Tom Brady’s split loyalties between Fox Sports and the Las Vegas Raiders have led to an untenable situation, according to veteran sportscaster Dan Patrick.
‘It’s problematic with Tom trying to do both of these things,’ the former SportsCenter host said on his podcast.
Brady is currently in the first year of a decade-long, $375 million deal with Fox Sports, where he serves as the network’s top color commentator.
Meanwhile, the seven-time Super Bowl champion was recently approved as a Raiders minority owner, leading Brady to agree to a number of restrictions as an announcer to alleviate concerns about his conflicts of interest.
As first reported by ESPN in August, Brady isn’t allowed at other practice facilities the week before calling games, thereby denying him the chance to learn more about the teams and players he’s discussing on Sundays.
Tom Brady’s split loyalties between Fox Sports and the Las Vegas Raiders have led to an untenable situation, according to veteran sportscaster Dan Patrick (pictured)
Brady is currently in the first year of a decade-long, $375 million deal with Fox Sports
Brady can still do his own research by himself, but won’t be granted background interviews with coaches and players that ESPN describes as the ‘lifeblood of insight for the telecast.’
‘They go to practice, they get a lot of inside information,’ Patrick told his audience this week. ‘Some coaches more forthcoming, some quarterback more forthcoming. But you need to have your announcer know what’s going on.’
The issue, as Patrick sees it, is that Brady will likely still have this level of access, one way or another, regardless of the rules.
‘Now, can he get that information? Yes,’ Patrick said. ‘But if you said, Tom Brady got to go into the locker room and say to Patrick Mahomes, ‘I’m curious about this,’ chances are, Mahomes is going to tell Tom that.
‘But he’s not allowed to exchange information or get information because he works for the Raiders,’ Patrick continued. ‘Crazy. Problematic.’
As an owner, Brady is also prohibited from publicly criticizing officials – a situation that has already arisen this season.
When Detroit Lions safety Brian Branch was tossed for a tackle in Sunday’s win over the Green Bay Packers, Brady couldn’t help but criticize officials on the field and in the league office in New York for the ejection.
‘I don’t love that [ejection] call at all,’ Brady said. ‘Obviously it’s a penalty, but to me, there has to be serious intent in a game like this.’
Dan Patrick interviews Tom Brady after the Patriots Super Bowl XLIX win in February of 2015
The NFL has since issued a statement saying Brady did not cross the line. Instead, the league explained, he would have to be ‘egregiously critical of officiating’ or call ‘into question the integrity of an official or the crew.’
And Patrick isn’t the only pundit being critical of Brady as an announcer.
Columnist, podcaster and sports media personality Skip Bayless likened Brady’s announcing career to the struggling quarterback of the New York Giants.
‘As I have said 12 trillion times, Tom Brady was the greatest NFL player ever by far,’ Bayless told his audience. ‘But as a TV analyst, he’s nothing but Daniel Jones. I’m sorry, but Tom Brady drove me nuts yesterday during the Detroit-Green Bay game with his endless, giddy, captain-obvious blabber.
‘He just talks and talks and talks some more about what is so clichédly obvious,’ Bayless continued.
‘So little insight, so many words. So many close-ups.’
