The NFL has placed significant restrictions on Tom Brady during his time as a broadcaster. Since the future Hall of Fame quarterback is now part-owner of the Raiders, he is prohibited from speaking attending practices, traveling to clubs’ facilities or doing onsite interview prep with coaches ahead of broadcast assignments.But a loophole may influence the Raiders’ coaching search.
Brady will be in Detroit for FOX’s divisional-round game (Commanders-Lions), and he would have a chance to both closely evaluate Ben Johnson (and Lions DC Aaron Glenn) and continue speaking with a coach who looks to be — at this juncture, at least — the Raiders’ early favorite.
Raiders-Johnson momentum is building, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore. Clearly residing as a frontrunner here, Johnson is “seriously considering” the Raiders, The Athletic’s Vic Tafur notes. In predicting fits, Yahoo.com’s Charles Robinson placed Johnson in Vegas.
While Mark Davis is technically atop the organization, it is widely believed Brady is running the team’s HC and GM pursuits. A report pointed to this search being “Tom’s show,” and Tafur offers more in that direction by adding that the minority owner was heavily involved in the decisions to fire Antonio Pierce and Tom Telesco last week. Telesco was ultimately canned because the Raiders wanted to start fresh rather than pair a new coach with a holdover GM.
It is abnormal for a part-owner to have this much influence in searches of this magnitude, but Brady’s stature in the game makes him a special case. The 47-year-old exec’s presence is believed to have driven Johnson to add the Raiders to his interview list. The Lions’ OC has been picky about jobs since first joining a coaching carousel in 2023, and he famously backed out as the Commanders’ frontrunner last year. For Johnson to then be open to taking a Raiders job despite the lack of a quarterback presence and considering Davis’ lack of patience with coaches in recent years, it would certainly say a lot about Brady’s ability to recruit.
Las Vegas may be eyeing a Detroit-centric plan, with Tafur adding Commanders assistant GM Lance Newmark is believed to have an early leg up on the competition for the GM job. This would be an interesting development, as Newmark has not received an interview request just yet. Packers exec Jon-Eric Sullivan, Steelers staffer Sheldon White and ex-Brady Michigan teammate John Spytek — a Buccaneers assistant GM — are the interviewees thus far. Spytek held early momentum as a candidate to watch; Newmark making up ground would be interesting due to his history.
Although Newmark left for Washington in 2024, he spent more than 20 years as a Detroit exec. That obviously covers the time Johnson has spent with the franchise, and Tafur adds the Raiders view Newmark as a staffer who could pair well with the 38-year-old play-caller.
Brady began vetting Johnson when he did a Week 9 Lions-Packers broadcast, Tafur offers. This would obviously be an unusual way for a franchise to gather intel on a candidate, and it obviously calls Brady’s FOX role into question as far as objectivity goes. Considering the steam Johnson has gained with the Raiders, the ongoing Brady conflict-of-interest subplot will continue Saturday.
Johnson is still in play for the Bears and Jaguars’ jobs, and while it is not known if the teams have him as a favorite, Mike Vrabel being off the carousel leaves Johnson as the hottest candidate based on history and the Lions’ dominant season on offense. The Jags are believed to be heavily interested. Johnson cannot conduct any second interviews until a Super Bowl bye week, or if the Lions are eliminated earlier.
For Johnson to back out of the Commanders’ search only to join the Raiders would represents a borderline coup for Brady, and it would add even more intrigue to a division that has seen tremendous coaching talent join Andy Reid in recent years. Johnson would join Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh in the AFC West. The Raiders still have interviews to go through, and Johnson’s past should remind this is not a done deal. But this much noise about the situation is certainly interesting this early in the process.
I heard the Jets were considering him but Johnson’s Madden score wasn’t high enough.
Lmao
Why is Brady allowed to broadcast the Lions this week if he’s running the show in Vegas? This should be getting way more attention than it is especially if Vegas ends up with Johnson.
Because we live in the Twilight Zone now. That section of it where things that used to matter on the most basic level, no longer matter…….
At all levels of society 🙁
If that’s the case then Ben Johnson should be careful because if he makes Tom angry he might get sent to the cornfield.
Because the two things should have 0 impact on each other.
But of course, they do. Any face time with a potential hire is important and we all know Brady likes to push the envelope on rules.
So you would be fine if Jerry Jones was the #1 color analyst for Fox? (separate from how bad he would be at it).
If I owned one of the other 31 teams I would have no interest in a rival owner gathering intel on my team while serving as an analyst for Fox.
You don’t think Tom isn’t getting intel anyway? He’s been in the league for over 20yrs and has a lot of friends in all types of positions in the league.
He’s not exactly the greatest broadcaster at this point. While he could improve, if he left know, he’d be forgotten by the start of next season.
He’s broadcasting the game, not playing or officiating. But I already feel a majority of the play by play/color guys are terrible. Very terrible and Brady is one of them. I feel the CFB guys are far better. The network really need to change on who they hire.
