Chip Kelly Says Tom Brady Isn't Involved in Raiders' Game-Planning amid Fox Role

Las Vegas Raiders minority owner and Fox Sports analyst Tom Brady was seen in the coaching box during Monday night's game against the Los Angeles Chargers and the ESPN broadcast noted that he goes over the game plan with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly several times a week.

That certainly feels like a potential conflict of interest, given that Brady also interacts with other teams and players in his role with Fox, though the NFL was quick to note that Brady didn't break any rules on Monday and is limited in his access to other teams.

Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly also downplayed Brady's role in game-planning.

"I don't know what was said on the broadcast because we don't watch the games," he told reporters Thursday. "Tom's involvement with me is, I just spend a lot of time talking football with him. We don't talk about game plans. We spent a lot of time over the summer, couple of Zooms... and we would just talk ball. 'What did you like against this?' I just use Tom as a resource. 'Hey, you faced a Mike Zimmer defense, what did you like protection-wise?' But on a weekly basis, he's not game-planning with us."

Head coach Pete Carroll was also asked about Brady's role within the Raiders and the potential conflict of interest that has yet again become a major storyline.

"I think Tom's really tried to honor that really strictly and with all respect to the situation of concerns like you're talking about," he told reporters. "And I think he's been really good. He has not been—he is not planning games with us. He is not talking to us about anything other than our conversations that we have that are really... random. They're not set up, they're not structured in any way. And he knows. He's very respectful of what he does otherwise, and he's of the opinion that, you know, he doesn't want to be that kind of a factor, and so he's not."

The comments from both Kelly and Carroll are certainly very different to what sideline reporter Peter Schrager said he was told about Brady's role during the Monday Night Football broadcast, noting that Kelly himself said he talks to Brady "2-3 times a week" and that they "go through film, they go through the game plan."

Chris Fowler then added that Kelly said he uses Brady as a "resource every week," and the entire situation has raised more than a few eyebrows, though others have downplayed the potential conflict of interest:

For now, Brady remains in both roles as a minority owner of the Raiders and an analyst for Fox Sports. Regardless of whether that setup actually provides Las Vegas with a tangible benefit, the optics haven't been great.