Scott, I appreciate the time, man. Oh, hey, JR. Anytime, man.
It's always good to talk to you, and it's been an eventful day once again in Raider Nation. Not a surprise, right, Scott? None at all? Exactly. Oh, man.
That's it. The number of coaches that have run through the Raider organization is obviously unprecedented, and it's clearly a sign that the organization hasn't been run well. Mark Davis did a great job getting into Las Vegas. The value of the franchise is significant. It's tied for 12th most valuable franchise in all of pro sports.
But the on-the-field, the football decisions in the front office, the hiring of coaches, GMs, has really been a disaster. And you mentioned Tom Brady, and perhaps that's going to be the end of the line for that. And maybe Tom Brady's going to be able to bring some semblance of consistency and regularity to this Raiders franchise. Yeah, I mean, he's a minority owner.
Of course he's going to have a voice. But is he and should he not be pretty much the end-all be-all when it comes down to football decisions outside of Mark Davis just looking at him and going, yeah, okay? Yeah, I think him in conjunction with the current GM, which is Tom Tolesco, who just came for this season, was his first season, and had a pretty good first-year draft with three of his picks starting on offense by the time the year was over, including Brock Bowers, of course. But yeah, I think that we've all, the folks that have covered the team have always said Mark Davis always means well, but he needed somebody to kind of run that football operation above the GM, somebody who can kind of oversee all that, let him be the owner, let him do what he's going to do, and yeah, he might have final rubber stamp on some contracts and things like that.
But when it came to understanding the game, having the connections within the game, that's where I think they've had a problem. And I think Tom Brady coming in, the way Mark Davis has described it, JR, has been that he's going to have heavy involvement in all of the football decisions. What that exactly means, he hasn't defined yet, but I think we'll be learning that in the next week or two. Scott O'Branson is joining us here, host of the Silver and Black today.
This is the JR Sportbreeze show on the Infinity Sports Network. Tom Brady hasn't necessarily received the most glowing reviews when it comes down to broadcasting. He's making a lot of money, 37 per, 37 million per, and it's a 10-year deal. Do you think he's going to see this contract all the way through because he wants the cash and maybe purchase a larger piece? Or do you think at some point there's so much of a conflict of interest?
What do you think is going to be his role going forward? Yeah, it's a great question, JR, and I think that if you look at when they approve the minority ownership stakes for Tom Brady and the Raiders, it limits what he can do. For example, if he's doing a game, he can't go on the practice field, he can't go to the pre-production meetings, so he's very limited in what he can do because he is an owner. He can't go to regular practices anymore for any of the teams he covers because, remember, he owns one of their competitors.
So my guess is, and it's a lot of money, I don't know, there hasn't been a good guess on what's going to happen with the Fox situation. Can he walk away from the contract and they just call it, hey, it's great, we did the one year, and now I'm going to be an owner and be involved in football decisions, so I'm moving on. It's going to be real interesting to see that piece of it because from what everything that we've been told is that Tom Brady wants to be heavily involved.
This is his way to get back into football without being a player on the field. Well, now that he's involved and Mark Davis is there, Antonio Pierce is no longer the coach, what direction do you think they're going to go in? Is Brady and Vrabel, do they have a great relationship? Does Brady want to work with someone who's a little bit more green and can be molded? What are your thoughts on how this is going to round out on what will be, I guess, Mark Davis' ninth coach? Yeah, it's a great question, and I think the way people have made connecting the dots, Jarr has been, okay, yeah, Mike Vrabel, he is close with Tom Brady, so, oh, that makes sense, but then the Patriots job opens up, right? So then you have that, and then you also have Mike Vrabel interviewing at Chicago. So it'll be interesting to see what he needs to do. This Raiders team clearly still does not have an answer at quarterback, so who better than maybe the greatest quarterback to ever play can sit in there and help you decide what you're going to do there.
But from a coaching perspective, you know, I've heard so many people talk about defensive coaches, and there's great examples of like D'Amico Ryans at Houston who's done a great job, even though he's a defensive-minded coach, the offense has done well because he's got Bobby Flowick down there. So I think my guess would be that Tom Brady is going to use his relationships, and I would guess he'd take a big swing, Jarr, and go for one of these young, offensive-minded assistant coaches. You know, Ben Johnson's going to be hard to get.
He's going to go wherever he wants. But you got Joe Brady in Buffalo. You have Liam Cohen down in Tampa Bay. Something tells me that Tom Brady is going to want to put his own touch on things, and I think that's the direction he goes. You mentioned quarterback.
Unfortunately, Antonio Pierce was saddled with Aiden O'Connell and Gardner Minshew, I guess whoever was healthy on a given week. What can they do from a stopgap perspective? And what do you think they'll do in the draft? Is there a real possibility that the Raiders move up from number six to get a Cam or a Chador?
What are your thoughts there? Yeah, it's a great quandary for them because they need it so badly, yet the quarterback class isn't great. Like you said, once you get past Chador and Cam Ward, it falls off there.
So I don't know. If they absolutely love, and if Tom Brady and Tom Tolesco are in love with Chador Sanders, maybe they'll try. But as you know, there's quarterback needy teams ahead of them. I don't know that some of those teams will trade out.
Maybe they will. But I think what ends up happening, if I had to give you an answer today on what will happen, my guess is they're going to have Aiden O'Connell still under contract. He's a good backup quarterback.
He's never going to be a franchise guy. And then they might sign another veteran and then look to get a quarterback on day two and hope that you can strike gold with the Jackson Darts, the Jaden Milrose of the world, and try to maybe get somebody that, yeah, they weren't a first round pick, but maybe you can develop them. And if you have the right coach, then maybe you can.
