Troy Aikman Must Abide by the ‘Tom Brady Rules’ After Accepting Dolphins Role — Newsweek

RESOLVING THE LEDGER

Troy Aikman Must Abide by the ‘Tom Brady Rules’ After Accepting Dolphins Role — Newsweek | AIPROPX

0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. When seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady agreed to become a minority owner in the Las Vegas Raiders, it caused quite a firestorm because of his role as a broadcaster with Fox.

Many were furious that Brady was allowed to have an ownership stake in an NFL team given his obligations for Fox necessitated him being unbiased toward the other 31 teams in the NFL.

The league’s solution? To implement what’s become known as the “Brady Rules” — a set of regulations the future Hall of Famer has to abide by as a broadcaster that restrict his access on game days.

Those rules limit Brady to virtual pre-production meetings only, he’s not allowed to enter any team training facilities other than the Raiders, he’s prohibited from attending any live team practices, and he’s still subject to the NFL’s anti-tampering policy.

Those same strict rules now apply to ESPN “Monday Night Football” announcer Tory Aikman, who recently accepted a job as a part-time front-office consultant and an advisor for the Miami Dolphins.

“The same parameters that pertained to Tom last season will continue this year and also will apply to Troy,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy told Front Office Sports . “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.”

McCarthy reiterated there were no issued with Brady last season, and he made it known if teams share any information with Brady (or Aikman) that they shouldn’t, the league won’t step in because that’s something they brought on themselves.

Another caveat to “the Brady rules” is that he cannot be critical of the league’s officiating — a task that’s often proved difficult for some announcers. The same now goes for Aikman, who calls arguably the biggest game on the NFL schedule every week, which opens him up for even more scrutiny going forward.