Tom Brady Said His Raiders Were 'Bad Enough' to Earn the First Pick, and the NFL Is Still Recovering From That Honesty

Alright, look, you guys. We all know Tom Brady. Guy’s got rings for days, right? But now he’s a minority owner for the Raiders, and what he just dropped on the "Stick to Football" podcast about his team's 2025 season is absolutely wild. He wasn't pulling any punches, folks. Brady came right out and said his Raiders *stunk* so bad in his first full season as an owner that they landed the first overall pick in the draft. Yeah, the *first* pick. You rarely hear an owner, let alone *that* owner, be this brutally honest, and it’s got the whole league buzzing, even way up here in the Emerald City.

Brady's Blistering Assessment of a Lost Season

Seriously, when Brady talks, you listen, right? And what he had to say about the Raiders' performance last year, the 2025 season, was a punch to the gut. He told the podcast, straight up, that they "underperformed in every area." Think about that for a second. *Every* area. He didn't stop there either. He put the blame on everyone, saying "it's everybody's fault. That's the reality. There's nobody who did a good job. There's not one player in the organization, there's not anybody involved that did the job to the level that it needs to be done at." Ouch. That’s a total teardown from the top. He even included himself in that, stating "it starts with me, and it filters down to the rest of the players on the field, and they’ve got to go out there, and ultimately they’ve got to perform at a high level." You gotta respect the accountability, but man, that had to sting for every singl

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e person in that organization. Though, the article did point out that Maxx Crosby and Brock Bowers would *possibly* beg to differ with Brady’s blanket statement. You bet they would. Nobody wants to hear they didn't do a good job after pouring everything into a season.

The "Massive Improvement" Mandate

So, with that kind of brutal honesty about the past, what does Brady expect for the current 2026 season? No surprise, he's looking for "a lot of improvement." When they tried to pin him down on a specific number of wins, he just kept it general. "A massive improvement," he stressed. And he's not just talking about the big picture. He’s talking about daily, even hourly, progress. He wants "daily improvement, and I’d expect hourly improvement. I really would." Brady’s philosophy is clear: on a good team, "every day and every week goes by, you should be better. Like, a good team should be better at the end of t[he year]." It’s an intense demand for growth, a relentless pursuit of getting better every single moment. That’s the kind of mindset you expect from a champion, even as an owner. This kind of raw, unfiltered expectation from an owner sets a massive tone for any team heading into a new season. While it's early in the NFL calendar, the message from Brady is loud and clear: Last year was unacceptable, and this year demands immediate, sustained improvement. For any team, knowing your owner is watching that closely and speaking that frankly, it really puts the pressure on. It’s what you gotta do to turn things around when you’ve been "bad enough" to earn the first pick. You have to wonder what that kind of scrutiny will produce on the field.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.