Tom Brady downplays Raiders role amid claims of involvement in offseason decisions

Since at least January, numerous reports have suggested that Tom Brady has essentially been "running" the Las Vegas Raiders since being approved as a minority owner of the franchise in October 2024. 

During a chat with Paul Gutierrez of Raiders.com, Brady downplayed his role within the organization compared to that of majority owner Mark Davis regarding key front-office decisions. 

"Well, I'm just a limited partner, so Mark's the boss," Brady insisted. "And then Pete does his job and Spy does his job and, I think, we trust them to make the right decisions. I'm there as a great sounding board for anything they want to do."

In January, the Raiders hired John Spytek, Brady's former teammate at the University of Michigan, as their new general manager. Additionally, Pete Carroll has publicly acknowledged that Brady's association with the Raiders impacted his decision to become Las Vegas' next head coach. 

"Pete is new this year; he's got a big role to play," Brady told Gutierrez. "And so does John Spytek. And we're trying to do the right things every day. So that's what we're trying to do."

One of the things Brady allegedly did during the offseason was tell Spytek and Carroll he "was not in favor of" the Raiders signing quarterback Sam Darnold in free agency. Brady instead endorsed Las Vegas acquiring Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks, and TB12 also reportedly signed off on the Raiders giving Smith a two-year contract extension.

"He really respected Geno — the way he can process and throw the football," Spytek said about Brady during a conversation with Dan Pompei of The Athletic for an article published on May 6. 

Despite Brady's supposed influence within the Raiders, he seems willing to pass on credit to others for what The Athletic's Mike Jones recently called a successful offseason for the franchise. 

"They've worked together very well, and there's a lot of decisions that are made," Brady added about the Carroll-Spytek connection. "Winning games in September starts with what happens in February, March and April, when no one's really watching. They've been hard at work. And our goal is to, you know, win a lot of football games. You've got to work hard at it, and it's all earned and we've got a tough division. There's a lot of good opponents we face. But it's going to be up to the guys and their daily commitment to doing the right things."

Brady has roughly 375 million reasons to try to convince outsiders he's not running the Raiders while also serving as Fox's lead in-game analyst. He'll be back in the broadcast booth later this year as the Raiders pursue a playoff berth.