Why the Raiders Shouldn’t Let the GOAT Call the Shots
It cannot be overstated how much 2025 is going to be the make-or-break year for the Raiders. The powers that be in Las Vegas understand the massive stakes ahead and have undergone a major facelift this offseason. They have a new veteran quarterback to lead their offense, a rookie running back who should reignite their ground game, and a head coach who knows how to rebuild a team and take it to a championship. While these on-field additions to the team should prove incredibly impactful, their most impressive and potentially game-changing move was taking on the legendary Tom Brady as a minority owner of the franchise.
As a player, Tom Brady needs no introduction. He was the most feared man in football for two decades, a multi-time MVP, and the primary player-architect of the peerless New England Patriots dynasty. However, Brady isn’t lending his talents to Vegas while wearing a black jersey; he’s instead donning a black suit. For the first time, the pro football world will see how Brady can be an impact player in the NFL without actually being a player.
As of now, Brady’s role with the Silver and Black has been ill-defined, but understood to be secondary. Brady has recently described himself as merely a “sounding board” for the actual decision makers in Vegas, namely principal owner Mark Davis, general manager John Spytek, and new head coach Pete Carroll. This means that Brady isn’t the new Don Corleone in Sin City, but rather a Tom Hagen-esque advisor. Regardless, having the greatest QB to ever play the game as a top backroom advisor should bring a gravitas and confidence that the Raiders can use to great effect when recruiting top talent, both on-field and front office.
This is a fantastic spot for Brady to be in, both for himself and for the good of the Raiders franchise. The only currently foreseeable way they could ruin it would be to give him any more responsibility or power. While that may seem like a puzzling conclusion to come to, it should be noted that what is happening right now with Brady in the NFL is running eerily parallel to a recent event in sports history that ended in disaster. You see, this is not the first time that the GOAT of a sport decided to try his hand at minority ownership and backroom power.
Back in 2006, Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player to ever live, also wanted to own a slice of the league that he called home. He purchased a minority stake in the Charlotte Bobcats while also securing total control over basketball operations. During this time, the Bobcats were a decidedly mediocre team, bottom-feeders of the Eastern Conference that couldn’t manage a winning record, let alone a playoff spot. However, by the 2009 season, the Bobcats looked to be on the rise, finally securing both a winning season and a playoff spot.
When the 2010 season rolled around, Michael Jordan had secured majority ownership of the Bobcats. Now the completely undisputed shot caller in Charlotte, it seemed that the GOAT of the NBA would ride off the momentum of the previous season and build a true contender in North Carolina. That didn’t happen. Instead, in their first year under Jordan as the majority owner, the Bobcats fell back to Earth with another losing season and no playoff appearance.
That’s when the wheels completely fell off. The 2011 Bobcats posted the single worst winning percentage in NBA history, obtaining only seven wins in a lockout-shortened season. As impossible as it sounds, the greatest player to ever touch a basketball obtained total control over an NBA franchise and engineered the single worst team and season ever seen in basketball history. The irony that Jordan, as a player, had previously led the winningest season in basketball history was not lost.
The Bobcats did somehow recover in the years to come. However, they could never push into the relevance that was hoped for when Jordan entered the picture. Over the next decade, they rebranded to the Hornets, obtained three winning seasons and two postseason appearances, exiting in the first round both times. In 2023, Jordan finally sold off the majority ownership, ending an era that should serve as a gigantic cautionary tale to any franchise, particularly the Las Vegas Raiders of today.
To be fair to all parties, this is a different team, a different sport, and a different group of human beings. Tom Brady, for all we know, could be perfectly content with where he is currently in the Raiders organization, and could remain content there in perpetuity. Maybe Brady is even cognizant of the fiasco of Michael Jordan in Charlotte and doesn’t want to be anywhere near the possibility of history repeating itself. However, for the sake of their franchise, I hope that the decision makers in Vegas over the years to come are wary of any attempts to give more power to someone just because they are considered the best to ever play their game. In football, as well as basketball or any sport, the game changes dramatically when you make decisions in a boardroom rather than with the ball in your hand.
