking very invested in the game’s outcome.
The scene in the Chargers-Raiders game splashed across ESPN’s airwaves for a few moments, a reminder that Brady is not just a part-owner of the Raiders. He is a special case: a highly involved part-owner who happens to be the greatest quarterback of all time. He’s also in Year 2 of a 10-year, $375 million deal as a FOX analyst.
The intense focus on Brady’s face resonated with football fans long after it disappeared from the screen. It also launched a bigger conversation about a man who, at the height of his football powers, was often accused of bending the rules to gain an advantage. But the talk wasn’t limited to opposing fan bases. It came up in locker rooms across the NFL, too.
Could Brady, who each week gets access to the teams involved in the game he is broadcasting, be using that access to give his Raiders an unfair advantage?
“I mean, as an opponent, you’re sitting there like, ‘Damn, Tom Brady is basically playing Madden out there,’” Eagles linebacker Josh Uche told NJ Advance Media this week.
Uche knows a bit about Brady because they both went to college at Michigan, and Uche played in New England for five seasons immediately after Brady departed. It wasn’t difficult for Uche to imagine where Brady’s mind might be going.
“He’s up in the box and he knows what [look] this guy is going to be in and he’s going to tell this coordinator: ‘maybe call this or call this,’” Uche said. “I don’t know that for sure, but that’s me speculating. But I can see there’s some type of conflict of interest possibly there when you’re able to go into the opponents’ media room and talk to the players and all these things.”
The NFL says it’s not an issue. Brady is not allowed to enter the facilities of other teams for the production meeting; he must attend virtually. And some players believe there is a very easy way to make sure Brady doesn’t get an edge.
“Just don’t f—ing tell him s—,” Giants safety Tyler Nubin said. “That’s all you’ve got to do.”
But opponents of the Raiders this year — like the Giants and Eagles — now must consider the implications of an interaction with Brady.
For the NFL, a league that is often criticized for putting ratings and profits ahead of competition, is it worth risking the appearance that Brady could be giving his team an unfair advantage?
“The integrity of the game is everything,” Giants running back Tyrone Tracy said. “Once you lose the integrity of the sport, everything kind of goes with it.”
Conflict or not?
The NFL didn’t waste any time disputing the idea of a conflict of interest, issuing a statement just hours after Brady’s cameo on Monday Night Football.
“Tom continues to be prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings,” the league said in a statement. “He may attend production meetings remotely but may not attend in person at the team facility or hotel. He may also conduct an interview off site with a player like he did last year a couple times, including for the Super Bowl. Of course, as with any production meeting with broadcast teams, it’s up to the club, coach or players to determine what they say in those sessions.”
Brady being barred from the non-Raiders facilities or team hotels across the NFL is meaningful. It means he won’t be able to learn anything while watching a non-Raiders practice. There’s no chance he’ll come across some kind of game-day strategy, philosophy or planning item because it is inadvertently left in view when he was walking past a monitor or open iPad somewhere in an opposing team’s facility.
Through his role with Fox, Brady’s only real access to opposing teams is as a virtual participant in those production meetings, which usually take place late in the week and involves the head coach and several key players.
Many coaches and players are already on guard in those sessions, mindful of protecting their team’s competitive advantage, no matter who they’re talking to.
And that isn’t exclusive to just Tom Brady.
“J.J. Watt was here doing the production meetings, his brother [T.J.] plays for Pittsburgh,” Jets defensive tackle Harrison Phillips said. “When he’s asking me, ‘What type of scheme, is it man, zone?’ Whatever. I’m not going to answer. I don’t care if it’s J.J. Watt or any of the production meeting people. It would be very ignorant for me to say, ‘Oh, we’ve got a fake punt up this week!’ Or ‘Man, our third-string receiver is getting a lot of reps today!’ Like, that’s so stupid. I don’t think people would be giving that information anyway. But what do I know?”
Let’s just say Phillips subscribes to the belief of every one of the more than a dozen players interviewed for this story.
“You don’t give away your game plan or what you’re doing,” Eagles linebacker Zack Baun said. “You just give general thoughts on the game. If you give him something that’s on you. That’s common knowledge.”
Those production meetings, players say, aren’t as detailed as they’re made out to be.
“I don’t think anyone is giving any sort of answer that would alter the game like that,” Jets receiver Allen Lazard said. “Because if that was the case, it wouldn’t take Tom Brady for that to be a thing. If you’re telling them you’re running a reverse pass on the first play of the game, it doesn’t matter if it’s Tom Brady or anyone else. It’s a problem.”
Added Giants edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux: ”Everybody in the NFL knows not to talk about their scheme.”