If you have the right offensive-minded coach, maybe you can accelerate learning and find out if you have it. And then if not, J.R., then they got to take a quarterback the next year. So I think this is the kind of thing in the NFL, as you know, you got to keep going after that quarterback until you get one.
Scott O'Branson is joining us, host of the Silver and Black today. When you think about some of the rumors that have been bandied about, I mean, for months now, we've heard about Shadore Sanders and oh, my goodness, now it's a Deion package deal. Deion said he ain't going anywhere. He's over here snatching up other quarterback recruits from other teams.
What's the likelihood that this happens? This is too much of a fantasy land, am I right? Yeah, I mean, it's interesting, too, because I find it really perplexing that there's such a controversy around Shadore Sanders, too, because I think he would fit perfect in Las Vegas. I mean, Ken Ward's a good quarterback, too. I think they'd be fine with either one.
But I like Shadore Sanders. I think he fits well there. He's a smart, smart football player. Is he perfect? No.
Would he have been the fourth or fifth quarterback taken last year? Probably. But that's okay.
And I think that, you know, where he goes and the whole giant thing with the cleats and all that stuff, it'll be fascinating to watch what happens there. But it makes sense, right? It's Las Vegas. It's the Raiders.
For those of us old enough to remember the Raiders when they were the Raiders, that makes a lot of sense. So we'll see how it all ends up. But I do think that they will try. They'll try to get up there, I think, for one of those guys. From everything I've heard, they do like Shadore Sanders a lot. Mark Davis met him at one of the WNBA games and the team he owns there in Las Vegas.
And they got along swimmingly and apparently have been in contact after that, too. So we'll see what happens. But it's going to be another year of change and tumult across Raider Nation as they try to figure this thing out. Well, Scott, when you think about the existing roster and who will be on the team, I assume Max Crosby is not going to get moved for draft stock or status, maybe?
I don't know. What are some of the bright spots that these Raiders do have moving forward? Yeah, I mean, obviously you mentioned Max Crosby. And Max Crosby missed the final part of the season due to an injury. And remember, Max Crosby was the point guy in the Antonio Pierce PR campaign last year to get him hired as a full-time coach. And he shared thoughts on not wanting more turnover and all that stuff. Now, that's been said, but Max Crosby, at the end of the day, needs a new deal.
And so I think that the Raiders are going to have to figure out what they do there. I don't think they trade him for draft capital. I just don't see that happening unless he goes to them, JR, and asks them for a trade and says, I want out of here.
I'm tired of all this change. I just don't see it happening. But I never thought Khalil Mack would be traded either. So we'll see.
But they have that. And then if you look at the free agents that they have coming up, they have Adam Butler on the defensive front, did really well this year, came along nicely. Malcolm Koontz, who was on IR this year. Robert Spillane is a free agent.
So they have a bunch of guys that have really shown up. We also really like their young cornerback, Nate Hobbs out of Illinois. But again, he's going to be a free agent. He's a restricted free agent. So the Raiders have players there.
And of course, Brock Bowers had the best year of any pass-catching player as a rookie in the history of the NFL. So they have some pieces there. They still need a running back. Their offensive line has done well. Jackson Powers Johnson, the kid out of Oregon from last year that they took in the third round, did really, really well. And then, of course, you have on the other side of the ball on defense, you have Trayvon Merig, their safety, who's now in year four.
So they have pieces there. They just don't have depth. And they are missing the biggest position of all, and that's quarterback. Oh, my goodness. Well, as you talk about all the talent that they have, I'm going through my head and I'm going, oh, this is great.
This is good. And then I'm saying to myself, well, damn, Kansas City Chiefs have a quarterback and a coach. Looks like the Broncos got a quarterback and a coach. Looks like the Chargers got a quarterback and a coach. This is going to take some time here for the Raiders, right? We're talking about a couple of years.
Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, you've seen quick turnaround. I mean, look what happened in Washington, right? But they got the quarterback. So they got a good coach, too, and a good offensive coordinator in Cliff Kingsbury.
But yeah, that's the biggest concern, J.R., is in this division, AFC West, the further you fall behind, the more difficult it's going to be to catch up. Because if you have, look what Bo Nix did the second half of the season in Denver, right? Not everybody was impressed with Bo Nix coming out of college. Sean Payton saw something, they went after him, and bam, everybody. And then you look at the coaches. You've got Jim Harbaugh, you've got Andy Reid, and you've got Sean Payton. Two of those guys have won Super Bowls. The other guy won a national championship and has been to Super Bowls.
So it's really difficult. And I think at the end of the day, despite his own shortcomings, I think also that's what did in Antonio Pierce. Besides the mistake, everybody knew as a rookie head coach, he would make mistakes. But I think when you look at the idea that, hey, he's got to learn on the job, which that's fine.
If you trust the guy, you believe in him, great, do it. But in that division, if you want to give Antonio Pierce two or three years to learn how to be a really good head coach, it might be too late and you might be in the cellar for 10 years. Oh my goodness. So I hope things turn around for the Raiders sooner than that. With Tom Brady in the fold, who knows?
I got more optimism than I've ever had before. Scott, thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you, all of your work? I know you do so much outside of work with the Raiders and Silver and Black. Fill us in.
Sure, absolutely. You can check out the show. We are an Odyssey Sports original podcast.
So wherever you get your audio, just look for Silver and Black today. Also, I've got a great YouTube channel there. We're very active as well. My co-host, Mo Moten, is an NFL columnist over at Bleacher Report, so you can find him there. And just search us and you'll find us all and happy to engage with anybody who wants to talk football, specifically Raiders football. So I appreciate that. Hey Scott, thank you so much. I'm going to be paying close attention. This is one of the great, maybe not for you or the fans, but this is a great soap opera in a general sense in the NFL. I'm paying attention. Thanks JR.
