Mark Davis shares interesting Tom Brady-Raiders link

When Tom Brady left the New England Patriots and became a free agent in 2020, many teams were trying to push for the 40-year-old quarterback’s services.

Several teams, such as the Los Angeles Chargers, pushed to land the future Hall of Famer. Miami Dolphins and owner Stephen Ross were punished for tampering in their attempt to get Brady over. In the end, Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, winning them a Super Bowl ring as a result.

Now a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, there was a chance that Brady could have ended up with the Raiders much earlier.

Mark Davis was reportedly in on bringing Brady to the Raiders.

In an episode of “Raiders: Talk to the Nation,” on the team’s official YouTube channel, Raiders principal owner Mark Davis talked about how he wanted to sign Brady in 2020, but then-head coach Jon Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock vetoed the idea.

“[Tom Brady] was supposed to be here in 2020,” Davis said.

“That’s when our relationship started was in 2020 when he was a free agent and we talked about him coming here to play quarterback. And obviously it was a tough decision for him and he was close to wanting to come here, but the head coach and general manager decided they wanted to go in a different direction. So we didn’t sign him, but as I got to know him through that process I let his agent know that when he was done playing, that I would like him to be part of our organization.”

The decision to stick with Derek Carr over Brady at quarterback did not pan out, as the Raiders continued to struggle under center and both Gruden and Mayock are now gone from the organization.

The question is that, if Davis was so adamant about Brady being part of the Raiders, it is unclear why he did not push harder to make it happen in 2020. Perhaps it was Davis not wanting to push a move through against the wishes of his front office and coaching staff. If that is the case, Davis deserves at least some credit for not meddling as other owners sometimes do.

Regardless, Brady is now part of the Raiders’ ownership group, and Davis gets the unique opportunity to learn from a different perspective in how to build a championship-level team.