Remember when ESPN put former Eagles center Jason Kelce in the booth for an extended stretch of the Week 2 Falcons-Eagles game? Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
The NFL confirmed during a Thursday conference call with reporters that Raiders minority owner Tom Brady will be allowed to work Raiders games as part of his job with Fox.
The good news is that the Raiders rarely land in the No. 1 spot on any Fox broadcast. But if/when they do, Brady — who owns a piece of the team and might be heavily involved in football operations — will be able to perform in the supposedly neutral and objective role of game analyst.
It’s ridiculous, frankly. But it’s not surprising. It’s just another example of post-norms America, where stuff that used to be clearly out of bounds has landed right in the middle of the nothing-to-see-here fairway.
The NFL had a chance to avoid this. And, to their credit, they dropped a strong hint by placing significant restrictions on Brady’s ability attend practices and production meetings.
But Brady didn’t take the hint, and none of the owners were inclined to piss off their “cool friend” by doing the right thing and preventing a clear conflict of interest from infecting the coverage of games Brady works.
