Tom Brady’s role with the Las Vegas Raiders is already bigger than expected. The seven-time Super Bowl champion wasn’t just in the building Monday night for the Raiders’ 20-9 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.

He was in the coaching booth. Headset on. Sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with staff at Allegiant Stadium. According to ESPN’s Peter Schrager, Brady has even been meeting multiple times a week with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly this season.

Just weeks before his ownership stake in Las Vegas became official, Brady had launched his broadcasting career with Fox. But minority ownership comes with strings attached.

The league bars him from criticizing referees or other teams and from attending the practices of the other 31 franchises — a rule softened only to allow him to sit in on meetings remotely. That’s where the conflict of interest comes in.

As ESPN and Andscape’s Domonique Foxworth put it: “Coaches are guarded, but sometimes the players aren’t as guarded.”

In other words, even small details slipping out could raise real integrity questions.

Brady is scheduled to call next week’s Dallas Cowboys — Chicago Bears game for Fox. Then, one week later, those same Bears face off against the Raiders—the very team Brady owns a piece of. Which means, in theory, Brady will spend this week in pregame production meetings, speaking with Bears coaches, absorbing their insight, and then seven days later, the Bears will be lining up against his own franchise.

Foxworth didn’t mince words about the optics. “The thing is, you do not want the perception, the opportunity for any impropriety,” he said, before doubling down on the logic gap. “If you are going to take this risk, I would think that you would take this risk because the benefit was so great…It just, I would be upset or uncomfortable if I were a player on a team. I think that.”

For a Raiders locker room that just dropped another ugly game, patience with Brady’s dual role could wear thin fast.

And here’s where Foxworth drew the line: his frustration speaks for the Raiders players who can’t say it out loud. Is Brady too valuable to Fox to let go? Too invested in Vegas to step back? Either way, Foxworth’s warning is clear—the balancing act isn’t worth the risk.

Skip Bayless doesn’t take it easy on Tom Brady

Tom Brady has got access where it matters most. Sitting with Chip Kelly multiple times a week, breaking down film and mapping out game plans.

For fans, it’s a cocktail of excitement and unease. Is this genius infiltration… or a conflict of interest waiting to blow up? Skip Bayless thinks it’s getting a little out of the hand as he took to ‘X’:

“Wait, Raiders owner Tom Brady is sitting in the coaching box with a headset & ESPN says he talks often during the week to O.C. Chip Kelly??? How can the NFL allow Brady to even remotely interview players/coaches of other teams as part of his Fox prep? This is just wrong,”

Then he doubled down: “I have defended Tom Brady for years as the runaway NFL GOAT. But now he wants his cake and eat it, too? He took a reported $370 mil for 10 years from Fox then bought 5% of the Raiders, which severely limits his ability to do his Fox job? Now he’s advising/coaching? Big-footing.”

Bayless didn’t stop there, capping his rant with one last jab: “Well, I guess Tom Brady isn’t exactly the GOAT advisor or press box coach. Only 9 points? Wonder what Brady is saying behind closed doors tonight about Geno?”

And then there’s the public tug-of-war. Raiders head coach Pete Carroll didn’t exactly deny Brady’s role—he danced around it.

“Yeah, that’s not accurate. That’s not accurate. That’s not accurate,” Carroll said of claims Brady speaks with Kelly “two to three times a week.”

But in the same breath, he admitted it. “I talk to Tom; Chip talks to Tom regularly… We all get along well and respect each other. We just talk about life and football and whatever it comes. And he has great insight. So, we’re lucky to have him as an owner.” Carroll’s slip is telling Brady might be a “minority owner” on paper, but in practice, his influence stretches far past the executive suite.

Even GM John Spytek has called Brady’s voice “invaluable”. Carroll has gone even further, labeling him a “tremendous asset” and even his “phone buddy.” That bond between Carroll and Brady might be the most dangerous weapon in Vegas. Not a game plan, but the steady hand of a legend steering the ship from the shadows.