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Dan Patrick wonders why the “NFL is bending over backwards to help Tom Brady” or “looking the other way” when it comes to potential conflicts of interest. In particular, Patrick cites Brady calling this weekend’s Lions game with Las Vegas Raiders head coaching candidate Ben Johnson calling the plays for Detroit.
“He’s got the Lions game with the Commanders,” the radio show host said on his show. “What happens if they show Ben Johnson on the sideline? Is Tom Brady, minority owner of the Raiders, allowed to talk about Ben Johnson? Does he have any inside info? Which I would believe he would. I like how the NFL makes it seem like, ‘This isn’t a conflict of interest.’
“Imagine if Jerry Jones was going to be the analyst for a game. And and he’s looking for a head coach. Is there a conflict of interest there?”
“But the NFL is bending over backwards to help Tom Brady, it feels like,” Patrick continued. “Or looking the other way. ‘Conflict of interest? It is what it is.’
“And they you go back in the Wayback Machine to how they went after Tom. They were going after him, in a big time way. Like, they were investigating him then. It’s like, ‘Hey, you know, he’s with Fox. He’s going to be calling the Super Bowl. Let’s play nice. Probably his last year as a broadcaster. No conflict of interest here.’
“What about if it’s a blow out? Let’s say the Lions are up by 21 with, I don’t know, seven minutes to go. You got to fill a little time and all of a sudden you’re going to go, ‘Well Ben Johnson’s going to get a job, Tom, somewhere.’ ‘Yeah he certainly seems like a good candidate to me.'”
According to Ian Rapoport, writing about the Raiders head coaching job, “Johnson is the leading candidate and there’s a lot of people who think, frankly, he’s getting it.” Pro Football Talk also reported the Raiders have made a “massive” offer to Johnson even though they haven’t satisfied the Rooney Rule yet.
Patrick concluded, “Tom, he’s got his fingerprints all over this. He’s going to be making these changes, he’s making these decisions, but he’s also going to be broadcasting a game where maybe the number one candidate for the head coaching vacancies is going to be coaching.”
Eh, Dan Patrick is probably just jealous.