Antonio Pierce says Tom Brady's 'unprecedented' role was 'great asset' for Raiders in 2024

Pierce also said 'you'd be foolish' to believe Brady won't share information with the Raiders

Tom Brady may have retired from football, but he is still very much a factor in the NFL. As a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, he has an interest in seeing that franchise succeed. That became clear to the NFL world when images of Brady sitting in the Raiders coaches' booth during their matchup vs. the Chargers went viral on Monday night.

The issue is that Brady is also a broadcaster for Fox, and he covers other games involving other teams around the league every week. In this role, Brady is given a certain level of access to coaches and players, which leads to obvious concerns about how he could use information gathered to his or the Raiders' advantage.

Brady speaks with Raiders coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. That is understood. Would Brady share information gleaned from his broadcasting job with the Raiders? Former Silver and Black coach Antonio Pierce, who now works for CBS on the NFL Today+, says you'd be a fool to believe otherwise.

Tom Brady joins Raiders coaches in booth on 'MNF' as involvement in offensive game planning comes to light

Bryan DeArdo

"This is unprecedented, what we're seeing," Pierce said on SiriusXM Mad Dog Radio, per Pro Football Talk. "I think I would be uncomfortable if it was the other way around, to be honest with you. Because you're not dealing with just a normal person. Tom Brady is the elite of the elite, one of the greatest quarterbacks, one of the greatest players in the game, played against him obviously, student of the game.

"It's not hard for him to watch a few things on a Friday practice or hear things in a production meeting and be like, 'Hmm,' and have tidbits. And you'd be foolish enough to think that he's not gonna share that with the Raiders because we had those conversations about certain things."

In fact, Pierce claimed that Brady "was a great asset for us" when he was leading the team in 2024. 

"He was at training camp," Pierce said. "He's been around, he was at OTAs, he was in the draft meetings. He's been around a lot more than he was last year with me. So our conversations were more about how we fix the Raiders. I think this year, you know, he built that team. I mean, those are a lot of his calls, right? I think even starting with [firing] me, you know, I think with me that was one of his calls. And again, Pete Carroll and Geno [Smith], like he's heavily involved within the organization. So maybe last year that would have helped me out. But I didn't have that from Tom last year."

For what it's worth, Kelly, the team's current offensive coordinator, said on Thursday that he does not talk to Brady about game plans.

"I don't know what was said on the broadcast because we don't watch the games," Kelly said. "But Tom's involvement with me is -- I spend a lot of time just talking football with him," Kelly said in his press conference. "But it's not on a -- we don't talk about game plans."

While this is worrisome at face value, it's worth mentioning that the NFL has considered this conflict of interest, and has safeguards in place that prohibit Brady from doing things other color commentators can do. 

"Tom continues to be prohibited from going to a team facility for practices or production meetings," the NFL said in a statement. "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."

CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones spoke with several league and team executives this week regarding the Brady controversy. One executive relayed that he's not worried about his coach slipping up in a virtual production meeting with Brady. They will be careful not to give away information Brady could potentially use for the Raiders' gain down the road.

"I don't worry my coach will slip up in a production meeting and give up something he shouldn't," an executive told Jones. "If you play the Raiders in a couple weeks and come across Brady, your antenna is going to be up. But Pete Carroll and Patrick Graham aren't dumb. They're going to watch your film."

This issue is not going away anytime soon, and it's notable that Pierce admitted Brady began helping the Raiders right away. This is the greatest quarterback of all time, and a Hall of Fame competitor. If Monday night showed us anything, Brady is not going to be like other minority owners. He's going to be very involved with his franchise.