Broadcasters typically go to practices, watch game prep, and talk to players and coaches about their game plan. Brady has already been restricted from doing some of this because of his role with another team. If he’s directly involved in hiring for a team, and his broadcasting role allows him to talk to coaches who are not yet allowed to talk to hiring teams, this is obviously at least sketchy territory in terms of tampering.
It’s a direct conflict of interest. But honestly broadcasters shouldn’t need all of that. Just call the game.
I feel like Brady has slowly gotten better, especially with some of his comments about the decisions the HC/QB are making. I’m actually starting to enjoy it because you can start hearing a bit of the disdain of bad plays throughout the game.
Why is Brady’s interest in a coach a problem for broadcasting? For that matter, if he is biased toward the Lions as a broadcaster, how does that affect anything to do with gameplay? Collinsworth and Romo’s bias toward Mahomes and Allen respectively has never proven to affect anything game outcomes or be an issue for their job security.
It’s a problem for his broadcasting that he can’t do all the job prep others do. It’s bigger problem for the game if he can tamper as an owner in his capacity as broadcaster.
That’s the huge hole in this Brady thing. If he is doing any of what regular broadcasters do in game prep, he is tampering… If he’s the Bear’s pick and can’t speak with him until the Lion’s season is over- but Brady can? They should raise hell.
“he is prohibited from speaking attending practices, traveling to clubs’ facilities or doing onsite interview prep with coaches ahead of broadcast assignments”
How is him being in Detroit an issue again? Any other GM can buy a playoff ticket and watch the same thing Brady sees…
Other owners don’t get to chat on the sidelines with coaches and players (like he did last week). It’s a joke that the NFL would permit what would be called tampering with any other owner.
As its been mentioned he is restricted from a lot of things, including the pre-game meetings other broadcasters do. He really isn’t getting a leg up. For once I think the NFL actually did something right, could they do more, perhaps. He can’t really steer the game in a direction. I don’t think he has done any Raider games. There have been a couple times this year he has made a comment and was completely wrong, but would have known if he was in any production meeting (Boomer Esiason pointed it out a few times here in NY).
However, I think the only thing to note now, is to monitor his critically of situations and compare it to past broadcasts.
He should Raider games give it more of a regional field, instead of just helicoptering in on Friday, it would give the game more of a regional feel. The NFL has gotten too corporate n stale
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know everything a broadcaster does, how much access they have, nor how much time they get to talk with assistant coaches. I just can’t see how Brady calling the game somehow gives LV an advantage in potentially landing Johnson, though. I feel like it’d be more of an issue for FOX than anything, since he might not want to put Johnson on blast if there is a bad play call. I’m genuinely asking people saying this could help LV land Johnson somehow: how?
The NFL restricts how teams can talk to or interview coaches throughout the season. Brady, however, has been because other teams aren’t allowed to talk to Johnson or Glenn right now, but Brady gets to go see him in person due to his broadcasting job? We’re being asked to trust him to do the right thing just because he’s Tom Brady. Other people would not get this sort of consideration.
Do broadcasters get time with coaches in private? If they do, I can certainly see the problem there. Brady has cheated in the past. I guess I’ve always assumed everyone is just shooting the breeze in practice, or there are designated times broadcasters can speak with all of the coaching staff… things that would make bending the rules challenging.
If I’m a HC or coordinator I wouldn’t talk about my game plan with anyone. Plus the last thing I’d want to do before a playoff game if waste time with an announcer.
As a broadcaster, he is not allowed to attend practices or talk to the coaches during the week. Other than that, from what I’m gathering, he’s still allowed on the field before the game with no restrictions. Why teeter on a fine line though? This is a serious issue imo and it’s getting swept under the rug.
Such a sham, but then again the NfL with its antitrust status mocks any normal business rule.
Good luck if he goes to the Raiders. No QB or RB plus Davis and the AFC West to contend with.
Yeah this would make zero sense for Ben. Spurning Washington last year for the raiders??
Think this is just smoke. Why would you wait & be picky choosing the right fit to go to Vegas, a difficult division with 3 great HCs & QBs. Plus you don’t have one & aren’t in position to draft one?
Agreed. The cupboard is bare in Vegas. No QB/RB/WR1… or 2. They just have Bowers, Crosby and a weird a** owner. Brady must be a helluva salesman. That’s not an ideal situation for a first time head coach.
And I don’t think that they have much cap room compared to NE or Chicago, or the other open jobs. Recipe for failure – why would he go for that?
While I agree that this doesn’t seem like the ideal landing spot due to the roster construction, having his own GM is huge. Especially if its true what they are reporting, about that being important to him.
Mark Davis is a weirdo but I think he will let Brady handle most of this. They can offer a huge contract like with Gruden and potentially move up in the draft for a QB.
Also they are second to the Patriots as far as cap space is concerned. They can make lots of moves this offseason. Cap space plus Tom Brady will attract lots of players imo.
