NFL’s Tom Brady Rules Are Back and Now Apply to Troy Aikman, Too

The NFL is extending its team-access restrictions to Troy Aikman and keeping them intact for Tom Brady this season, without changes from last season.

The access rules arise from the dual roles of Aikman as a consultant to the Dolphins and the analyst for ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcasts and of Brady as a part-owner of the Raiders and the lead analyst for Fox’s NFL game broadcasts.

The rules previously applied to Brady and now are in effect for Aikman, the Hall of Fame former quarterback of the Cowboys, for the first time.

“There have been no issues with Tom over the last two seasons,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a written statement to Front Office Sports. “It is up to the coaches and clubs what they share with him. If they share information they shouldn’t, then that’s on them. The same parameters that pertained to Tom last season will continue this year and also will apply to Troy.

“Both may attend production meetings virtually but will have no access to practice facilities or practices. They may conduct interviews outside team facilities with football personnel and players. They could conduct the interview at the team hotel in an area separate from other football personnel. They could broadcast games involving their own club.”

Brady and Aikman also are subject to the NFL’s tampering and gambling policies.

Aikman assisted the Dolphins with their hires this offseason of GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley.

“I get it, and I’ve talked to the commissioner,” Aikman told broadcaster Dale Hansen during a recent appearance on the Dallas Dialogue with Dale Hansen podcast. “He’s fine with what I’m doing and my role. But I think that anyone that’s behind a mic that’s calling a game, there’s a conflict of interest because you have relationships in this business.”

Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl–winning quarterback for the Patriots and Buccaneers, is entering his third season with Fox. He has a 10-year, $375 million contract with the network.

The restrictions were eased late in Brady’s first season with Fox—extending into last season—after originally barring him entirely from participating in production meetings.

The NFL’s team owners voted unanimously in October 2024 to approve the purchase by Brady and Tom Wagner, the cofounder of Knighthead Capital Management, of approximately 10% of the Raiders. The deal had been held up because of concerns by owners on the NFL finance committee about the degree of the discount on the purchase price that Brady originally was given by Raiders owner Mark Davis before the terms were revised.

Owners from several teams expressed reservations about the conflict before they voted to ratify the purchase. Officials from some teams have grumbled quietly about the matter at times since then but generally have not been critical publicly. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has questioned whether a conflict exists.

“Teams have the right to say whatever they want to,” Goodell told CNBC last September. “They don’t have to disclose any information if they think it’s a conflict of interest. Teams don’t need to say anything. Sometimes they don’t say anything to somebody who’s not [a minority owner]. We get a lot of former players that are in [broadcast meetings] that are close to their former teams. I think our teams are pretty smart about saying, ‘I’m not sharing something with him.’”

Goodell also said to CNBC, “Where’s the conflict? He’s not hanging around in the [team practice] facilities. We don’t allow that.”

Brady wrote last September in his newsletter that “the point where my roles … 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.”

Brady, 49, attended the Raiders’ opening preseason game Thursday night against the Cardinals in Las Vegas. It was the preseason debut of new Raiders coach Klint Kubiak and of rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft.

The NFL originally imposed the restrictions on Brady in the 2024 season, his first season with Fox after he sat out the 2023 season following his retirement as a player. The restrictions were eased beginning with the Super Bowl at the end of the 2024 season, carrying over into last season.

“Tom continues to be prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings,” the NFL said in a written statement last year. “He may attend production meetings remotely but may not attend in person at the team facility or hotel. He may also conduct an interview off site with a player like he did last year a couple times, including for the Super Bowl. 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. The other parameters remain intact. He may not egregiously criticize officials. There were no issues last year.”

The tensions over Brady’s dual role intensified when he sat in the Raiders coaches’ booth, wearing a headset, during a Monday night game early last season against the Chargers at Allegiant Stadium. The NFL said then that Brady did not violate any league rules.

“There are no policies that prohibit an owner from sitting in the coaches’ booth or wearing a headset during a game,” the NFL said at the time in a statement. “Brady was sitting in the booth in his capacity as a limited partner. All personnel sitting in the booth must abide by policies that prohibit the use of electronic devices other than league-issued equipment such as a Microsoft Surface Tablet for the Sideline Viewing System.”

The issue also was scrutinized during Brady’s first season with Fox when he called a Commanders-Lions playoff game in Detroit while two Lions assistant coaches, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, were head coaching candidates for the Raiders. 

Brady is widely believed to be heavily involved in all major football-related decisions made by the team, which landed neither coach. Johnson ended up with the Bears, and Glenn was hired by the Jets. The Raiders hired Pete Carroll, who lasted only one season with the franchise.