Raiders' Reasoning for Not Wanting to Sign Tom Brady Reportedly Revealed
By Michael Luciano
The Las Vegas Raiders were long figured to be one of the frontrunners to sign former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in free agency given their move to Sin City and the subpar play of Derek Carr. However, Brady never seemed to pay them much mind, as he chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over Jon Gruden's project in the desert.
Gruden and Mike Mayock seemed to sour on the possibility of a Brady acquisition, according to The Athletic's Vic Tafur. He claims that the Raiders weren't overly pleased with the last two years of tape Brady put together, despite the fact he won a Super Bowl in one of those seasons.
Inside the #Raiders’ pursuit of Tom Brady and Derek Carr’s future with the team https://t.co/M4ntY8fasq
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) March 21, 2020
Instead of signing Brady, who threw 24 touchdowns against eight interceptions last season, the Raiders stuck with Carr at quarterback while signing former Titans signal caller Marcus Mariota to back him up.
This report goes against what NBC Sports had reported in the weeks leading up to Brady's announcement, as they claimed that the Raiders were all in in Brady and were willing to trade away Carr to accommodate him.
The Raiders reportedly were still in the mix for Tom Brady as recently as this week, and would have shopped Derek Carr if TB12 had shown serious interest ?https://t.co/QIhNykIDeu pic.twitter.com/Xv3IJjCZ3f
— Raiders on NBCS (@NBCSRaiders) March 21, 2020
There are some conflicting reports about Brady's interest in the Raiders and how much the team reciprocated that interest, but nothing serious ever materialized. As cool as it would have been to see Gruden coach Brady in Las Vegas, TB12 thought Bruce Arians' offense in Tampa was a better fit.