Troy Aikman to continue work with Miami Dolphins after role in GM, coaching searches

ESPN color commentator Troy Aikman scratched a long-time itch when he helped the Miami Dolphins with their general manager and coaching search this offseason. Now, he’s planning to keep on scratching.

In a somewhat Tom Brady-like move, Aikman plans to continue to work with the Dolphins in “some capacity.” While Aikman didn’t disclose what that capacity would be, any role in Miami management would surely raise some eyebrows.

Or at least trigger some of the same rules Brady endures as part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. Serving as the color commentator in FOX’s A-team alongside play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, Brady cannot attend practices or even enter the team facilities of the franchises he covers. He also can’t participate in broadcast production meetings.

All of this is to limit the trade secrets he could obtain from covering games and presumably take back to the Raiders. If Aikman continues to work with the Dolphins, Brady’s rules likely become his at some point.

The Dolphins surprised the NFL Hall of Fame when they came to him for help. But after feeling useful to the franchise, he’s ready for more.

“Now, this year, the Dolphins reached out to me and asked if I would help them in their GM search and head coaching search,” Aikman told Dale Brisby on the Rodeo Time podcast. “Kinda caught me out of left field, I wasn’t expecting that. But I dove into it, decided I would do it, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“Felt like I was of some help, and where that might go, I’m not sure. I’m gonna continue to work with them in some capacity, and that’s kind of scratched whatever itch I had when it came to being in the front office.”

Troy Aikman put off front office work for family

Aikman has served as a broadcaster first on FOX, then on ESPN since the 2001 season. While many consider him one of the best color analysts, he actually always yearned for a front office role. But one thing stopped him:

Family.

“No, never. Never. I have thought about being in the front office. In fact, I always thought that’s what I would do,” Aikman said. “I just felt that when I retired, I had just gotten married, going into my last year, [and] was just starting to have my daughters.

“And I just thought it would be really selfish on my part because I didn’t have to do it. I didn’t have to go into coaching to make a living and to get pulled away from my family like that; it just wasn’t the life that I wanted.”

“….Then I went through a divorce when my girls were still real young. I was a single dad. And I felt that pursuing that would be selfish as well because I wouldn’t have gotten the time with them.”

Aikman finally felt positioned in 2021 when his youngest daughter graduated from high school. But at that point, he was moving to ESPN with longtime broadcast partner Joe Buck. So he was content to stay in the booth.

Now, he seems content to do both. The question becomes, will he ever want to scratch the itch further and leave the booth completely for a full-time front office role?

For now, in some part due to Tom Brady, he doesn’t have to choose.