Why does the league tolerate Tom Brady’s stubborn insistence on covering all 32 teams as Fox’s No. 1 NFL analyst while owning a chunk of one of the franchises? One factor is that the Raiders currently aren’t competitive.
His unique access to competitors has yet to yield results. So let him talk to players and coaches throughout the week. Let him be on the field before games, gathering useful information about potential free agents, trade targets, coaching hires, and overall league trends. It doesn’t matter.
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Brady didn’t receive approval of his minority ownership of the Raiders until October 2024. Last year’s 4-13 debacle isn’t on him. This year, he’s at least partially responsible for the 2-9 disaster.
The GOAT is far from a passive investor. His below-market price tag for a chunk of the team was justified by what he would bring to the table. In January, majority owner Mark Davis made it clear that Brady is the new right-hand man. The confidant. The voice that Davis lacked since the abrupt departure of Jon Gruden in 2021.
“Bringing in Tom Brady was bringing in somebody on the football side that I had been lacking having here in the organization,” Davis said in January. “[Gruden] was somebody that I brought in and really expected to be that person on the football side that would bring stability to the organization. He had a 10-year contract and all that, and he had his head chopped off.”
Added Davis in May: “It took four years to actually get Tom into the building and bring in that expertise and that confidence that we’re talking about. . . . There is a vision, and Tom does have vision. I don’t think there’s anybody more competitive, that I know of, than Tom Brady. . . . Tom was brought in initially for the football side of the building. Somebody who is going to be there for a long, long time. Not as a president, but someone who’s got skin in the game.”
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So far, Brady’s skin has sustained something more than a flesh wound.
Although Brady has tried to describe himself as a “sounding board,” he’s been far more active than that. Coach Pete Carroll — who is one loss away from the first six-game losing streak of his pro or college head-coaching career — said in January that Brady was “integrally” involved in the hiring process. And Carroll made it clear that Brady would play prominently in the selection of a quarterback.
“We’re going to lean on Tom as much as we possibly can for his insights because nobody has the insights that he has,” Carroll said in January.
Brady’s first choice apparently was Matthew Stafford. When Stafford decided to stay put with the Rams, the Raiders had to move on to other possibilities. Brady was reportedly opposed to signing Sam Darnold. The end result was a reunion for Carroll and Geno Smith. Which hasn’t worked.
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The first scapegoat was offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who was hired (as many believe) at Brady’s recommendation, if not urging. In the aftermath of the termination of Kelly and his $6 million annual salary, someone started leaking embarrassing details about Kelly’s performance, including the astounding claim that he at times called plays that were neither in the game plan nor the playbook.
The clunky effort to justify firing Kelly indirectly splashes mud on Brady’s judgment, if he did indeed target and recommend Kelly. The overall performance of the team casts doubt on the value of leveraging Brady’s immense success as a player into building a properly-functioning football organization.
Obviously, Davis won’t point a finger at Brady. It will be someone else’s fault. It could lead to yet another offseason reset. But that would put even more focus on Brady’s role, even if there’s no accountability. He’s an owner. As 49ers CEO Jed York once said, “You don’t dismiss owners.”
The fact that Brady has a finger in so many different pots may get him a pass. Or it may increase the scrutiny. How many NFL owners are pursuing a broad array of different business pursuits at any given time, while also having a full-time in-season broadcasting job?
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That’s not an issue for most minority owners, who buy in as an investment, a vanity play, a precursor to purchasing a team of their own, or some combination of those. For Brady, who is specifically there to sprinkle Patriot Way DNA onto the Raiders, his ever-expanding portfolio of professional endeavors isn’t just an issue.
It’s a problem.
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