Fox analyst Tom Brady has one of the 50 votes for the Associated Press awards, which have been the official NFL Honors awards since the league turned the dissemination of the various trophies into a TV show more than a decade ago. That’s not a problem.
Raiders minority owner Tom Brady also has one of the 50 votes. That is a problem.
No team employees (and especially no team owner) should be voting on league-wide awards. It’s an obvious conflict of interest, even more obvious than Brady’s dual role as the owner and a commentator, in theory, on all 32 of them.
Brady will be voting on, for example, offensive rookie of the year. Raiders tight end Brock Bowers is a candidate. Brady will be voting on the All-Pro team. Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is a candidate.
Next year, the Raiders could have other candidates for other awards. And no owner, executive, or coach from any team should ever be casting those ballots.
The Associated Press had no comment on the matter. The NFL generally had no comment, but added this: “The league plays no role in the voting process, including the selection of the panel of voters, and has no vote.”
The problem is that the 2024 panel was set in September, before Brady’s partial ownership of the Raiders was approved by the other owners.
Brady shouldn’t want to do it. It can create hard feelings or general awkwardness if Brady doesn’t vote for Raiders players.
Also, plenty of player contracts include bonuses for being named a first- or second-team All-Pro. That can impact team salary caps.
Because the Raiders weren’t very good this year, it’s not as big of a problem as it could have been. It’s still a problem.
Brady should relinquish his vote voluntarily. If Brady doesn’t, the Raiders should ask him to. (They won’t.)
In 2025, the AP should remove him from the panel. If the AP doesn’t, the NFL should tell it to.
