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Tom Brady decided to stir the pot recently when he went on HBO’s The Shop and threw shade at an unnamed team that didn’t pursue him in free agency. When talking about the team, he took a shot at their quarterback by saying “you’re sticking with that motherf***er.” That little comment led to many speculating who the quarterback may have been talking about.
The Las Vegas Raiders were among the teams rumored to be interested in Brady last offseason but they didn’t aggressively pursue him in the end. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believes that the future Hall of Famer was throwing shade at the Raiders and Derek Carr:
In league circles, there’s one team that hasn’t been deeply thrust into the conversation, but perhaps should be: The Raiders. Multiple people with deep connections to the NFL’s matrix have reached out in the past 24 hours to express a belief that the unnamed team was the Raiders. Which, obviously, would make Derek Carr the unnamed “motherf***er.”
As both sources explained it, the Raiders dropped out late in the process. As one source explained it, the Raiders thought Brady’s requests for extra things was over the top.
Now, this report needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Florio is noted as being one of Carr’s biggest detractors in the media and there have been conflicting reports regarding which team and quarterback Brady was talking about.
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Other Insider Said Brady Was Referring to Other Team
Carr is a former MVP candidate and a solid quarterback. Obviously, Brady is the better player but there’s no reason for him to not respect Carr’s game. According to Benjamin Allbright, he was referencing the Tennessee Titans and their quarterback Ryan Tannehill.
That would make more sense as Brady used to play with Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and Tannehill wasn’t very well respected around the league until recently. Tennessee never appears to that interested in Brady last offseason and Tannehill ended up having a very good season.
Did Raiders Make Right Call by Passing on Brady?
If the Raiders truly wanted Brady, they would’ve had a real shot at landing him. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported last year that he wanted to join the team but they didn’t end up showing much interest. That’s a bit odd considering where the Raiders’ roster was at compared to other teams that were interested.
Las Vegas has really strong offensive personnel but the defense has been a dumpster fire for years. They also have a very young team. In the end, it worked out better for both sides. Brady ended up winning another Super Bowl in Tampa Bay while the Raiders continue their rebuild. Sure, if they signed Brady, they likely would’ve been at least a playoff team in 2020. That said, it’s hard to imagine that defense would’ve done enough to get the team to the Super Bowl.
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