The NFL, Fox and the Las Vegas Raiders might be willing to ignore Tom Brady’s conflict of interest, but Dan Patrick won’t.
Patrick, like many football fans, will be on high alert for potential bias from Brady while watching the NFL Divisional Playoff game between the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders this weekend. Brady will be calling the matchup for Fox, while simultaneously playing a pivotal role in filling the Las Vegas Raiders head coaching vacancy as a minority owner of the franchise.
One of the leading candidates for that head coaching vacancy is Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Tom Brady will be on the call for this weekend’s #Lions vs. #Commanders matchup.
With Ben Johnson on the Lions’ sidelines and Brady serving as both a broadcaster and a minority owner of the Raiders, who need a new HC, how much of a conflict of interest does that create? pic.twitter.com/Hje0yW2Zo6
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) January 15, 2025
“How does that go with Tom Brady’s game this weekend?” Patrick asked on his radio show. “He’s got the Lions game with the Commanders. What happens if they show Ben Johnson on the sideline? Is Tom Brady, minority owner of the Raiders, allowed to talk about Ben Johnson? Does he have any inside info? Which I believe he would. I love how the NFL makes it seem like, ‘This isn’t a conflict of interest.’”
The conflict of interest is blatant. If Brady is interested in hiring Johnson for the Raiders job, how is he supposed to offer unbiased analysis of Johnson’s play calling? Will Brady be willing to criticize Johnson if warranted? Will Brady be permitted to criticize Johnson’s play calling? It’s an obvious conflict of interest that Fox and the NFL are trying to ignore.
“The NFL is bending over backwards to help Tom Brady, it feels like,” Patrick said. “Or looking the other way… How many times do you listen to a game where you’re going to be reading into, maybe an ulterior motive?”
“Tom, he’s got his fingerprints all over this,” Patrick said of the Raiders coaching search. “He’s going to be making these changes, he’s making these decisions, but he’s also going to be broadcasting a game where maybe the number one candidate for the head coaching vacancies (Ben Johnson) is going to be coaching.”
When Brady’s ownership status with the Raiders was confirmed earlier this season, there were immediate questions about his ability to simultaneously hold the job of a lead NFL analyst. Those concerns were only enhanced when it was revealed Raiders majority owner, Mark Davis, expected Brady to take on a prominent football role within the organization. Still, Brady and Fox have forged forward with their partnership and the NFL doesn’t seem to mind.
“They could have kept him in the on-deck circle, but I don’t think the NFL wants him to get out of the broadcasting booth, I think they want him there,” Patrick said. “I think Fox of course wants him there and he’s going to be doing the Super Bowl. But as I’ve said for the last couple months, it feels like he’s moving on to something else and maybe he’s one and done doing these games.”
Considering their $375 million investment in Brady, it makes sense that Fox would bend over backwards to keep the seven-time Super Bowl champion in their booth. But when you consider the way Roger Goodell went after Brady with deflategate, it’s strange to see the NFL join Fox in ignoring what everyone else recognizes as a conflict of interest.
