Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis shared the impact Tom Brady made since becoming a minority owner of the franchise as their midseason rebuild has been ushered by criticism from fans.
After suffering another disastrous season, Brady spearheaded the rebuild by hiring Pete Carroll as their head coach and John Spytek as their general manager – both new hires were introduced on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, Davis claimed that Brady has been the missing piece from the organization since Jon Gruden resigned.
‘Bringing in Tom Brady was bringing in somebody on the football side that I had been lacking having here in the organization,’ Davis shared. ‘Back in I guess it was ’18, with Jon Gruden.
‘He was somebody that I brought in and really expected to be that person on the football side that would bring stability to the organization,’ Davis continued. ‘He had a 10-year contract and all that, and his head was chopped off. And we were put in a really bad position as an organization.’
Gruden stepped away from his head coaching job with the Raiders after reports surfaced that he wrote racist, misogynistic, and homophobic emails over 10 years.
Mark Davis revealed Tom Brady’s role in the Raider’s rebuild despite being criticized by fans
The Raiders hired Pete Carroll (R) as their head coach and John Spytek (L) as general manager
The emails were sent while Gruden was working for ESPN as the lead analyst for Monday Night Football.
Since his exit, Gruden was replaced by Josh McDaniels then Antonio Pierce before Carroll’s employment.
Brady, who officially became a minority owner in October, was heavily involved in interviewing coaching candidates, according to Davis. He also hopes the pair could turn the Raiders’ fate around.
‘We want to build something here and again, that’s been the process and that mindset all along,’ Davis said. ‘Like I said, it got offset or kind of blown up when Jon Gruden was sent away and so we’ve been trying to get it right since then and we’ll see, but I’ve got patience to get it right, and I think we’ve got the people now — again I’ve always felt that — results are what speak to me and that’s what we’ll see.’
The Raiders finished 4-13 this season.
Brady’s involvement and ownership came during his first year in a decade-long deal with Fox after signing a contract worth $375million to be the network’s lead NFL analyst.
His stake in the franchise was once seen as a potential problem in his job as an analyst. Furthermore, Brady’s first year in the booth was marred with poor reviews from fans and figures in the industry.
Nonetheless, Brady shot down rumors of him leaving the network for the Raiders front office.