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.
Wide receiver Makai Lemon is expected to be a first-round pick in this month’s draft and he’s making the rounds with some of the teams that could add him to their lineup.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Lemon visited with the Chiefs on Thursday. Kansas City has the ninth overall pick this year.
Lemon is also slated to meet with the Jets, Giants, Commanders and Dolphins. The Jets have the second and 16th picks, the Giants are slated to pick fourth, the Commanders are at No. 7 and the Dolphins have both the 11th and 30th picks. Lemon also spent time with the Saints, who pick eighth, in March.
Lemon had 79 receptions for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns at USC during the 2025 season. He was given the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver.
Offseason programs will start getting underway around the NFL next week.
The ten teams that hired new coaches this offseason will be eligible to start working with their players on Monday, April 6. The Ravens are the only team that has set that as their first day of work while the Cardinals, Falcons, Bills, Browns, Raiders, Dolphins, Giants, Steelers and Titans have set Tuesday as their opening day.
All of those teams will also be able to hold a voluntary minicamp later in the spring. Every team is also scheduled to hold a rookie minicamp and a mandatory minicamp over the course of the next few months.
The first two weeks of work for all teams is limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation only. The three-week second phase allows for on-field work, but no full-speed team drills while the third OTA phase allows for team drills, but there is no live contact allowed at any point in the offseason.
Most of the 22 teams with returning coaches will be opening their offseason programs on April 20 or 21. The Broncos have set May 4 as their first day.
Veteran linebacker Anthony Walker will not be back for a 10th season in the NFL.
Walker announced his retirement on Thursday via a post on his Instagram account.
Walker played at Northwestern before being drafted by the Colts in the fifth round in 2017. He spent four seasons in Indianapolis and had 343 tackles, 3.5 sacks, three interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries during his time with the team.
The Browns signed Walker in 2021 and he spent three seasons in Cleveland. He had 170 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in that action.
Walker wrapped up his career by playing for the Dolphins and the Buccaneers over the last two seasons.
