Could Patriots Ex Tom Brady Own - And Play - for Jimmy G's Raiders? 'Not Impossible'

News has broken that expected starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo underwent foot surgery when joining the team in March, leading to speculation about a Raiders emergency. Enter old Patriots QB and new Las Vegas "owner'' Tom Brady?

The Las Vegas Raiders are struggling to do things right, maybe one of the reasons involved golden boy Tom Brady in the franchise's ownership group makes sense. 

But now that news has broken that expected starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo underwent foot surgery when joining the team in March, meaning that he might not be able to pass a physical (among other complications) ...

Enter Brady, and the idea of the iconic star un-retiring and returning - again - this time to play for the Raiders and to replace his former New England Patriots backup Jimmy G.

According to Vincent Bonsignore of The Las Vegas Review-Journal, however, "Brady’s approval by fellow owners could come with the provision that he is fully retired. If so, that eliminates the possibility of him trying to simultaneously own a piece of the franchise while also playing for it.''

But the Las Vegas paper nevertheless continues on weighing possibilities, with the writer using both the terms "a non-starter'' and "not impossible.''

In any event, the other NFL owners would have to approve the idea of Brady being both an owner and a coach ... and it seems that unless he sold back his share, he would be blocked from doing both.

The biggest obstacle to the double-dip: A scenario in which Brady remained in place as an owner alongside Mark Davis while also being part of the salary cap would be fertile ground for cheating the system. In its most simple form: The Raiders could pay Brady the vet's minimum to play quarterback (that's $1.165 million for a 10-years-plus guy) ... while at the same time "paying'' him an unlimited amount of money/profit in performance of his "duties'' as an owner.

Maybe this all goes away, and the Raiders get a healthy Garoppolo soon enough. But Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio notes that the Raiders, when they brought on the QB, re-negotiated the contract in a way that allows them to nullify the deal until the 31-year-old passes a physical. So they seem to know what they were getting into on the field with Jimmy G., while at the same time knowing the same with Tom Brady.

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