ESPN’s Troy Aikman has been and will be working for the Dolphins. His specific role isn’t known.
So . . . what would you say you do here?
Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley was asked on Tuesday whether he has consulted with Aikman and “how do you envision his role during the season with the team”?
“I think right now Troy has been a good sounding board,” Hafley told reporters, via a transcript provided by the team. “He’s a guy that I’ve talked to a few times. We’ve had some really good conversations, and I’ll continue to do that.”
Last week, Aikman said he’ll “continue to help in ways that are yet to be defined.”
The NFL should require the Dolphins to define Aikman’s role, so that the NFL can then decide whether and to what extent his access to the 31 other teams will be limited when he’s working weekly NFL games during the 2026 season.
Ideally, the league would close the door on these dual roles. But the league let the horse out of the barn when it allowed Tom Brady to both work for Fox and own a piece of the Raiders. Aikman, who has candidly admitted that the Dolphins have hired him because “I have information that they don’t have or can’t get,” is simply strolling across the bridge that Brady built.
Of course, if the NFL were to backtrack now, it would be admitting that it was asleep at the switch with Brady. Still, Pandora’s box has flown open. Until the league slams it shut, all teams should start making offers to any broadcaster whose primary job provides access to information that the individual teams “don’t have or can’t get.”
The Dolphins opened up their offseason workout program on Tuesday and running back De’Von Achane was not in attendance.
Achane is eligible for a contract extension this offseason and Dolphins General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan said last month that the team’s goal is to get something done with a player he called “a building block for us.” Achane’s absence from the start of voluntary work suggests that he’d like to see things wrapped up before he gets back to work and head coach Jeff Hafley declined to update where things stand on that front.
“Those are talks for another time between Achane, Sully and those guys,” Hafley said at a press conference. “I’m not going to dive into those talks right now. That’s part of the business, it’s part of what every team goes through in those situations and they’ll work it out.”
Achane led the league in yards per carry while running 238 times for 1,350 yards and eight touchdowns last season.
There are two teams taking a closer look at an incoming LSU defensive back this week.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, cornerback Mansoor Delane is taking a pre-draft visit with the Dolphins on Monday and Tuesday and the Giants on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Delane ran a reported 4.38 40-yard dash during LSU’s Pro Day.
Delane began his collegiate career at Virginia Tech, playing for the program from 2022-2024. He transferred to LSU for his final season in 2025, recording a pair of interceptions with 11 passes defended for the Tigers.
Tom Brady blazed the trail. Troy Aikman is now walking the same path.
Brady wears a pair of conflicting hats, covering the entire league as an employee at Fox while owning a piece of the Raiders. Aikman’s short-term stint as a consultant for Miami’s G.M. and head-coaching hires (both of which they may have nailed) has morphed into an ongoing role that has yet to be fully defined.
The apples-to-apples Brady comparison is unmistakable. An analyst who calls games involving all teams has a financial interest as to one of them.
“I will say I’m pulling for the Dolphins . . . because now I have something at stake, and I think they hired two really talented, wonderful people, and I think that’s gonna prove itself out,” Aikman recently told Clarence E. Hill Jr. of DLLS Sports. “But, yeah, I’m pulling for them. I want to see them do well because I feel like my fingerprints are on it as well.”
For Brady, the NFL’s current cure for his incurable conflict of interest is to ban him from entering team facilities or attending practices. (In 2024, the restrictions included not participating in pregame production meetings.) As to Aikman, the league previously has said it will address the situation “at the appropriate time.”
In response to Aikman’s latest comments, the NFL has declined comment.
“I think the Dolphins were wise in understanding my relationships around the league,” Aikman told Hill. “And knowing that I have information that they don’t have or can’t get. And I think they were smart in taking advantage of that — whether it was through me or through somebody else.”
Aikman is right. If the NFL will allow broadcasters to leverage the things they learn while gaining unique access to teams, players, and coaches (particularly while strolling around the field during pregame warmups), every team should hire a broadcaster.
The question becomes how those situations will be handled. Beyond any limits the league may place on Aikman’s access, how will ESPN address this? Will there be a disclaimer before all games? Before the games featuring one or more teams from the AFC East or otherwise on Miami’s schedule?
And what will happen the next time Aikman and Joe Buck call a Dolphins game? Will the connection be mentioned once, with a perfunctory box-checking by Buck? Will it be repeated throughout the broadcast?
That hasn’t been an issue for Fox, because Brady has yet to get a Raiders game. The Dolphins could end up on Monday Night Football in 2026. (Last year, despite not making the playoffs in 2024, they played on Monday night twice.) Other teams in their division (specifically, the Bills and Patriots) surely will be given one or more MNF games.
