Is Tom Brady using ownership as an excuse to skip broadcasting work?

Members of the NFL community were confused when Tom Brady was permitted to interview Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes last week, as Brady must follow strict guidelines while serving as both Fox’s lead in-game analyst and as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders.

On Wednesday, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio offered a surprising update regarding the Brady-Mahomes segment. 

“Maybe it was allowed because Brady wanted to do it,” Florio said about the interview that occurred at the Chiefs’ team hotel. “Maybe he doesn’t really want to go to practices or attend production meetings or talk on the phone to coaches and players in order to best prepare for games. That’s the conclusion that was reached by at least one person involved in efforts to get the league to waive the Tom Brady broadcast rules. It’s not that the league is keeping him down. It’s that Brady doesn’t want to put in the work and that the restrictions provide him with a quick and easy excuse to avoid doing it.”

Florio added that the Buffalo Bills and other teams have been willing to give Brady access he’s not supposed to have due to restrictions related to his relationship with the Raiders. The league declined such requests even though, per Florio, “there is no actual rule or policy or memo” that outlines the Brady broadcast guidelines.

Brady not wanting “to put in the work” as a No. 1 announcer is quite the accusation considering multiple stories published in early September detailed how he began preparing to replace fan-favorite Greg Olsen on Fox Sports’ top broadcasting team as far back as last year. It is worth noting, though, that some believe Brady will soon pick advising Raiders principal owner Mark Davis on football-related matters over working for Fox, en route to eventually becoming the controlling owner of that franchise. 

Florio added the context that he had heard from “someone who has been involved in trying to get to the bottom of why the rules are what they are, why they aren’t in writing and why they were waived when Brady wanted to interview Mahomes but not in other situations.” 

Earlier this week, media insider Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated mentioned how Fox is not letting Brady or lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt “do any interviews” related to TB12’s current career. 

History shows Brady won’t react positively to having his work ethic questioned by a well-known and well-respected NFL insider who is associated with one of the league’s main media partners (NBC in this case). If nothing else, it seems Brady’s post-playing NFL journey will continue to generate in-season headlines on a weekly basis for the foreseeable future.