NFL Owners Expected to End Tom Brady Freeze-Out, Allow 'Prominent' New Role

At long last, the NFL appears poised to allow former star quarterback Tom Brady to purchse a portion of the Las Vegas Raiders from Mark Davis, allowing Brady to become an NFL owner--finally.

Brady (backed, in part, by financier Tom Wagner) and Davis have had an agreement in place for a year, and were in negotiations for a deal for longer than that. But the NFL balked at the original agreement, fearing that Davis had given Brady too much of a discount to buy into the team.

But the league is holding an owners meeting in Atlanta this week, and the expectation is that Brady's revamped bid for a portion of the Raiders--a 10% stake, according to reports--will be approved.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that not only will Brady be allowed to buy into the team, but he will take on a significant role with the Raiders.

The paper quoted an unnamed source saying, "I think Tom is going to have a much bigger role than people think in the direction of the franchise in all areas on the football side."

The move has put Brady in an awkward position at Fox, because the network signed him to a 10-year, $375 million contract as their lead analyst back in 2022. Brady made his debut last month to open the season, but is doing so under unusual restrictions for a broadcaster.

In August, the league assured other teams that Brady is not allowed to participate in production meetings, and is not allowed at team facilities during the week. That's typically a time for broadcasters to gather some information and intelligence on the teams they're covering. But as a soon-to-be stakeholder with the Raiders, that would be an unfair advantage for Brady and the team.

Brady is also forbidden from criticizing officials during games, and will need to tread carefully when talking about trades or free agency, for fear of violating tampering rules.

Davis obviously values Brady's input, though. Soon, he should have Brady fully in the fold.