Report expands on how Tom Brady is involved in Raiders' football operations as minority owner

Pete Carroll recently mentioned that Tom Brady officially being approved as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders in the fall of 2024 "changed my outlook" regarding Carroll accepting the job of Raiders head coach this past winter. 

For an article published on Monday, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated expanded on what Brady has offered Raiders general manager John Spytek and Carroll since the end of the 2024 season.  

"Brady promised to coaching candidates in January that the presence of his fellow new limited partners, whom he helped bring in, would materially change how the traditionally cash-poor Raiders would operate," Breer wrote. "With Brady’s business partner Tom Wagner, Silver Lake CEO (and Manchester City board member) Egon Durban and Discovery Land founder Michael Meldman in the fold, the Raiders have delivered on that, maybe most notably in paying $6M per year to pry offensive coordinator Chip Kelly from Ohio State."

Many have wondered since last offseason how involved Brady would be as it pertains to certain personnel decisions made by those inside the Raiders front office, as the seven-time Super Bowl champion also serves as Fox's lead in-game analyst. 

While Brady insisted earlier this month that he "wasn’t a part of any evaluation process" before the club passed on drafting Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders seven times in late April, The Athletic's Dan Pompei noted that Brady essentially signed off on Las Vegas trading for signal-caller Geno Smith and "was on board" with the drafting of quarterback Cam Miller in the sixth round. 

Breer indicated that Brady's presence resulted in the Raiders "setting an organizational identity" by selecting players such as Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty during the draft. 

"It’s well-established that Brady’s priority would be bringing in players of high football character who have the kind of competitive edge and work ethic that Brady did," Breer added. "That meshes with Carroll and Spytek’s beliefs, which helps color the decisions to hire them, and it was all over the Raiders’ draft class."

Brady previously mentored Sanders and has been accused of telling Spytek, Brady's former teammate at Michigan, to not draft the polarizing prospect at any point during the player-selection process. The Cleveland Browns took Sanders with pick No. 144 of the draft, and Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on Sunday that a source revealed that "he didn’t know of any team that had [Sanders] rated in the first three rounds." 

It's unclear why Brady wanted outsiders to think he "wasn’t a part of any evaluation process" before the Raiders showed no interest in Sanders. Perhaps the future Hall of Famer will again address the topic this summer as he prepares for his second season of calling games for Fox.