National Football League

Tom Brady on role in Raiders ownership: 'I'm one voice' amid head coach search

Published Jan. 22, 2025 4:59 p.m. ET

Tom Brady is in the midst of working through his first major duties as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, seeking to find the team's next head coach and general manager.

One of those vacancies was filled on Wednesday, with the Raiders reportedly hiring Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager John Spytek to run their front office. Shortly before that was reported, Brady gave a bit of insight on what his role has been in Las Vegas' search process in an interview on FS1's "The Herd."

Tom Brady on being a part owner of the Las Vegas Raiders

"Right now, it's a great ownership group," Brady said. "There's other great people involved. I'm one voice. It's so collaborative. I think this process of learning is so important. So, that's kind of where it's at."

It had been reported that Brady was an active figure in the Raiders' pursuit of their next general manager and head coach. While Brady acknowledged that he's had a hand in the searches, he also shared how he's approaching his role as a minority owner.

"Being a rookie, you've got to almost go back to what your roots are as a rookie and remember that when you are a rookie, you're trying to learn as much as you can," Brady said. "When I was a rookie as a quarterback, I really engulfed myself in the playbook and listened to a lot of the veterans and said, ‘This is how you're going to go about it Tom. This is how you're going to be the best possible player you can be.' Then you realize that many years later, 10 years later, I started to actually perform the way that I was capable of performing."

As of Wednesday, Brady and the Raiders had interviewed eight candidates to become their next head coach. One of them was former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who was a highly sought-after head coach candidate this offseason. Even though there had been reports about Brady's interest in making Johnson the Raiders' next head coach, Johnson wound up becoming the Chicago Bears' head coach on Monday.

So, the search continues for Brady and Las Vegas. The rumored interest in Johnson would make it easy to assume Brady's hoping that the team hires an offensive-minded head coach. But as Colin Cowherd mentioned that Bill Belichick let Brady work independently with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels during his time with the New England Patriots, Brady noted that Belichick's hands were involved in several areas of the team, indicating that he doesn't want a coach siloed on one side of the ball.

"There's such a jigsaw puzzle when you look at a lot of different organizations," Brady said. "Whether it's a football organization or basketball or baseball, I think it's a collective group of people and you've got to figure out that puzzle of what exactly fits. If you do have a defensive head coach, like Bill was, Bill was a great manager. Bill did a great job of coaching the coaches. He had high expectations. I think he had a background on offense. He didn't necessarily throw all of his ideas out there, but he did have a general understanding of how we should perform on offense and he had expectations for that.

"This whole puzzle with an offensive coach, defensive coach — it should be about great people doing great things, working collaboratively, being humble, learning every year," Brady added. "You're always trying to up your game every year. I feel like that's what I always try to do as a player. I don't see that as any different in football or in business. Everybody should always be looking to improve and understand where weaknesses are, how to improve their weaknesses and continue to build on their strengths."

In addition to serving as a minority owner for the Raiders, Brady confirmed Wednesday that he will continue his role as the NFL on FOX's top color commentator. But the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback didn't want to give up working for an NFL team, which inspired his decision to be a part of the Raiders' ownership group.

Tom Brady addresses his future as a broadcaster at FOX Sports

"I wish I could've played football my entire life, but 23 years was long enough," Brady said. "I got tired of really taking the hits and I wanted to spend as much time as I could with the kids. So, really being involved with the Raiders gives me an opportunity to be involved with football for the rest of my life. I really love teamwork, I always have. I love seeing other people succeed. I really hope other former players get opportunities to be involved with teams."

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