It’s absolutely an issue, because the NFL has allowed it to become one. There should be a clear rule in situations like this — if a broadcaster has an opportunity to work for a team, the broadcaster must pick one job or the other.
Of course, part of the attraction to Aikman came from the fact that he has “information that [the Dolphins] don’t have or can’t get.” The moment he turns in his headset, that information will become less robust.
But if the NFL is going to allow double-dipping, every team should grab a scoop and start targeting folks who can help them find out things they don’t know and can’t learn. Every game analyst becomes fair game. The play-by-play announcers are in play, too. Ditto for the sideline reporters, who are roaming around the nooks and crannies of the bench area, eyes and ears at all times open.
It never should have gotten to the point that two of the most prominent analysts have direct relationships with specific teams. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it would be foolish for the other teams to not try to hire someone in the broadcasting ecosystem who has “information they don’t have or can’t get.”
Once upon a time, the Cowboys beat the Dolphins in the Super Bowl. If the two teams somehow cross paths in the championship game in the not-too-distant future, Cowboys Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman will definitely have a dog in the fight.
In an interview with Clarence E. Hill Jr. of DLLS Sports, Aikman made it clear that he’s now all-in for the Dolphins. It’s still not clear, however, what Aikman will be doing.
Aikman explained that he was approached by the Dolphins to assist with the General Manager search. Then, he was asked to help find a new head coach. Now, he’ll be sticking around.
“I’ll continue to help in ways that are yet to be defined,” Aikman said.
While Aikman’s specific role is TBD, the thinking is that Aikman can help the effort. In the same way that Tom Brady is helping the Raiders.
“I think all franchise quarterbacks that have been in the league for any length of time,” Aikman said, “I think we all come out of the game thinking that we could run a team, and know what it takes, and certainly having been a part of some championship teams, and I know what the locker room feels like, and what a winning locker room should be like.
“And so I really thought I would go in that direction when I was getting out of football, but because of things in my personal life, it kept me from really being able to devote time in that way. But, in the back of my mind, I kind of hoped it’d come along, and then, you know, I was so far removed at this particular time, I didn’t think it would ever happen. But so it’s kind of scratched that itch, but, you know, I don’t have any ownership. I don’t have the influence, if you will, that Tom seemingly has there with the Raiders. So it looks similar, but I’m not so sure that is.”
It is similar in one important respect that continues to be glossed over by the league and the broadcast networks. While calling games for all 32 teams, Aikman now has a clear interest in the success of one of them. And he apparently plans to leverage the things he learns in his primary job to assist the performance of his second one.
“I think the Dolphins were wise in understanding my relationships around the league,” Aikman said. “And knowing that I have information that they don’t have or can’t get. And I think they were smart in taking advantage of that — whether it was through me or through somebody else. The Cowboys have never elected to do that, at least with me. You know, maybe they have with others. But, no, I don’t feel there’s a conflict [with the Cowboys]. But I will say I’m pulling for the Dolphins . . . because now I have something at stake, and I think they hired two really talented, wonderful people, and I think that’s gonna prove itself out. . . But, yeah, I’m pulling for them. I want to see them do well because I feel like my fingerprints are on it as well.”
While there may be no direct conflict with the Cowboys until they play the Dolphins, the conflict of interest between Aikman’s main job and his side job is clear. And it will become an issue the moment Aikman shows up to visit another team’s facility and/or attend another team’s practice — especially if that team is on Miami’s 2026 schedule.
As to Aikman’s dual role, the league has said it will address the situation “at the appropriate time.” In the interim, Aikman will be in the draft room with the Dolphins, further cementing the fact that he’s on the payroll and working to advance the team’s interests.
Having a slice of equity doesn’t matter. Aikman is on the payroll. He wants the Dolphins to win. They’ve hired him, as Aikman said, due to the fact that he has “information that they don’t have or can’t get.”
His two jobs have clearly conflicting interests. One employer will expect him to gather information that will help him perform that job to the best of his abilities. The other employer will expect that the information gathered in the first job will be shared for strategic purposes in the second job.
Aikman is right about one thing: If the league is going to allow teams to hire broadcasters to funnel “information that they don’t have or can’t get,” every team should be smart enough to do it.
It all goes back to Brady’s dual role. The moment the league shrugged at Brady working as Fox’s No. 1 analyst and owning a piece of the Raiders, a bridge was crossed. Aikman is merely the second guy across that bridge. Unless the league burns that bridge down, any team that doesn’t follow suit will be at a competitive disadvantage.
