Did Tom Brady become minority owner of Raiders for a petty reason?
Tom Brady is set to become a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. Did he pursue this opportunity for a very petty reason? I can totally see this being the case. Tom Brady is perhaps the most hard-working and competitive individual in human history.
His dedication to his success and illustrious playing career is something that hardly any other athlete can say they have. He won at the highest level for two decades, and now the 45 year old is set to become a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, a team that was rumored to want to pursue Brady this offseason.
As we know, the Raiders are filled with former Patriots players, coaches, and executives. It would have made a ton of sense for Brady to suit up for a year or two in LV, as they clearly did not want to continue with Derek Carr, who signed with the New Orleans Saints this offseason.
Well, pending NFL approval, Brady will be a minority owner of an NFL team, which does just about shut the door on a potential return to the field. However, while the Raiders do make the most sense for this endeavor, if Brady had his mind on becoming an NFL owner, could there be another reason why he wanted to pursue this?
Could Tom Brady truly be this petty? Well, who is the QB of the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jimmy Garoppolo.
Who was drafted roughly a decade ago to supposedly replace Tom Brady as the New England Patriots' franchise QB?
Jimmy Garoppolo.
Here's what Tom Brady had to say about the situation when the Patriots first drafted Jimmy G:
"“We drafted Jimmy, and I just thought, like every other time, you embrace them, they’re you’re teammate,” Brady said. “Now, we drafted Jimmy higher. Coach Belichick referenced my age to me, referenced it to the media. In my mind, I was thinking, ‘What are you talking about?'”"
- Tom Brady
"“I think he was just referencing, well, not many quarterbacks have ever played and been successful late in their career, and that’s just a fact," Brady said. "Of course, for me, I was just like, I don’t care about any of those things.""
- Tom Brady
While there may not be bad blood between the two, what does and has seemed apparent to me is that Tom Brady felt slighted a bit when the Pats took Garoppolo in the 2014 NFL Draft. And then, like typical Tom Brady fashion, he proved Bill Belichick wrong, if Belichick was the one who did think Brady didn't have much left.
The Pats won the Super Bowl in 2014, 2016, and 2018. They beat the Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, and Los Angeles Rams in those games. Brady continued his success to the point that the Pats traded Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers, where he enjoyed a largely successful tenure there.
Could Tom Brady have wanted to pursue this minority ownership stake as a half-hearted "screw you" to Garoppolo? Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, because I think Brady and Garoppolo are buds, but there's a certain allure with Garoppolo that many people seem attracted to, and I think Brady is still a bit annoyed that he could have been replaced by a much lesser QB in New England.
Maybe this is Tom Brady, the Petty Master?