Tom Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders are set to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers exec John Spytek as their new general manager, it has been revealed.
Spytek, who has spent a total of nine years in Tampa, stepped up to become assistant general manager for the Buccaneers in 2023 after initially joining as director of player personnel in 2016.
The 44-year-old was eventually promoted to vice president of player personnel five years later, a position he held for two seasons before making the step up to assistant GM under Jason Licht.
Yet after wrapping up his ninth season with the Bucs, he is now poised to reunite with Brady – who won the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2020 – and take the top job over in Las Vegas.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed on Wednesday that Spytek is taking over as GM for the Raiders, who recently fired predecessor Tom Telesco after just one year.
Telesco’s dismissal came just a couple of days after head coach Antonio Pierce was also given the boot at Allegiant Stadium. The moves took place after the Raiders went 4-13 this season.
Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek is joining the Raiders as their new general manager
Tom Brady has been helping Las Vegas chiefs find a new GM and head coach in recent weeks
Brady, who acquired a minority stake in the Raiders last year, has been helping the franchise in its search for a new general manager and head coach in recent weeks.
While they are yet to find a replacement for Pierce, he has helped them land a familiar face for the GM role in Spytek – someone he knows very well.
As well as spending time together in Tampa, Spytek and Brady were also teammates together at Michigan in 1999, before the former ventured into scouting after graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in general studies and a master’s in sports management.
The Raiders will become just the second franchise in the Super Bowl era to enter a season three years in a row with a new GM and coach. The Cleveland Browns in 2012-14 are the other club to hold such a distinction.
Brady’s apparent influence in hiring a new general manager for Las Vegas comes amid scrutiny of his role as a Fox Sports commentator.
The legendary quarterback has reportedly played an integral part in their head coach and general manager searches in recent weeks, having carried out interviews with a number of potential candidates.
His heavy involvement in Las Vegas has led to many questioning his impartiality as a commentator for Fox; including when he worked Saturday’s Commanders-Lions game not long after interviewing then-Detroit OC Ben Johnson.
Though despite calls for him to be fired by the network, Brady has ruled out an early Fox exit one season into his 10-year, $375million contract.
Brady’s influence in hiring a new Raiders GM comes amid scrutiny over his role on Fox Sports
‘I don’t know where it comes from,’ he said on FS1’s ‘The Herd’ with Colin Cowherd. ‘I know it always says “sources close to Brady” or whatever, but I’ve had the best time at Fox and I’ve loved every time going into the booth and working with such great people.
‘To see how it is from a different perspective, I’ve had so many years playing on the field, I’ve watched so many games from the sidelines, now I’m up there in the booth and seeing it from a different perspective, and I’ve loved the whole process in diving into all these different teams. It’s been a lot of growth for me in one year.
‘I really can’t wait to see what it looks like in year two and way beyond that too. I’ve got nine years left on my deal and maybe longer, you never know…
‘If Fox wants me and I want to go [on], we’ll just keep going, cause it’s been really fun thus far.’
