The Las Vegas Raiders are transitioning into a new era as they look to get back into a competitive spot in the AFC West. At the end of a disastrous 2024-25 season, the Raiders fired head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco, and now they have replaced both of them.
Just hours after hiring longtime Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll to take the same position with the Raiders, Las Vegas announced that it hired John Spytek to be the new general manager in a post on social media.
Spytek had been linked to the Raiders throughout this cycle, so it felt inevitable that he would end up in the silver and black sooner or later. Even though the Raiders missed out on their top head coach target in Ben Johnson, they landed Spytek as their most coveted GM.
The connection between Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady goes back to their time in Tampa Bay with the Buccaneers, so this fit was obvious on paper. Spytek has spent the last nine seasons with the Buccaneers across multiple roles, including Director of Player Personnel, Vice President of Player Personnel and most recently Assistant General Manager. Now, Spytek gets his first run as the big boss in the front office alongside Brady in Las Vegas.
Spytek and Brady were both apart of the Buccaneers team that won Super Bowl LV, so it makes sense that the two have a good rapport with each other. Of course, Brady was a player at that time, so the dynamic will be much different in Las Vegas. However, familiarity is usually a good thing in these scenarios.
Before he became a member of the Buccaneers’ front office in 2016, Spytek was a scout for the Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns and Denver Broncos. As a result, he has a good eye for finding talent at the college level and has a chance to reverse one of the Raiders’ biggest weaknesses, which has been the draft. If this Raiders team is going to get back on track, it has to start in the draft and Spytek has the resume to get that done.
