Tom Brady and Charles Woodson have plenty in common.<\/p>\n
They were teammates at the University of Michigan. They both enjoyed Hall of Fame careers. They both have ties to the Las Vegs Raiders. They\u2019re both currently employed by Fox.<\/p>\n
And now, they\u2019ll both potentially face restrictions as broadcasters and NFL owners.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, The Athletic\u2019s Dianna Russini broke the news that Woodson has purchased a minority stake in the Cleveland Browns. And while the Fremont, Ohio native will only own a 0.1 percent stake in his home state team, he\u2019ll also be subjected to the same hurdles that Brady has faced as a broadcaster for Fox as minority owner of the Raiders.<\/p>\n
Hall of Famer Charles Woodson is set to purchase a 0.1% stake in the Browns from the Haslam family.<\/p>\n
The sale is contingent upon Woodson agreeing to similar broadcasting restrictions to Raiders owner Tom Brady and removing his name, image and likeness from businesses he is\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/pNjwavk6ah<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) May 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n As was highly publicized last season<\/a> \u2014 Brady\u2019s first for Fox \u2014 the 7-time Super Bowl champion quarterback was barred from visiting team facilities and doing most of the standard background work that broadcasters do to talk to players and coaches ahead of broadcasts. Tom Brady was also restricted in what he could say with regard to being critical of league officials, although he was ultimately permitted to do so within reason<\/a>.<\/p>\n While such restrictions likely won\u2019t prove as impactful for Charles Woodson considering that the Hall of Fame defensive back doesn\u2019t call games for Fox, his inability to criticize league officials could come into play via his role on the Fox NFL Kickoff pregame show. In addition to his broadcasting restrictions, Russini also noted<\/a> that the 48-year-old also won\u2019t be able to use his name, image and likeness on products that violate the NFL\u2019s policies, including wine and whiskey businesses that he\u2019s currently involved with.<\/p>\n All things considered, it doesn\u2019t appear that the restrictions will be as prohibitive for Woodson\u2019s role as they have been for Brady\u2019s, nor will they be covered with the same level scrutiny. Still, it\u2019s interesting to see another former player be able to keep his job as a broadcaster despite the inherent conflict of interest that comes with joining an ownership group in the league he covers and it will be interesting to see whether this becomes an emerging trend.<\/p>\n \t