Since joining the Raiders last year as a minority owner, Tom Brady has downplayed his role within the organization, but it has become increasingly obvious that he is a lot more involved than he has been letting on.
During Monday’s game at Allegiant Stadium, Brady was spotted in the coaching booth with a headset, and the images sparked a week of debate around the potential conflicts of interest involved with being an active NFL owner and an NFL broadcaster.
Former Raiders’ head coach Antonio Pierce said this week that he knows Brady will use his position at FOX to benefit the Raiders and hinted that Brady was doing it last year when Pierce was still in the building.
There are plenty of reasons why Brady might downplay his role with the Raiders, but The Athletic’s Dianna Russini addressed the situation this weekend, and she believes he is essentially running everything on the football side of operations in Las Vegas.
“After cameras showed him sitting in the Las Vegas coaches’ booth with a headset, the rest of the world finally caught up to what many around the league already knew: Brady is running the Raiders,” Russini reported on Saturday.
“What Brady himself needs to own is that his role looks far less like that of a quiet minority investor and far more like that of a president of football operations,” Russini continued. “It’s the type of role Tony Boselli has in Jacksonville, and John Elway once had in Denver. These are all-time legends, handed the keys to shape and influence a franchise’s football decisions.”
This isn’t just superficial or surface-level involvement. Brady is talking with Raiders coaches and players during the week — not small talk, either — keeping in close touch with general manager John Spytek, and even has his longtime trainer and business partner Alex Guerrero on staff as “wellness coordinator,” overseeing the training staff and strength and conditioning. He’s getting direct information and updates about the roster. Brady may not physically always be in the building — he lives in South Florida — but he is Viva Las Vegas.”
The NFL confirmed that Brady didn’t break any rules by being in the coaches’ box on Monday night, but the more obvious it becomes that he is active within the organization – potentially even to the point of being involved in game planning – the pressure on the NFL to adjust the rules around his access is only going to increase.
x: @raidersbeat
These people have no idea what Brady’s role is in the organization and with Pierce he’s obviously hating on the Raiders. He never should have been hired to begin with, Harbaugh should have got the job but Davis is in over his head.
Would have loved him here, but Harbaugh was never going to choose us over LA, when they have a young, near elite QB, he’s not an idiot.
Tell him to put on his jockstrap, pads and a helmet and get in the GAME
Once they hired his college buddy as GM, it was a gimme that he was running the football operations. My thing is that he’s not a proven team builder, he’s a rookie at his position. That said, the team’s looking at a 500 record at best.
Agreed and that’s with a fairly easy schedule in comparison to others. So far I’ve seen nothing from Bradys decisions that have screamed he knows what he’s doing. From GM and coaches to FAs and picks so far it looks like a disaster. Never wanted the **** cheater to begin with because it’s always about him. He’s got zero loyalty to thus once great franchise because he only has loyalty to himself.
Brady is a winner and will bring a winning mentality and commitment to excellence to this organization, something this proud franchise hasn’t had or seen for decades. I for one am glad to have him involved with the operations. As a minority owner, he’ll be commitmented and loyal to returning this franchise back too a winning culture this team needs. After all, he is a northern California native. Raider fan for life.
Oh yeah he’s a winner!!! Stop being a wee tard dude. Tell us about all the titles Michael Jordan won as executive
Because Brady is a joke. He has no business running the team. All Mark had to do was let Telesco hire a Coach. He’s too dumb to do that