When Tom Brady first became a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, it wasn't entirely clear what level of involvement he'd have in the franchise. That was quickly answered this offseason and he played a major role in the hiring of head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek.
He also appears to have a lot of input on the building of the roster as he was recruiting Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Raiders. Brady is arguably the greatest quarterback of all time but he's never been in a front office or on a coaching staff.
Notable sports media figure and Boston sports fan Bill Simmons spent years rooting for Brady when he was on the New England Patriots and even he has concerns about letting the quarterback run an NFL team.
“I love Tom Brady. Brought me six Super Bowls, one of my favorite athletes of all time,” Simmons said on "The Bill Simmons Podcast." “This is a dangerous thing where you have him running a football team thinking he knows what’s best with quarterbacks because he was a great quarterback. Because all of the evidence with the great players we’ve had, name the sport, mostly they’re not good at this. They think they’re seeing things that other people don’t see, and it’s not actually rational.”
There aren't many examples of all-time great players running a team as an owner. The closest example to Brady is Michael Jordan owning the Charlotte Hornets in the NBA. Jordan had no success as an owner but that doesn't mean Brady won't.
“I’m just saying it’s not a slam dunk,” Simmons added. “Part of the problem is if you and I are in that room with Tom Brady and we were like, ‘yo man, we think [Sam] Darnold, look …' and he’s like, ‘I’m out. I watched that game and he doesn’t have it, I’m out.’ Are we gonna argue with Tom Brady? It’s just now it’s this one voice that sees what he wants to see.”
Controlling Raiders owner Mark Davis has had over a decade to run the team and has two winning seasons with no playoff wins to show for it. It's hard to imagine Brady could do any worse.
