While Richard Seymour‘s Patriots years played the lead role in forging a Hall of Fame path, he has operated in a post-playing role for the Raiders. That continued this offseason, when the Silver and Black made the former defensive lineman part of their search process upon filling their HC and GM positions.
Seymour, who played for the Raiders from 2009-12, was part of the committee that met with HC and GM candidates this offseason. The 12-year NFL veteran is on track to continue playing a role in Las Vegas, with Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reporting he has agreed to buy an ownership stake.
Seymour is close to finalizing this agreement, which will make him a part-owner and limited partner of the AFC West franchise, and Florio adds the former Patriots first-rounder will team with Brady — along with their own respective partners — to own 10.4% of the club. NFL owners must approve this stake, and they have not yet signed off on Brady’s piece of the Raiders despite the QB legend-turned-broadcaster having agreed to become a Raiders minority owner in May 2023.
The Raiders will aim to present this arrangement for approval at the October owners’ meetings, per Florio. It is believed the issue of Brady’s stake price, which Mark Davis was initially believed to have sold at a steep discount, has been resolved. But Seymour being part of this process may further alleviate concerns among other owners. Though, Brady’s role with FOX now looks to be the primary issue holding up his route into the ownership ranks.
Roger Goodell said the NFL will need to adopt a policy regarding Brady operating in a dual ownership/announcer role, as owners have voiced concerns about the debuting FOX color analyst being a Raiders owner while having access to other teams’ facilities to prepare for game assignments. Seymour’s ownership stake would not seem to affect this component of Brady’s ownership snag, so it remains to be seen if 24 owners will approve the former Patriot teammates’ bid to join Davis as Raiders owners.
The Patriots traded Seymour to the Raiders just before the 2009 season. The four-year Oakland cog made two Pro Bowls during his Raiders stay, one that included the veteran defender providing some assistance to Mark Davis in his early period as the team’s owner. Al Davis had approached Seymour about a future front office role, and he joined Mark Davis, team president Sandra Douglass Morgan, director of football administration Tom Delaney, board member Larry Delsen and advisor Ken Herock on the interview panel that produced the Antonio Pierce-Tom Telesco partnership. Although Seymour’s ownership bid has hurdles to clear, it certainly looks like the Raiders have the 44-year-old in their plans moving forward.