The collapse of the Chip Kelly experiment has already put Tom Brady in the crosshairs in Las Vegas. As The New York Times detailed, the Raiders’ minority owner was a driving force behind hiring Kelly, only to see the offense bottom out at 2-9 and Greg Olson take over play-calling after weeks of ugly performances and mounting frustration from players like Maxx Crosby.
What was sold as a “Brady reset” now looks more like a reset on the reset. According to the Times, this was supposed to be Brady importing a championship blueprint into a drifting franchise.
Instead, one current Raider admitted, “I really don’t know what the plan is. I don’t think anyone knows,” with the team sitting 2-10 and back at the bottom of the division.
The report paints a bleak picture of how many Brady-linked bets have failed to land. Hopes that his presence would attract top coaching names like Johnson or Vrabel ended with 74-year-old Pete Carroll taking over and bringing his sons, Nate and Brennan, onto the offensive staff.
There was an internal belief he could help land Matthew Stafford; that never happened. Brady reportedly shut down Sam Darnold as an option, then pushed hard for Kelly, who became the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the league and is already gone.
A current staffer also told the Times it is “hard to argue” with him. Since Mark Davis took over in 2011, the Raiders have cycled through seven full-time head coaches, tied for the most in the NFL over that span, gone without a playoff win, and posted the league’s worst point differential.
On the field, star edge rusher Maxx Crosby remains one of the few clear positives. Despite dealing with a knee injury, he is expected to play against the Denver Broncos in Week 14, per Adam Schefter, and continues to fill the stat sheet with tackles, tackles for loss, hits, sacks, pass breakups and takeaways.
Until the Raiders can show a coherent path forward on the field, questions about what Brady is really building in Las Vegas will only get louder.
