Tom Brady dominated NFL headlines this week thanks to his appearance in the Raiders' coaching booth on Monday Night Football. Brady's reported involvement in Las Vegas game-planning led to numerous questions about the apparent conflict of interest with his Fox Sports broadcasting job; he meets weekly with opposing coaches to glean insight for the game he's calling that weekend. The NFL and the Raiders have been somewhat dismissive of the whole storyline, but multiple teams reportedly expressed concern over the situation.
On Wednesday, the football world was treated to the opinion of an active NFL head coach outside of Las Vegas on the matter. And this head coach in particular is uniquely qualified to weigh in given the specific questions raised about Brady's presence in the broadcast and coaching booths.
Ben Johnson's Bears are slated to take on the Cowboys at Soldier Field on Sunday. The following Sunday, Johnson and Chicago will travel to Las Vegas to take on Brady's Raiders. As Brady will be calling this week's game with Fox, he met with Johnson for production meetings. For his part, Johnson does not think it's a problem and went in-depth as to why while speaking to media on Wednesday.
"I'm really not worried about it," said Johnson, who previously noted he was in "pure coach-speak mode" during his production meeting with Brady this week. "We change week-to-week in terms for what we do. Schematically he's going to be able to turn on the tape and see what everyone else in the world's seeing right now. Personnel-wise, it's the same thing. It's not like I'm going to sit down with him and tell him, 'Hey! Don't do this to Caleb Williams or you might get him.' There's not going to be any trade secrets that are going to be exchanged. I really don't think it's that big of a deal, to be honest with you."
The situation Johnson finds himself in is exactly the sort of instance Brady's critics have been loudest about: He's the only owner in the NFL who gets to meet with an opposing head coach a week before they're supposed to play each other. How is there not a conflict of interest? But the head coach clearly doesn't think anything he'll say to Brady would make a difference one way or another.
A fascinating take from one of the most qualified (and affected) individuals to speak on the matter.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bears' Ben Johnson Debunks Idea Tom Brady Gets Unfair Advantage as Owner, Broadcaster.