Tom Brady's influence with Raiders downplayed in latest Sports Illustrated report

Ah! Well, nevertheless.

2023 WNBA Finals - Game One
2023 WNBA Finals - Game One | Ethan Miller/GettyImages

It's been a weird start to Tom Brady's Raiders era.

When it was announced that he was interested in joining the Raiders' ownership group, it didn't come as much of a surprise. It always felt like that was the plan – especially during his last couple of seasons – and people didn't expect much pushback from the NFL.

Then, the NFL pushed back. Brady's stake in the Raiders was held up in meetings and committees and conversations way longer than anyone expected – including, apparently, Brady, who took a job with Fox Sports in the meantime. And that job just so happens to kinnnnnda fly in the face of his ownership responsiblities, which is a super fun conflict of interest that hasn't fully played out yet.

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And while he's still trying to make both things work, his influence with the Raiders is clearly on the back-burner right now. According to a new report from Sports Illustrated's Connor Orr, Brady's day-to-day decision-making with the team is basically nonexistent.


It doesn't sound like Tom Brady's going to be calling shots in Vegas any time soon

"I get the sense that he is more broadcaster than Vegas power player right now. At least in the sense that I would be very surprised if he was granted the authority to simply recreate the Patriot Way. I also am not sure what Mark Davis’s appetite would be for such a move after he went all in on Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler during his last hiring cycle. That note is for those who are trying to pencil in a Brady-Vrabel reunion."

For Raiders fans that are under the belief that Brady's going to remake the team entirely in his own vision, I imagine this is a bummer to read. That being said, it's not particularly surprising. Brady's move to Las Vegas always seemed like a bit of an optics play, and it feels like he's more of a celebrity ambassador than anything else.

But who knows: if things keep going in the direction they're currently headed, it'd be very Raiders to just call in Tom Brady for a more hands-on role and assume he knows what he's doing. Can't be worse than some of the previous ideas.

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