The relationship between ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Troy Aikman and the Miami Dolphins is seemingly growing by the day.
The ESPN analyst joined the Dolphins this offseason as a consultant. He was instrumental in the team hiring Jon-Eric Sullivan as General Manager and Jeff Hafley as head coach. But instead of then stepping aside, Aikman has continued to work with the franchise with everyone involved suggesting that it isn’t and won’t be a conflict of interest with his ESPN job.
Of course, Tom Brady continuing as Fox’s lead NFL analyst while being heavily involved as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders has pretty much blown up that entire issue. But Troy Aikman openly saying that one of the reasons he was hired by the Dolphins was for his inside information isn’t going to make the setup any more comfortable for the other 31 teams in the league.
And given the latest developments out of Miami, those questions are likely going to continue for the foreseeable future.
At a Wednesday press conference, Sullivan gave an update on the team’s NFL Draft plans. And after a reporter asked about Aikman, he gave a fascinating response where he said that the ESPN analyst would be in the building for the draft, possibly in the draft room itself, but not consulted on any picks the team would make.
“He will not be consulted for picks, he may be in the draft room. I can’t say enough good things about Troy,” Sullivan said. “Troy’s been a wonderful sounding board in his own right from afar. Troy will be part of equation moving forward. What that looks like, we’ll see. But he’s been a great sounding board and I’m glad he’s going to be part of the equation. I assume he’ll be, I know he’ll be here, but certainly he’ll be welcome in the draft room.”
So if Troy Aikman isn’t going to be consulting on draft picks… what exactly is he going to be doing with the team during the NFL Draft? Does he not have any social plans? Will he be placing the DoorDash orders? It would seem as if you have a Hall of Fame quarterback in the building… who is on your payroll as a consultant.. you might, I don’t know, consult him during the biggest event of your offseason? Nobody is going to confuse him with Mel Kiper Jr. or Nick Saban when it comes to college football knowledge, but it couldn’t hurt to at least ask what he thinks about a prospect, right?
Not that Aikman has ever been a focal point of ESPN draft coverage, but it at least seems like ESPN is giving him the weekend off so that he is free to work his growing side gig. Whatever that actually looks like.
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