Tom Brady is pushing back on concerns that there is a conflict of interest between his roles as a Las Vegas Raiders minority owner and Fox Sports broadcaster.
In his weekly newsletter in an entry titled "Do Your Job," published Wednesday, Brady wrote that only the "paranoid and distrustful" believe that there's conflict in his roles.
"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. Rather, it's the place from which my ethical duty emerges: to grow, evolve, and improve the game that has given me everything," he wrote.
As a broadcaster, Brady gets access to other teams' players and coaches that other owners do not have. This has raised concerns about a conflict of interest. That was amplified during a Week 2 "Monday Night Football" ESPN broadcast that showed Brady in the Raiders' booth wearing a headset during the first quarter of Las Vegas' 20-9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The NFL, however, said in a statement the next day that Brady didn't violate rules. The league said Brady is "prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings." But the former star quarterback is allowed to sit in the coaches booth, according to the league.
After his 23-year playing career during which he won seven Super Bowls, Brady made his Fox debut last season on a 10-year, $375 million contract that he originally agreed to in 2022. But limitations were put on Brady because of his agreement to become a partial owner of the Raiders, a deal approved by league owners last October.
The NFL recently relaxed some of its restrictions for Brady in that role, including allowing him to take part in production meetings -- when a broadcast crew meets with that game's head coaches and key players -- this season. He must take part in those meetings remotely, and he isn't allowed to attend practices at team facilities.
In the newsletter, Brady reflects on how he uses the "Do Your Job" coaching philosophy Bill Belichick delivered to the New England Patriots teams he was on in his current roles.
"If I can bring my knowledge and experience to bear inside the Raiders organization to ensure there's one more team that does things the right way; and then I can apply it in the booth so millions of people know and enjoy what the right way looks like -- then I will have lived up to the expectations I have for myself, and I will have done so in service of a much greater duty. One that I believe every person involved with pro football shares, whether they know it or not," he wrote.
And he said there's no "dilemma" between his two roles, despite what those "blinded by distrust" believe.
"When you live through uncertain and untrusting times like we are today, it is very easy to watch a person's passions and profession intersect, and to believe you're looking at some sort of dilemma. Because when you're blinded by distrust, it's hard to see anything other than self-interest," he wrote.
In Week 3, Brady was on the broadcast crew for the Chicago Bears' game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Raiders host the Bears in Week 4. In the week before the game, Chicago coach Ben Johnson brushed off concerns over a competitive disadvantage for the Bears that could come from his conversations with Brady ahead of the game, saying no "trade secrets" were going to be exchanged between himself and Brady.
Raiders coach Pete Carroll and first-time general manager John Spytek, who was in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' front office when Brady was their starting quarterback, have consulted with Brady on roster decisions during the offseason. Spytek told ESPN in April that Brady's voice has been "invaluable."
First-year Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly also told ESPN that he speaks with the future Hall of Famer two to three times per week, going through film and the game plan for the week.
But Carroll has said that the report about Brady and Kelly speaking multiple times per week about the game plan was "not accurate."