Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce has admitted that Tom Brady would leak information to the team amid his broadcasting duties.
The NFL legend sparked controversy earlier this week when he was spotted in the Raiders’ coaching booth with a headset on for their Monday night game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Brady has been Fox Sports’ top game analyst since last fall, while NFL owners also approved him as a partial owner of the Raiders last year.
However, the league imposed strict rules for his broadcasting career, including barring him from attending production meetings or visiting other teams’ facilities.
Yet, his appearance in the franchise’s coaching booth raised concerns with one team executive admitting he’s uncomfortable with the idea of Brady speaking with his team.
In a fresh twist, Pierce, who served as the Raiders head coach from 2023 until earlier this year, claimed that Brady has long been aiding the team.
Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce made a Tome Brady admission
Tom Brady was spotted among the coaching staff of the Raiders on Monday night
‘Tom Brady is the elite of the elite, one of the greatest quarterbacks, one of the greatest players in the game, played against him obviously, student of the game,’ Pierce told Adam Schein on his Mad Dog Sports Radio show on SiriusXM.
‘It’s not hard for him to watch a few things on a Friday practice or hear things in a production meeting and be like, ‘Hmm,’ and have tidbits. And you’d be foolish enough to think that he’s not gonna share that with the Raiders because we had those conversations about certain things. He was very informative about things that he knew or he felt and that’s why you bring a guy like Tom Brady into your organization to be a minority owner.’
However, Pierce, who is now serving as an analyst for CBS, admitted he wouldn’t feel comfortable to be on the other side of the dilemma.
‘I would be nervous,’ Pierce admitted to Schein. ‘I think I would be tight lipped, which I think most head coaches are when they go into production meetings. They watch it. I think on Fridays, if he happens to be there on a Friday practice, you might want to limit some things. I just think that’s a fact.
‘I think everybody is gonna give you the political answer and say, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal.’ I’m calling BS on that because if me and you was to call the game, they’ll be secretive with us. Now you got a guy who’s a minority owner, a great player, you know he understands the game, you know he sees the game.
‘He has obviously an interest in the Raiders. So, I just think it’s unprecedented. We haven’t seen it.
‘Again, I don’t want to talk above my means. I don’t know what the NFL has set for Tom Brady and his rules, but I know he was a great asset for us with the Raiders when I was there. And I think he’ll still be a great asset as he’s going forward and I think this does help him out, and the Raiders.’
As stated in the NFL’s ‘Brady Rules’ for the former Patriots star, he cannot actually visit team facilities other than the Raiders’.
An NFL team executive expressed concerns over Brady’s conflict of interest with Fox
However, the league tweaked its restrictions on Brady in the offseason, as league spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed to the Daily Mail in a statement.
Brady is now allow to attend production meetings in a remote fashion.
‘Of course, as with any production meeting with broadcast teams, it’s up to the club, coach or players to determine what they say in those sessions,’ McCarthy added.
During ESPN’s Monday night broadcast of the Raiders-Chargers game, the network’s Peter Schrager also laid out just how much Brady has apparently been communicating with Las Vegas offensive coordinator Chip Kelly.
‘Chip Kelly told us that he talks to Brady two to three times a week,’ Schrager said.
‘They go through film, they go through the game plan, and Brady is a luxury for the coaches. Who else has an owner who’s actually been there and done that.’
Coach Pete Carroll later said that report was ‘not accurate’, but admitted that ‘I talk to Tom, Chip talks to Tom regularly.
‘We have a tremendous asset,’ Carroll said.
Brady will go on to broadcast seven games featuring a Raiders’ regular season opponent this year.
