Brady's Side Role with the Las Vegas Raiders: An Unsettling Scenario

Tom Brady dedicated 23 NFL seasons to a singular mission: establishing himself as the greatest quarterback in league history. He accomplished that dream. Today, in retirement, Brady has ventured into numerous endeavors. He serves as a commentator for Fox. He's involved in development ventures in Birmingham. He has promoted digital assets. He's spreading the NFL to Saudi Arabia. He operates a popular YouTube channel. He replicated his dog. Brady's post-career ventures appear either diverse or unfocused, based on your viewpoint.

Side projects are one thing. But overseeing a NFL team is hardly a casual commitment. In addition to his other roles, Brady also serves as the unofficial football leader for the Raiders, presently the most hapless team in the NFL.

The Raiders fell to 2–9 on Sunday after enduring a decisive loss to the Browns. The Raiders didn't just lose; they were humiliated by a underperforming team with a quarterback making his first NFL start. The Raiders' offensive unit averaged 2.9 yards per play before meaningless action in the fourth quarter. Geno Smith was sacked 10 times and faced pressure 46 times, a single-game high for any franchise this season. On defense, Las Vegas allowed significant gains to a Cleveland offense that has been dysfunctional for the majority of the campaign. Any way you slice it, it was a comprehensive beatdown. Fortunately Brady didn't have to watch. The primary decision-maker of this current situation was working in Dallas on the Fox broadcast for Eagles-Cowboys.

A Series of Questionable Decisions

In fairness to Brady, he has only been involved for a year guiding the team's football decisions, after becoming a minority owner of the franchise in 2024. But he was responsible for every major decision last summer, and each one has backfired. Those decisions have left the Raiders as the most unwatchable and aimless franchise in the league.

This wasn't supposed to be a multi-year rebuild. The Raiders didn't appoint veteran coach Pete Carroll, among a select group to win both a championship and a college national championship, to manage a long slog back up the standings. He was expected to restore the team to relevance and then hand them off with a stable base in place. Conversely, Carroll is facing the possibility of being one-and-done in Vegas, and the Raiders are looking at another restart.

Franchise Dysfunction

This is not all Brady's fault, naturally. The majority owner is still the controlling stakeholder. Davis has cycled through coaches and executives at a speed that would make even the Jets feel embarrassed. The Raiders are on their seventh head coach and fifth general manager in 15 years, a turnover rate that has eliminated any coherent long-term vision. Nevertheless, it's Brady's fingerprints that are evident throughout this iteration of the Raiders. "This is the Tom Brady show," league reporter a prominent journalist said last summer. "He's been integrally involved," Carroll stated of Brady at his first press conference in January. "This is his chance to leave his mark on a team."

Brady made the crucial appointments and set the Raiders on this directionless path. He hired a close associate, his college buddy and co-worker in Tampa, to serve as general manager. He approved a team strategy to Carroll's preference, including dealing a draft selection for Geno Smith and drafting a RB No 6 overall despite having a bottom-tier offensive line. He recruited an offensive innovator away from the college ranks, making him the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league. And he signed off on entrusting a unreliable blocking unit – the bedrock for that coach and running back – to Carroll's son.

Catastrophic Results

It's been a complete failure. The previous year's Raiders were a team with limited success, but they were scrappy and resilient. This year's Raiders are a disorganized situation. Carroll has installed an old-fashioned defensive philosophy, Smith looks washed and the Raiders' blocking unit has undermined any hopes for Ashton Jeanty and the ground attack. If nothing else, Carroll was supposed to bring enthusiasm. But the Raiders were uninspired on Sunday, waiting for the snaps to the end of the game.

The contrast with Cleveland was pronounced. The situation often seems dire with the Browns, but there are embers of hope. Their star defender, now just five quarterback takedowns away from the league single-season record, leads a formidable defense. And there is optimism around the stellar-looking rookie class that includes multiple promising talents – a dynamic runner at running back and a skilled defender at linebacker. There is also the rookie QB, who may not be The Answer at QB, but who is a viable option in the short-term.

Admittedly, it was facing the Raiders' defensive unit, but Sanders showed that the NFL level was not overwhelming for him. With a complete preparation period to prepare, he was effective, accepting what the defense gave him and displaying flashes of improvisation. Sanders became the first Cleveland rookie QB to win his first start since 1995.

Absence of Direction

Sanders and the rest of the Browns' rookie class symbolize promise. That's a mirror the Raiders don't want to look into. Good organizations understand their situation in the ecosystem: you're either a championship candidate, a competitive squad, or undergoing reconstruction. Vegas entered 2025 believing they were a couple of moves away from respectability. Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they failed to adjust midstream. Like Cleveland, Vegas should be throwing out young players to find out what they have for the coming years. But only two first-year players have seen real playing time. There has apparently already been disagreement between the coaching staff and the management regarding the limited playing time for two rookie offensive linemen, despite the offensive line being a sieve. First-year pass catchers Jack Bech and Dont'e Thornton Jr have combined for nine receptions in eleven contests, despite the ineffectiveness in the aerial attack. Carroll continues to roll out experienced veterans on defense over rookies in need of reps.

Unclear Future

What is the future direction? Will Carroll be back or the GM or the quarterback? And who actually makes those choices, Brady or Davis? How can a team operate when its primary influencer logs in occasionally, signs off franchise-altering moves, and then vanishes on side quests?

It will prove a challenge for the Raiders to improve – and they are in a conference filled with perennial playoff contenders. At the same time, other rebuilders have clear trajectories. The Jets are stocked with future draft picks. The Titans and Giants have talented young QBs. The Raiders have nothing. No core. No franchise QB. No identity. No plan.

The single factor more dangerous than being bad in the NFL is not knowing you're bad. The Raiders lack clarity on where they are, what they are developing, or who will make decisions in the offseason.

Tom Brady once excelled at football through intense dedication. The Raiders could use more than limited attention of it.