Is Tom Brady running the Las Vegas Raiders or is it someone else?
That’s the question everyone is asking as the Raiders head into arguably most pivotal offseason in franchise history.
And based on a report from The Athletic’s Mike Silver, even the leader of the Raiders’ locker room hasn’t been able to tell who’s running the team.
From Silver on Friday morning in The Athletic…
“After the 2024 season, there were reports that Brady was targeting Ben Johnson as the Raiders’ next coach and Matthew Stafford (with whom he had a fortuitous meeting on the ski slopes) as Vegas’ quarterback. Johnson rejected the Raiders’ overtures and instead took a job with the Chicago Bears, who just won their first NFC North title since 2018. Stafford elected to head back up the lift and continue his run with the Los Angeles Rams; he’s a leading MVP candidate for the playoff-bound team.
In each case, Brady didn’t seem to have a great Plan B. Then again, no one is sure exactly how much influence he wielded as the process played out.
What role, for example, did Brady play in the decision to hire then-73-year-old Pete Carroll to coach a team clearly in need of a protracted rebuild? Who spearheaded the ill-fated move to make Chip Kelly the league’s highest-paid offensive coordinator, or to trade a third-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for quarterback Geno Smith (and to give Smith a two-year, $75-million extension, more annually than Darnold would have cost)?
Were those Brady’s calls? Did Davis, the primary owner desperate for Brady’s guidance, weigh in? Were first-year general manager John Spytek and Carroll granted the authority to do what they felt was best?
Plenty of people who work under Spytek, Carroll and Davis don’t know the answer to those questions.
Similarly, it wasn’t clear who made the call to shut down Crosby last Friday, a move that compelled the aggrieved edge rusher to leave the team’s training facility in a huff. Spytek delivered the news, explaining to Crosby that the Raiders did not want to risk him further exacerbating a left knee injury that will require offseason surgery.
Yet in that moment, Crosby couldn’t be sure whether that edict — which, in conjunction with earlier shutdowns of Miller’s and Bowers’ seasons, obviously aligned with a desire to secure the first pick — came from Spytek, Davis, Brady, Carroll, wellness coordinator Alex Guerrero (a longtime Brady confidante), or some or all of the above.”
The reality of the situation is that just about everyone believes Brady is running the show in Las Vegas but hasn’t been willing to take ownership or public responsibility for the role that has been afforded him by owner Mark Davis.
With Brady rarely in the building, the power vacuum has been filled by a number of key figures in the organization, but that method of operation didn’t play out well in 2025.
From the outside, it looked like there were a lot of decisions made by the head coach, and a report from league insider Tony Pauline pointed to two of the biggest organizational decisions in the last year coming from somewhere in the building other than Spytek.
“According to sources, Spytek did not have much say in the hiring of Carroll,” Pauline reported on Monday.
Pauline also said the Ashon Jeanty pick in 2025 didn’t come from Spytek’s corner of the building.
“Holding the sixth pick of the 2025 draft, the Raiders selected record-setting running back Ashton Jeanty of Boise State, a Carroll pick,” Pauline said.
“I’m told there was pushback on the selection, as many in and around the organization believed a lineman was the way to go. Defensive tackle Mason Graham was a name making the rounds, as he was seen as a replacement for Wilkins, who the team knew they would be without in 2025. The Raiders had no opportunity to draft Graham, as the Browns selected him with the fifth choice.”
Trying to piece the puzzle together a little more, former Raiders’ CEO Amy Trask made comments before Thanksgiving that are no simpler to process now than they were at the time.
“There are, of course, on field problems, but there are also a lot of problems off the field behind the scenes,” Trask said on CBS Sports HQ in November.
“Many people assume when I say ‘behind the scenes’ that I’m referring to Tom Brady, but I’m not. The individual who orchestrated Tom’s purchase in the Raiders of the limited partnership interest in the Raiders, Jim Gray, has been working to orchestrate the purchase of an interest in the Raiders since Al [Davis] was alive and we were in the process of selling a minority interest in the team,” Trask continued.
“Well, he finally orchestrated the purchase and now he is involved in every aspect, or almost every aspect, of the organization. This is having an impact on the organization, not only off the field, but on the field. Pete Carroll is a very good head coach, but the problems we’re seeing on the field are related to the problems that are rampant throughout the organization. They’ve got to fix the off-field behind the scenes issues in order to give Pete a chance to be his best.”
Trask didn’t offer any details on the ownership dynamic that is apparently causing problems behind the scenes, but the more time goes by, the more it seems like the Raiders probably have too many cooks cooking in the kitchen.
So far, the many cooks in the kitchen has been a recipe for disaster, but the hope is that the organization can get everything sorted out by the time they (presumably) add a franchise quarterback in April.
x: @raidersbeat
And this is why Spytek needs to have the final say. I have an issue with him being Brady’s boy, but he’s the only one who’s done prep work for his job.
Mark is a former coke head who wants to bang 25 year olds & Brady wants to bang his 25 year olds but make 1 or 2 major decisions.
They both suck
Amy Trask shoots straight.
Him Gray always has been an ankle biting sum of less than zero. A mouthpiece that always wiggled his nose between two cheeks.
He’s infinitely worse than Brady. If he’s connived his way up that high this franchise is doomed until he’s departed from this plane of existence.
No wonder Marky loves the “snow.”
All this makes sense. I am going to stop complaining about the seasonal short comings until cooler heads in the office prevail. Until then our Raiders are going to “just tank baby.” Unfortunately.