After spending 23 years in the NFL after famously being taken in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, Tom Brady has transitioned into being a television commentator and, more importantly, a part-owner (5%) and executive of the Las Vegas Raiders.
His participation in the team goes beyond that of a typical minority owner. He was instrumental in the hiring of general manager John Spytek, a former teammate at the University of Michigan and a colleague from their time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was also involved in bringing aboard head coach Pete Carroll, with whom he shares a mutual respect and vision for the team’s future.
Tom Brady Identifies 7 Crucial Traits To Building a Successful Football Team
Brady advocates for a modern approach to team operations, with a major emphasis on advanced strength and conditioning, game management, and analytics. His reach has extended into free agency strategies. He was key to securing a contract extension for star pass rusher Maxx Crosby and signing Geno Smith away from the Seattle Seahawks.
Brady’s acumen in player evaluation has been crucial as the Raiders work to rebuild their organization. It’s an area Brady feels has some key components to identifying players who can perform at the highest level.
“During training camp, teams can carry 90 players for 53 roster spots. By the beginning of September, decisions will have to be made,” Brady wrote on tombrady.com. “Some guys will stick, some will fall away.
“And we won’t know exactly who until the demands of playing this game at the highest level reveal the aspects of their character that are the most important to building a winning team: determination, competitiveness, resilience, perseverance, humility, integrity, intelligence. I don’t care if you were the last guy signed or the first guy picked, on winning teams these are the traits that are going to matter most.”
Brady cuts a large figure in NFL circles, and his addition to the Raiders has lent the team a new level of respectability. He has been dismissive of talent evaluators in the media, likening some of their opinions to the paper he uses to line his cat’s litter box.
Brady was instrumental in this year’s draft, as he reportedly advised against selecting Shedeur Sanders, despite a previous mentoring relationship.
Las Vegas had a high volume of picks (11) in the 2025 NFL Draft. They include a potential superstar in running back Ashton Jeanty and wide receiver Jack Bech, a player who has been characterized as having some of the traits Brady looks for: determined, resilient, competitive, tough, intelligent, and competitive.
As the Brady Way takes hold, it’ll be interesting to see how things play out for the Raiders going forward.
