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NFL insider called out the ‘bigger advantage’ Tom Brady gives Raiders as part owner and broadcaster
"You start to go down this slippery slope, and the more you think about it, the more there are issues with it."
The Tom Brady owner-broadcaster relationship: The reaction to Tom Brady being spotted in the Raiders’ coaching box during the Monday night loss against the Chargers continues to make waves.
Specifically, the concept that Brady could be gleaning a potentially unfair advantage for the Raiders (for whom he is a minority owner) by utilizing his inside access as a broadcaster for Fox Sports.
After the subject was discussed widely on Tuesday following the game, reaction has continued. A recent example was on “The MMQB NFL Podcast,” in which co-hosts Albert Breer and Conor Orr dove into the potentially tricky realities unless the league bans Brady from attending pregame production meetings (in which coaches or players could give away potentially valuable insider information).
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In 2025, the league announced that it had relaxed earlier rules regarding Brady’s position, allowing him to attend pregame production meetings, but only via Zoom. Still, Breer took umbrage with the current system.
“The more people I’ve talked to about this, I think it’s pretty clear that the teams that are in direct competition with the Raiders, named the teams in the division, are not pleased with how this is going,” he said. “And I think they’ve got a right to be upset. I mean why do you have tampering rules if you’re allowing this?”
Breer took less issue regarding the overt risks around game-specific information.
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“I don’t know if there’s a ton of strategic things that Brady is gleaning in these meetings because I think they’re going to be careful with him now,” Breer explained. “I actually think the bigger advantage is the big picture advantage.”
The Sports Illustrated NFL reporter then gave an overview of the potential longer-term impacts of Brady’s duel role.
“Let’s just say the Raiders were firing their coach this year, and that was the case last year. Now you’ve got a guy who essentially has access to assistant coaches across the league, to head coaches across the league,” Breer said. “He’s got an opportunity to get a jump on the coach hiring process. Let’s say the Raiders after this year wanted to change one of their assistant coaches out. Well now Brady’s got four months of experience being around every team in the league, being on the field pregame, talking to coaches. He’s tacitly conducted the front end of a process that everybody else is forbidden from doing.
“Then how about the players? How could this inform free agent decisions for the Raiders?” Breer questioned. “If they’re in a free agent meeting, and all of a sudden they’ve got this intel because Brady [covered] the same team three times, and he got a chance to talk to this player, well that other team doesn’t get to put a scout on the field pregame. That other team that might be competing for that free agent doesn’t get an opportunity to get to know the player before free agency. And you know how quickly those things happen during free agency.
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“If we’re talking about a premium free agent, I mean those things happen so fast. That could be a massive advantage,” he concluded.
Breer also drilled down on the potential advantage that Brady, a legendary NFL figure, could have regarding discussions with players.
“I’ve heard some people say, ‘OK well the teams can control that.’ A coach can control what he says to Brady, a GM can control what he says to Brady. They don’t have to give him anything. Sure that’s true,” Breer acknowledged. “How do you think a 23-year-old player is going to approach a meeting with Tom Brady?
“Don’t you think that guy’s going to be a little starstruck?” he said of players meeting the seven-time Super Bowl winner. “If you were that player, wouldn’t you be like, ‘Well A this is Tom Brady, so I want to have a good conversation and relationship with him. And B, I’m going to be a free agent in two years. This is also the executive of another team. Don’t I want to make a good impression with him?
“You start to go down this slippery slope, and the more you think about it, the more there are issues with it,” he posited.
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Taken as a whole, Breer thinks Brady’s position could give the Raiders a small but potentially invaluable advantage over the competition.
“In the NFL, because of the rules and the way they’re set up, the talent disparity is so small from team to team in general, games are won on the margins,” said Breer. “Championships are won on the margins. So having an advantage like this is another chance for the Raiders to win in the margins that the 31 other teams aren’t getting.”
Granted, not everyone in NFL media agrees with Breer.
“It’s a little overrated,” noted podcaster and founder of The Ringer (as well as Boston sports fan) Bill Simmons of the pregame production meeting. Simmons spoke to ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes in a recent episode of his own podcast, covering the subject of Brady. “It’s not like they’re like, ‘Here’s our game plan.’ It’s more stuff like, ‘We really like Tucker Kraft.'”
“I am a little surprised by how upset people are by the competitive integrity side of it,” said Kimes. “I don’t really see the edge. I think it bothers people, not because of the substance of it, but because of the appearance of just, ‘Oh he’s above the rules. Of course Tom Brady gets allowed to do it.’ I don’t think the actual substance of it is that bad.”
Trivia: In Tom Brady’s career, he went 5-1 against the Raiders in the regular season, throwing 12 total touchdowns with zero interceptions. Can you name the only other team that Brady faced in which he recorded no career interceptions?
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(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: He played them one time, and won.
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox defeated the Athletics 5-4 on a Nick Sogard walk-off in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The two teams close out the series at Fenway Park this afternoon at 1:35 p.m.
On Saturday, the Revolution face the Union in Philadelphia at 2:30 p.m.
Also on Saturday, Boston College football will play Cal at home at 3:30 p.m.
And on Sunday, the Patriots host the Steelers at 1 p.m.
More from Boston.com:
- Red Sox edge Athletics 5-4 in 10 innings for 11th walk-off win of the year
- As playoff race tightens, Red Sox desperately need Alex Bregman’s bat to wake up
- Drake Maye credits Aaron Rodgers for developing key aspect of his QB game
- Brad Marchand reveals ‘main reason’ why his contract talks with Bruins broke down
- Drake Maye backs up DeMario Douglas amid decreased role in Patriots offense
- Stefon Diggs sidesteps question about Cardi B’s baby announcement
- David Pastrnak dealing with tendinitis and other takeaways from 1st day of Bruins training camp
- 5 early surprises from the Patriots this season
Catching up with coach: Mike Vrabel discussed his first win as Patriots head coach with Scott Zolak.
On this day: In 1996, Roger Clemens recorded the second 20-strikeout game of his career, coming 10 years after the first. The Red Sox defeated the Tigers in Detroit that night, 4-0.
Daily highlight: Real Salt Lake’s Zavier Gozo scored a stunning acrobatic volley, though Salt Lake fell 4-1 to LAFC in the end.
Trivia answer: Patriots
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