It has been revealed that Tom Brady and the Las Vegas Raiders will hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers executive John Spytek as their new general manager.
Spytek, who spent a total of nine years in Tampa, rose to become the Bucs' assistant general manager in 2023 after initially joining as director of player personnel in 2016.
The 44-year-old was promoted to vice president of player personnel five years later, a position he held for two seasons before making the move to assistant general manager under Jason Licht.
However, after wrapping up his second season as Jason Licht's right-hand man, he's now set to take on the top job in Las Vegas and reunite with former college teammate Brady, who won the Super Bowl with Tampa Bay in 2020. .
NFL Network's Ian Rapoport confirmed Wednesday that Spytek has agreed to become general manager of the Raiders, who recently fired Tom Telesco after just one year.
Telesco's firing came just a couple of days after head coach Antonio Pierce was also fired at Allegiant Stadium. The moves came at the end of a miserable season in which the Raiders finished 4-13.
Buccaneers assistant general manager John Spytek joins Raiders as new GM
Tom Brady has been helping the Las Vegas brass find a new general manager and head coach in recent weeks.
Brady, who took a minority stake in the Raiders last year, has been helping the franchise in its search for a new general manager and head coach in recent weeks.
While they have yet to find a replacement for Pierce, he has helped them get a new general manager at Spytek, someone he knows very well.
In addition to spending time together in Tampa, Spytek and Brady were also teammates at Michigan in 1999, before the latter entered the NFL as the 199th overall pick with New England.
Meanwhile, Spytek ventured into the world of scouting after graduating from college with a bachelor's degree in general studies and a master's degree in sports management.
The Raiders will become just the second franchise in the Super Bowl era to begin a three-year run with a new general manager and coach. The Cleveland Browns in 2012-14 are the other club to hold such a distinction.
Brady's apparent influence in hiring a new general manager for Las Vegas comes amid scrutiny of his role as a Fox Sports commentator.
The legendary quarterback has reportedly played an integral role in their head coaching and general manager searches in recent weeks, having conducted interviews with several potential candidates.
His strong involvement in Las Vegas has led many to question his impartiality as a Fox commentator; even when he worked Saturday's Commanders-Lions game shortly after interviewing then-Detroit OC Ben Johnson.
Spytek spent a total of nine years in Tampa Bay, including two as assistant general manager.
Brady's influence in hiring a new Raiders general manager comes amid scrutiny over his role at Fox Sports
Many have questioned his impartiality after becoming a minority owner in Las Vegas.
Although despite calls for the network to fire him, Brady has ruled out an early departure from Fox one season into his 10-year, $375 million contract.
“I don't know where it comes from,” he said on FS1's 'The Herd' with Colin Cowherd. 'I know you always say “sources close to Brady” or whatever, but I had a great time at Fox and loved every time I got into the booth and worked with such wonderful people.
“To see what it's like from a different perspective, I've played so many years on the field, I've watched so many games from the sideline, now I'm up there in the booth and I'm looking at it from a different perspective.” , and I loved the whole process of diving into all these different teams. It has been a great growth for me in one year.
“I really can't wait to see what year two will be like and beyond.” I have nine years left on my contract and maybe more, you never know…
“If Fox wants me and I want to keep going, we'll keep going, because it's been a lot of fun so far.”