While Tom Brady was front and center as the face of the Fanatics Flag Football Classic in Los Angeles, he never loses sight of his primary job as a minority owner of the Raiders.
He’s the Raiders’ de facto president of football operations, working side by side with general manager John Spytek.
The two former Michigan teammates went to work this offseason, hammering away in free agency by bringing in Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum, Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean, Packers linebacker Quay Walker and Colts defensive end Kwity Paye.
In total, the club shelled out just over $280 million in guaranteed contracts to help improve a team that won three games in 2025 and is set to welcome Indiana Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza as the top pick in the NFL draft.
In and around all that, the club traded a rusher, Maxx Crosby to the Ravens, only to welcome him back soon after when Baltimore nullified the deal after having misgivings about Crosby’s physical.
As Brady indicated on Saturday, the work is just starting.
“We certainly have a long ways to go.” Brady said.
Drawing on more than 20 years of experience as a player, and winning seven Super Bowl championships, Brady understands success means never skipping any steps and the entire organization being on the same page.
“It’s a tremendous amount of resilience, adversity, discipline, determination and communication, of an entire organization to see the value in committing to one another,” Brady said.
To say Brady’s first full season as a major player in the Raiders’ football department did not go well is an understatement. The decision to hire coach Pete Carroll and trade for Geno Smith blew up in everybody’s face, and the club slumped to the NFL’s worst record at 3-14.
But lessons were clearly learned, hence the decision to fire Carroll immediately after the season and target Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak as his replacement.
Brady, not accustomed to failure, was not about to let failed decisions linger and further hurt the Raiders.
Lesson learned. Lesson heeded.
Throughout the organization he now leads.
“It’s always process over outcomes,” Brady said. “And I think we’re all trying, and all of us in our own role that we have, whether it’s an ownership role or a personnel department or strength and conditioning, athletic training and obviously players and position coaches on offense and defense. Everyone’s got to come together, and everyone has to work incredibly hard for the people next to them.”