Shaky ground?
Those production meetings, though, are nothing like a press conference. There’s a general understanding that the information exchanged is for background information to give broadcasters knowledge of teams they don’t watch every week. It’s not meant to be relayed to the public.
And certainly not other teams.
So could a player be more likely to let his guard down in that type of setting?
“There’s probably a portion of it that’s a little more casual,” Giants receiver Darius Slayton said. “But even in the more casual portion, it’s not like you would necessarily say anything that would be used [against you] anyway.”
Giants safety Jevon Holland said he goes into any production meeting — Brady or not — with his guard up.
“I approach it the same way I approach media in here,” Holland said. “I’m not telling reporters — no disrespect— I’m not telling y’all pretty much anything about what we’re doing because I don’t trust reporters. I’m not saying you’re a bad guy, but I don’t trust reporters, because that’s your job — to report on information.”
Of course, there’s always the possibility that Brady could use that setting to go fishing for specific information. And remember, most of the players in the NFL today not only grew up watching Brady but also had the opportunity to play against him. They not only admire him for his accomplishments but also look forward to the opportunity to speak with him before a game.
Holland said he wouldn’t give Brady the silent treatment if he got the chance to talk to him in a production meeting. Quite the opposite.
“Nah, I’m going to be like, ‘Oh, f—, what’s up Tom Brady? What’s going on, man?’” Holland said. “Chop it up. He knows ball. I know ball. I played him in 2021. He’s the greatest quarterback of all time.”
“I would love to talk football with Tom Brady, to be honest,” Thibodeaux said, dismissing the concern over giving info to the future Hall of Famer. “Like if the Raiders need what I say or what one player says to change a game, then, yeah … I don’t even think Tom Brady would be a guy who is looking to ask somebody for schemes. Not a guy who I think respects the game as much as he does and gave to it. I don’t think he would be doing that.”
But others, like Uche, believe Brady got to where he did by always looking for an advantage. That hasn’t changed in retirement.
“It’s like when I was at Michigan,” Uche said. “[Then-coach Jim] Harbaugh found every loophole there was and people got mad at him, but he was doing his job. He was like a great lawyer. So I think with Tom, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do in finding those loopholes to help him and his brand and his team succeed. That’s the similarities I see between Brady and Harbaugh.”
But as Holland pointed out, it’s also a two-way street.
“Maybe he’ll accidentally slip up and tell us something,” Holland said. “I don’t know. But nah, I don’t really care about it.”
Should Brady have to choose?
Most of the players NJ Advance Media interviewed for this story don’t have major concerns with the current arrangement or with Brady continuing in his role.
Some trust that Brady and the league are conducting themselves honestly.
“Maybe it’s a fault of mine, but I assume the good in humans,” Phillips said. “And my assumptions are whatever boundaries should be in place are in place to disallow the integrity of the game being cheated. … I would think that the other 31 owners would not allow there to be a competitive advantage. I can see the assumptions there, but I think the other teams are making sure those lines aren’t being blurred.”
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Others haven’t given it a lot of thought.
“I think it’s cool,” Jets guard John Simpson said, before turning serious. “ But s—, if it gives him an advantage, then he shouldn’t be able to do it. Nah, I’m just playing. I think it’s cool. I think it’s cool that he’s able to get that opportunity. I don’t see a lot of other guys getting that opportunity. It’s not something that bothers me, or that I really think about.”
And some think that in an ideal world, Brady’s dual role will give opportunities for other players to do the same in the future.
“If I’m Tom Brady, you’re not telling me I can’t own a team,” Thibodeaux said. “If I’m Tom Brady, you’re not telling me I can’t be a broadcaster. … I don’t see a problem with it. I want to be a team owner one day and a broadcaster, so yeah.”
But for as long as Brady does both, there will be questions about impropriety. That mere perception is enough for some to say the NFL should make Brady choose between being an owner and a broadcaster.
“That is messed up,” Giants safety Dane Belton said of the potential for a conflict of interest.
“I see how somebody could get that angle,” Slayton said.
But even the players who have concerns about Brady’s dual role or see the potential conflict of interest stopped short of saying he should have to pick a lane.
“I’m not going to say they should or shouldn’t,” Belton said. “But I can definitely see that happening because so many people have their own opinions about things, and I think the NFL wants to keep the integrity of the game true and honest. So yeah, I think it could definitely come up.”
“I don’t think so, unless it becomes a problem,” Slayton said. “Unless it becomes an obvious problem or something comes to light that was an issue that they knew for a fact, I don’t see why he couldn’t do both.”