Gutierrez: Mark Davis sees Tom Brady's subtle influence shaping the Raiders' future

Sep 04, 2025 at 09:16 AM

Paul Gutierrez

Raiders Columnist

Still wondering what Tom Brady's role with the Raiders as a new minority owner will look like going forward?

Wonder no more, and check out the latest episode of "Raiders: Talk of the Nation," where Owner Mark Davis broke it down. (Spoiler alert: Jon Gruden and the role Davis envisioned for him is related).

"It was really important for me to get some type of infrastructure on the football side of this building," Davis told show host Baron Davis. "I had gone after Jon for six years and felt he would be the person that could maybe carry the torch forward. And, unfortunately, that was cut short through some unfortunate circumstances.

"And I feel Tom is the one now to take this organization into the future, on the football side, and maybe get my failures into successes. You know, because I'll take all the credit if it works."

Davis laughed. Both Davises laughed, actually.

There's silver and black and, yes, gray. And if it feels like Brady's job description drifts into the latter, well…

Back in the day, Gruden, remember, was the coach and, after Reggie McKenzie moved on, Mike Mayock was the general manager and there was no mistaking that Gruden was the Final Boss in that scenario. There was no other Football Czar in the building.

Now? The Raiders have a first-time GM in John Spytek and a veteran coach with a Canton resume in Pete Carroll, both of whom are in their first years with the organization and both of whom have spoken as glowingly of Brady's contributions as they have nebulously about them.

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Brady, meanwhile, told me in June that he saw himself more in an advisory role.

"Well, I'm just a limited partner [as an owner], so Mark's the boss," Brady said at the time. "And then Pete does his job and Spy does his job and, I think, we trust them to make the right decisions.

"I'm there as a sounding board for anything they want to do. … Just trying to contribute in the ways that I can help the team be the best they can be, on and off the field."

Figurehead? Sounding board? QB whisperer?

As Mark Davis reiterated, he's just glad Brady is in the building…in a manner of speaking.

"He was supposed to be here in 2020," Davis said of Brady. "That's where our relationship started. It was in 2020, when he was a free agent, and we talked about him coming here to play quarterback. Obviously, it was a tough decision for him. He was close to wanting to come here but the head coach [Gruden] and general manager [Mayock] decided they wanted to go in a different direction. So, we didn't sign him, but as I got to know [Brady] through that process, I let his agent know that when he was done playing, that I would like him to be part of our organization.

"It was a couple years later that, you know, he retired. And so we talked and it wasn't an easy process, but the National Football League eventually let it happen."

As the league did in relaxing some of the rules allowing Brady to speak to players on other teams during production meetings as part of his job as an analyst for Fox.

"But [I'm] really, really happy to have him as part of this organization," Davis added. "There's nobody more competitive. He's really, really a bright person. A great person to know. Really selfless, when you think about it. He's just great. It's awesome to have somebody like that in the organization.

"So, for the football side, I think we're in good shape. I think the process to pick the head coach and general manager this offseason was a really well done process. And, so, I'm excited about that."

And there's no need to wonder why.