Minority owner Tom Brady doesn't actually show up for work in Las Vegas, but his presence hovers over the franchise.
The Las Vegas Raiders have become an organization that’s really good at irony, especially when it comes to leadership and direction. This is a team that specializes in chaos, confusion and circular firing squads, especially when owner Mark Davis or minority owner Tom Brady get involved.
The latest example in the irony department comes from John Spytek, who just conducted a fairly well-run draft and receiver praise for it. Then, on a day when quarterback. Fernando Mendoza is in the spotlight for comments about his leadership style, something else happened.
Kay Adams asked Spytek during her podcast, Up and Adams, if it’ll be difficult to keep Brady out of the Raiders QB room, according to Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk, and it was once again word-salad time.
“I don’t think it’s going to be hard,” Spytek said. “We both welcome Tom’s insight and his input. But at the same time, I would say Tom has empowered us to run the day-to-day of the Raiders the way that we see fit. And obviously with the right vision and process in place, we’re going to be a very process-driven organization right now. And I think that wouldn’t surprise anybody with the way that Tom has operated throughout his career.”
Good luck figuring out what that actually means, so we’ll help a little by parsing here. It means Brady will flit from one job or role to another, trying to find “balance,” which means he actually still wants to be playing and soaking up endless praise for being the GOAT.
The good news here is that Brady does seem to be bowing out for the moment, so Spytek and Kubiak are being given the daily freedom to run the show the right way. This is unusual for the Raiders, so don’t expect it to last, regardless of what Spytek says.
“But I think that Klint and I both feel the support that he’s given us to do the day-to-day stuff the right way and to accentuate the right things, to hold people accountable, especially the quarterback room,” Spytek added. “There’s no more important room in our building from a players stand point than the quarterback room — everybody knows that. It’s the hardest position in sports to play. So, there’s going to be a high level of accountability and demand that comes with that.”
The words “Brady” and “accountability” don’t really belong in the same sentence these days, but Spytek was obligated to finish his answer with something about the gadfly minority owner. So he closed with this:
“But, I think we both are just very appreciative of the way Tom operates and the insights and the knowledge he shares with us,” the GM said. “But also, the way that he allows us to do things the right way day-to-day.”
Brady hasn’t been around much lately, so it’ll be interesting to see when he resurfaces and what the occasion will be. The guys who will face the music if things don’t go well are Spytek and Kubiak, and for the moment they’re both fine with that level of responsibility.