As a Bears fan I don’t like it but I can see the appeal.
That’d be foolish.
The only way he’s going to the Raiders is if they make him an offer he can’t refuse. Or he wakes up with a severed horse head in his bed.
Maybe a severed lion’s head? LOL
Or a deflated football?
It sounds like the Lions need to monitor tampering by Brady as Johnson and Glenn are not available again until the Lions are done playing. That could come Saturday Night or some time in the future.
The league owners need to grow spines and decide on if Brady is an owner or a broadcaster, and if it’s owner then Fox needs to deal with their problem.
Exactly…Why allow even a small grey area here? This could turn into a serious issue if the league isn’t careful.
Johnson is leaving unless the Lions pay him a king’s ransom to stay. Who cares if Brady talks to him or not? The end result is the same.
The Bears for one care significantly especially if the rules forbid them from talking to Ben, but Raiders/Brady skirt that b/c Brady will be calling the Lions game. Not hard to find the logic here
Johnson’s agent is leaking this to ensure the cheap bears pay up for him
I agree (Caleb Williams). Or Jacksonville (Trevor Lawrence).
If I had to choose between Bears or Jaguar, I’d rather just stay with the Lions. Who knows if he can coach a whole team and just not an offensive guru? Look at Larry Rothschild in baseball he was a horrible manager of a team as a whole but an excellent pitching coach
The difference is you are making >$10m more doing the HC job, per year. Harbaugh got $16M/year if Ben gets $13/14M as a top OC he might be making $3M/hear tops.
Any team owner with brains would pay a talented innovative whatever money to keep him. Even if it means paying him more than what the head coach makes. When mediocre QB’s are pulling down $40 million and good WR $30 million, $15 or $20 million on the mastermind of your offense is a great investment.
Particularly since this money is not part of the salary cap.
I sure hope so. That was my initial thought, but Bears aren’t smart enough to be part of something like this.
It isn’t about smarts, it’s about money. And the Bears are notoriously cheap.
I believe that it is exactly an agent leak.
I’m a long time Bears fans. Admittedly, it’s been rough. The mind boggling dysfunction runs rampant throughout that organization. When it comes to Johnson as Head Coach of the Bears I’d be surprised. The Bears have some positives to work work with. However, I believe Johnson wants his own GM. Someone he can align with and be on the same page. Too many power levels in Halas Hall. He may be more comfortable coaching outside the NFC North as well. It’s the LV Raiders or Johnson stays in Detroit.
I think Jacksonville is going to give him what he wants in terms of QB (Trevor Lawrence), money, and power (Trent Baalke out, Johnson’s guy in and Johnson gets final say over the 53 like Kyle Shanahan does).
Question is does Johnson wanna deal with Shad and Cok….er Tony
Can’t imagine anyone wanting Trevor Lawrence as their QB for their first HC job.
The Raiders job is a career killer.
No doubt about that. But Brady has influence with that organization. like Brady or not, he will have pull and influence. Johnson will likely set himself up wth his hand picked GM. Additionally, he’ll likely have 15 million reasons a year to give the LV Raiders a go. If this fails, no doubt Johnson gets another gig as OC somewhere. My goodness, Matt Everflus is interviewing for DC gigs.
No money, weird owner, no QB, very mediocre roster, HOF-QB/owner looking over your shoulder, expensive women – the Las Vegas HC job looks like one of the worst in football.
Johnson should stay clear. Might sound Prime Time Sanders though. Flashy uniforms, PR campaigns, image building.
I’m pretty such this is a ploy to get the Bears and Jaguars to up their offers.
One could argue that Johnson isn’t ready for the big job yet. After the how he mismanaged the Commanders opportunity last year, he seems to lack confidence and decisiveness to lead a team yet. Maybe he will find comfort in having others make the tough decisions for him.
Johnson isn’t going to the Raiders. If he’s so picky about where he goes goes, then that’s a bad place. Only reason would be if dumb dumb Davis offers him a big bag of money, which is certainly possible.
He should just stay in Detroit another year maybe elevated to assistant head coach especially since Lions window isn’t closing yet
You need to leave the nest at some point. I’m sure every elite OC or DC dreams of being the top dog. Now is the time. Even if he falls on his face he would get another OC job in a heartbeat.
Now that GOAT Brady has part ownership of my beloved Raiders, am I supposed to change my views on the tuck rule and the whole New England Snow Job thing? Soooo confusing.
But let’s be honest about the announcer gig… The Raiders could clone Brady and make the clone 75% cyborg and mah rayyyderrrs would still make it look like a 3rd string failed college drop out QB. Raiders doing the Raider thing.
I love em, but they the Raiders lol
Anyone think Brady will follow the rules this weekend? When he doesn’t and gets caught the NFL will just slap his hand and say don’t do that again anyway. No penalty to do whatever it takes to get his guy. If the NFL was serious about integrity, they would have had him removed from the broadcast.