Tom Brady sparked a firestorm of debate when he was spotted working with Las Vegas Raiders coaches during the team’s Week 2 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, and the seven-time Super Bowl has now responded to the criticism.
Many fans and members of the media were outraged when Brady was shown on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” Week 2 broadcast with a headset on sitting in the Raiders coaches’ booth at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev. ESPN sideline reporter Peter Schrager also shared that Brady regularly works with Chip Kelly and meets with the Raiders offensive coordinator multiple times a week.
Brady is a minority owner of the Raiders. He is also a game analyst for FOX, so there is a belief among many that he should not be permitted to work closely with his team’s coaching staff.
In his latest personal newsletter that he sent to subscribers on Wednesday, Brady addressed the “paranoid” narrative that has surrounded him over the past week or so. The 48-year-old said he feels an obligation to help the Raiders while also providing FOX viewers with the best experience possible. Brady believes his decision to not prioritize one over the other is good for the game of football — not a conflict of interest.
“I love football. At its core it is a game of principles. And with all the success it has given me, I feel I have a moral and ethical duty to the sport; which is why the point where my roles in it intersect is not actually a point of conflict, despite what the paranoid and distrustful might believe,” Brady wrote, via TMZ. “Rather, it’s the place from which my ethical duty emerges: to grow, evolve, and improve the game that has given me everything.”
Brady then took direct aim at those who have an issue with his arrangement.
“People who are like that, particularly to a chronic, pathological degree, are telling on themselves,” Brady added. “They’re showing you their worldview and how they operate. They’re admitting that they can only conceive of interests that are selfish; that they cannot imagine a person doing their job for reasons that are greater than themselves. (These kinds of people make horrible teammates, by the way.)”
The overall message of Brady’s letter was that he wants what’s best for the NFL and the game of football. He said he wants “the Silver & Black to return to the glory of those amazing years under Al Davis and John Madden.” Therein lies the problem for some people, as Brady has some level of additional access to the other 31 teams through his role with FOX.
The NFL has said Brady did not violate any league rules by working with Raiders coaches on game day. While the NFL relaxed the restrictions on Brady this year to allow him to take part in production meetings, he can only do so remotely. Brady is also prohibited from going to team facilities for practices.
NFL teams get to choose what to share and not to share during production meetings. If coaching staffs are smart, they will refrain from sharing any pertinent information with Brady that he could then pass along to the Raiders. Of course, that feeds right into the narrative that Brady cannot do his job as effectively as possible as long as he holds both roles.
