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Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll knows his top priority with his new team is to find a franchise quarterback, and he plans to take advantage of the best resource available to him.
During his introductory press conference on Monday, Carroll told reporters that the Raiders are “going to lean on” part-owner Tom Brady “as much as we possibly can for his insights” in the search for a quarterback of the future.
The Raiders went 4-13 in 2024 while rotating between quarterbacks Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell and Desmond Ridder. Las Vegas will have the No. 6 pick in the 2025 NFL draft, so there’s a chance it could miss out on top quarterback prospects like Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward if it doesn’t trade up.
Carroll explained to reporters that he wouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to figure out the quarterback position with Brady, who secured a five-percent ownership stake in the Raiders in October.
“It’s our mission to build this football team up around the quarterback position. This isn’t the only spot,” Carroll said. “We happen to have the greatest of all time to help us, and to see clearly, and we’re going to lean on Tom as much as we possibly can for his insights because nobody has the insights that he has. He’s that unique.”
Brady also works as Fox’s lead NFL analyst. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reported on Monday that the 47-year-old had some influence in the Raiders’ hiring of Carroll, but he added that “he won’t have a day-to-day presence in the organization, at least in the beginning” because his family still resides in Florida.
Still, Carroll said it would be a mistake to not pick Brady’s brain, as the seven-time Super Bowl champion is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play football.
“Coach [Bill] Walsh taught me a long time ago that it’s the hardest position in professional sports to play, so we need to make it as easy as possible. And we’ll go about doing that by running the football, protecting him, taking care of the ball, playing great defense, and kicking the football when we want to kick it,” Carroll said. “So, there’s a lot that goes into this. But to think about how fortunate we are to have Tom Brady with us — it’s just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”