raiders
Getty
Tom Brady.
Tom Brady has been getting more and more involved with the Las Vegas Raiders publicly in recent months, but there still hasn’t been clarity on what exactly his role with the team is. While it’s still unclear, what is clear is that Brady is not a passive owner.
During the Raiders’ Monday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Brady was seen in the coaches’ booth with a headset on. The ESPN broadcast reported that Brady speaks with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly three times a week about strategy, but head coach Pete Carroll debunked that.
Regardless, the optics of Brady being this closely involved with the Raiders while also providing color commentary for Fox aren’t great. Former NFL player turned ESPN analyst Marcus Spears was not happy with what he saw during Monday’s broadcast.
“I hate it,” Spears said on “Get Up.” “It’s abhorrent for me, for his job. I love it for his team. You’re a 5% owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. Sit wherever the hell you wanna sit at the game. If you wanna be on the sideline with a headset on, go be on the sideline with a headset on. This should not happen with him being a commentator of NFL football games. It actually questions the integrity of the NFL.”
This Could Affect Brady’s Pregame Prep
As a commentator, Brady doesn’t directly affect a game that he’s covering. However, he does get insider access to teams ahead of the games that he’s covering.
This could present the Raiders with a unique advantage. For example, Brady is supposed to call the Chicago Bears–Dallas Cowboys game in Week 3. Who are the Raiders playing in Week 4? The Bears. They also play the Cowboys later in the season.
Spears believes that teams might now need to keep their guard up when working with Brady.
“Now teams have to be smart and not divulge information when he’s on a call,” Spears said. “Because at some point the Raiders are gonna play the teams that he’s sitting there on these meetings. And I don’t know if anybody knows, and you know this, but there’s information shared when you have these pre-production meetings for games. There’s plans that coaches have. There’s guys that they tell you to be on the lookout for for how we’ll use them. So I hate it from that standpoint. Which is why the league tried to implement things prior to this becoming an issue with Tom Brady being part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.”
Can This Setup Be Sustainable?
Fox wants Brady because he’s a big name, and the NFL doesn’t seem too keen on making a bigger issue out of this setup. However, it’s certainly possible that more and more teams could start to complain. It’s hard to imagine the Bears raised some level of concern following Monday’s broadcast.
In the end, Brady may have to walk away from Fox. NFL ownership is a much more exclusive club, so he can’t give up on that. The Raiders wouldn’t complain if Brady quit Fox and was able to dedicate more time to the team.