Tom Brady waves at Detroit Lions fans at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, November 2, 2025. Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Why the Raiders' Turnaround is Bigger Than Tom Brady

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Ezekiel Trezevant | Last updated Jan 11, 2026 11:00 AM ET

With a new head coach on the way and holding the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders hope that they are headed in the right direction. After years of mistakes finally catching up with the Raiders, they look to move past their disappointing recent history.

Las Vegas will now turn to minority owner Tom Brady to become more actively involved in their plans this offseason. Still, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports believes Brady is not the most important part of the Raiders' turnaround. Robinson believes that the person is General Manager John Spytek.

The Man in Las Vegas

"There’s an argument to be made that Spytek will be the most important piece in all of this, especially once he begins working side-by-side with the head coach whom he and Brady have been charged with finding," Robinson said.

"Once that coach is in place, Spytek is the one who will have the most consistent contact with him. Not to mention working with Davis on a day-to-day basis. All while Brady’s bandwidth continues to be divided between his analyst job with Fox Sports and his family on the other side of the country in Miami.

Shortly after the Raiders fired Pete Carroll as the team's head coach, Spytek addressed the team's future. Spytek noted that his relationship with Brady is different than what most have been led to believe recently. Regardless, it will be up to Spytek to lead the way this offseason.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

"I think people sometimes misunderstand mine and Tom's [Brady] relationship. We played together one year at Michigan, and then we didn't talk for 20 years, then he came to Tampa. But what really resonates with Tom and I think is our shared vision of what football is, and a lot of it goes back to Michigan. I think I've talked about this a little bit, but just the idea of work ethic and accountability and discipline and a team built on really the team,” Spytek said.

“I mean, it kind of runs through my head, ‘The Team, The Team, The Team.’ I can see it written on the walls at Schembechler Hall and see Bo Schembechler saying it. We see football similar. We don't see it the same. We have plenty of discussions and disagreements, and I'm not afraid to tell him that. I think that's kind of why he likes me. But I do believe that we see things similar, and we've both had a lot of success seeing it that way, and I think we know what we're after, and it's up to us now to go find it."

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This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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