Is Raiders part-owner Tom Brady responsible for the firing of HC Josh McDaniels?

It is interesting to speculate on the role of Tom Brady in the firing of Raiders HC Josh McDaniels.

Is Raiders part-owner Tom Brady responsible for the firing of HC Josh McDaniels?

Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels (via Reuters/AP)

The recent coaching shakeup within the Las Vegas Raiders organization was unexpected. Josh McDaniels was bound to lose his job eventually, however, nobody could fathom Mark Davis making such a drastic move in the middle of the NFL season. The one interesting aspect that has gone unnoticed or has not been spoken about much is how much influence Tom Brady has in this decision of Mark Davis.

While Tom Brady is not officially one of the owners of the Las Vegas Raiders as the NFL is yet to approve it, Mark Davis, Brady is already a part of the ownership. Take a look at the Raiders’ situation, in the last year, the team lost Derek Carr, a quarterback who has played for the team for nearly a decade since being drafted in 2014, then McDaniels decided to bring in Jimmy Garoppolo, whose best days may be behind him, and to top it all off, despite having an elite wideout such as Davante Adams, the team has failed to draw up plays that primarily cater to Adams’ strengths.

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Before joining the Raiders, Josh McDaniels was responsible for the functioning of the New England Patriots’ offense. He was a mastermind on the offensive side of the ball and he has failed to do the very thing that landed him this job in the first place. It is hard to believe that Mark Davis did not at the very least ask Tom what he thought the next course of action should be to bring this team back on track after their dreadful showing 8-games into the season.

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Josh McDaniels’ disappointing performance could have led to Tom Brady losing faith in him as an HC

Tom Brady is known to be competitive and does not like to lose. The former NFL QB would have expected Jimmy Garoppolo and Josh McDaniels to connect and make the offense function flawlessly as the latter was the OC for the Patriots when Jimmy G was believed to be the successor of Brady in New England. This was a connection that had to work, because now, Jimmy has Davante Adams to throw the ball to and an offensive mastermind in McDaniels but it just did not take off.

Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels
Tom Brady and Josh McDaniels have had their set of differences in the past. (via BleacherReport)

Tom Brady would never publicly criticize either McDaniels or Jimmy G because firstly, he is not yet an official owner, and if he were to call them out publicly and Mark Davis then fired McDaniels, his path to getting approval for becoming a part owner of the Raiders could have been impacted negatively. Brady is a grandmaster at plotting such strategies, of course, while this is entirely speculative, there exists a strong possibility that maybe he did suggest to Mark Davis that it was time to move on from Josh McDaniels as he is not making the most out of the players at his disposal.

Is Tom Brady capable of doing such a thing? That’s more of a question that one needs to answer for themselves. But before you do answer it, remember how competitive he is, remember how much he despises losing, and remember, he believes in the Patriot way. The ‘Do your job’ mentality is one that Tom strived to achieve every single day in the NFL and he expected that from every single one of his teammates.

Based on the way the Las Vegas Raiders were playing this season, Josh McDaniels was clearly not doing his job well. While Mark Davis was frustrated with his team’s performance and might have considered getting rid of McDaniels after the conclusion of this season, Tom Brady’s wisdom may have led him to pull the trigger at this juncture.

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