Tom Brady takes key role in Raiders' hirings of coach Pete Carroll, GM John Spytek

 

[January 30, 2025]  By MARK ANDERSON

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Faced with hiring a general manager and head coach, most NFL owners would've been heavily involved in every facet of the process.

Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis, however, leaned on Tom Brady.

Davis ceded much control of those searches to Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback and current Fox NFL analyst, who was brought into the organization in October as a minority owner.

Brady helped lead a committee that ultimately landed on Pete Carroll as the coach and John Spytek as the general manager.

“I’ve been telling you all since the beginning of this is that the one thing I know is what I don’t know,” Davis said. “I’m going to surround myself with people who do know these things, and I’m going to give them the opportunity to do their job. I give them vision, goals. We talk about those things, but results are what speak. It’s fairly easy to do that if you understand where you are.”

The Raiders are not where Davis would like them. He wants to return the franchise to the glory days under his late father, Al, who instilled a maverick personality into an organization that won three Super Bowls.

The Raiders have made two brief playoff appearances since appearing in the big game 22 years ago — but Davis' desire to get back to being a premier team has not waned.

That's why Brady is part of the organization. Davis also brought him in as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Aces, who won the 2022 and 2023 WNBA championships after handing coach Becky Hammon a league-record five-year, $5 million contract.

“We happen to have the greatest of all time to help us and to see clearly, and 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. “He’s that unique. But the quarterback position is one of the positions on the team, and we’ve got to make it all fit together well.”

The Raiders face the challenge of needing a quarterback in an AFC West in which that position is settled with each of their opponents.

Patrick Mahomes is going for his third consecutive Super Bowl title and fourth overall with the Kansas City Chiefs. Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers possesses elite-level talent. Bo Nix led the Denver Broncos to the postseason as a rookie.

Tom Brady, left, talks with Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson before an NFL football divisional playoff game against the Washington Commanders, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

The Raiders ended the past two seasons with Aidan O'Connell as their starter, but he has not shown he is the long-term answer.

Spytek was part of a front office with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that signed Baker Mayfield two years ago. Mayfield has turned around his career and led the Bucs to the NFC South title in consecutive seasons.

Mayfield was Brady's successor in Tampa, building on the success that included winning the Super Bowl in the 2020 season. Spytek and Brady also were college teammates at Michigan.

“I had a chance to be around in my opinion the greatest player ever, and it was a love of the game and a competitive desire that just didn’t allow him to quit,” Spytek said. “He was never out of a fight. He was willing to do things that the ordinary football player or person wasn’t willing to do. We’re going to turn over every stone to find that leader for this team, too.”

Brady, however, is expected to be involved in more than just finding the next quarterback.

“This is his opportunity to put his stamp on a franchise, and so we’re excited to represent that, bringing him into it,” Carroll said.

"Mark has done an incredible job to figure out how to formulate this plan so that we can all fit together. (Brady has) been involved and he’s going to be involved, and we’re going to lean on him like crazy.”

Now it's a matter of seeing how and whether it works.

Will Brady be the de facto GM or will he be consulted mostly on major decisions?

Time will tell.

“There’s a lot that goes into this, but to think about how fortunate we are to have Tom Brady with us,” Carroll said, "it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

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