Carroll discusses Brady’s involvement in Raiders’ football operations

There continue to be more questions than answers as it pertains to how much Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady was involved in the club passing on Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders a handful of times during the 2025 NFL Draft.

During a recent appearance on Seattle Sports 710, Raiders head coach Pete Carroll acknowledged he has “pretty regular'” contact with Brady even though the seven-time Super Bowl champion doesn’t work at the team’s facility.

“We’re phone buddies,” Carroll said about Brady, as shared by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “He hasn’t been out here but one time since we’ve been here, but we’ve talked a ton of times, and talking philosophy with Tom, you can imagine what a thrill it is because he’s the all-time competitor. It’s not just how he played. It’s how he lived, and how he sees the world and how he attacks every opportunity he has. We’re so eye-to-eye on that. It’s been a blast. It’s really been fun. The challenge of it is to bring that mentality and connect it to our entire franchise.”

After Sanders surprisingly fell to the fifth round of the draft, Brady insisted he “wasn’t a part of any evaluation process” regarding the polarizing prospect TB12 previously mentored. Skip Bayless is among sports media personalities not buying that Brady had nothing to do with Las Vegas selecting seven players before the Cleveland Browns took Sanders with pick No. 144 of the draft. Bayless has directly accused Brady of telling first-year Raiders general manager John Spytek, Brady’s former teammate at Michigan, to not draft Sanders. 

Meanwhile, The Athletic’s Dan Pompei mentioned in a piece published on May 6 that Brady “endorsed” the Raiders trading for quarterback Geno Smith earlier in the offseason. According to Pompei, Brady also “was on board with the selection of quarterback Cam Miller in the sixth round” of the draft. 

“When Tom came on board here (as a minority owner in 2024), it changed my outlook to come here,” Carroll added about accepting the Raiders gig in January. “I thought that would be one of the great opportunities of all time, to have his presence. His presence is strong. John Spytek and him go back a ton of years and Johnny holds him in the highest regard. So we’re trying to infuse Tom’s mentality, we’re trying to bring it into the organization, because it’s so good and so unique and so one of a kind. I think it helps us to be a one-of-a-kind franchise.”

It certainly sounds like Brady’s voice is heard among individuals within the Raiders before they make significant personnel decisions. It remains to be seen how long other owners will allow Brady to serve as Fox’s lead in-game NFL analyst now that it’s clear he’s no silent partner with a single franchise.