Last January, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the Raiders are “Tom’s show now.”
One year later, if The Tom Brady Show were playing somewhere on the strip, the curtain would fall for good.
But owners can’t be fired. And Brady is an owner of the Raiders. Primary owner Mark Davis specifically sold a slice of the team to Brady at a below-market rate to stabilize the team. After Brady’s first full season on the job, the Raiders are less stable than dry dynamite in the trunk of a three-wheeled Toyota.
Brady has managed, somehow, to avoid widespread scrutiny for the current condition of the team. That won’t last. The time is now for him to make a move.
And with an infusion of Patriot DNA dramatically altering the situation in New England, where two years of 4-13 have become 13-3 and the first division title since Brady’s last year in the building, Brady may be thinking about bringing a little Beantown to Sin City.
The obvious choice would be offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. But that act has already played, and failed, in Vegas. There’s a rumor currently making the rounds that, once Brady rolls up his sleeves (while also wearing one glove and an expensive-ass watch), he’ll make the case for bringing in Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.
As the chatter goes, Flores would be the head coach, and former Giants coach Brian Daboll would be the offensive coordinator. Like Flores, Daboll has extensive experience with the Patriot Way. Daboll was there for the first three Super Bowl wins of the Brady/Belichick era, and for two of the second trio of championships.
Brady and Flores are believed to have a good relationship. Flores was among those in Miami who wanted to bring Brady to town after his time in Tampa.
That said, the Brian Flores lawsuit blew up the revised plan to pair Brady with Sean Payton, an effort that resulted in a massive tampering punishment, including the loss of a first-round pick, a $1.5 million fine, and a six-week suspension of owner Stephen Ross.
The Flores lawsuit is still pending. For some teams (including those who are named defendants to the case — Giants, Broncos, Texans, and Dolphins) that would be an issue. For a team like the Raiders, which has a history of litigation against the league, it may not matter. Especially after the manner in which someone saw fit to force out coach Jon Gruden in 2021.
From a coaching standpoint, Flores fits with the widespread trend of finding a coach who is the exact opposite of the last guy. Carroll is a rah-rah, player-friendly coach. Flores is no-nonsense and Belichickian.
Really, Flores may be the closest thing to Belichick (other than McDaniels) currently in the league. If it really is The Tom Brady Show in Las Vegas, Flores & Daboll could be the next Siegfried & Roy.
Before things went awry, that is.
The Patriots have key members of their offensive and defensive line back on the active roster.
Left tackle Will Campbell and defensive tackle Milton Williams were both activated from injured reserve on Saturday. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said at his Friday press conference that he expected both of those moves to happen ahead of Sunday’s game against the Dolphins.
Campbell has missed the last four games with a knee injury. The first-round pick started the first 12 games of the season.
Williams spent five games on injured reserve due to an ankle injury. He had 27 tackles and 3.5 sacks in the first 11 weeks.
The Patriots waived defensive tackle Jeremiah Pharms. They also elevated offensive lineman Brenden Jaimes and defensive lineman Leonard Taylor from the practice squad.
With the Dolphins hiring ESPN’s Troy Aikman to serve as a consultant for the coming G.M. hire, coach Mike McDaniel’s status naturally falls even further into question, given Aikman’s strong criticism of McDaniel’s handling of the fourth quarter of a Week 15 loss to the Steelers.
On Friday, McDaniel was asked by reporters whether he and Aikman have cleared the air.
“No, that stuff doesn’t hit me,” McDaniel said, via a transcript distributed by the team. “When I signed up for this job, this just in and when things work, people will applaud. When they don’t work, they’ll have critiques. And if I expect anything else, that’s a level of entitlement that doesn’t really hit me correctly. It’s kind of the nature of the biz. So you’re telling me he didn’t like us not scoring points and taking up too much time? Neither did I, that was not the intent. He’s doing his job, and when I signed up for this job it was inherent that results will dictate all narratives regardless of if things were good, bad or whatever. It doesn’t bother me in the least. As a matter of fact, I think it would be funny if it did.”
McDaniel also expressed support for the organization’s decision to rely on Aikman as a consultant.
“I think Troy Aikman speaks for himself in terms of his relationships that he’s had within the National Football League and knows a lot of things,” McDaniel said. “Information is a positive to me and being able to resource that, I think we’re fortunate. I’m excited for that. As far as everything else, again, I’m not going to spend one second of this job prioritizing what my job is under some other, ‘Does this work for me?’ My priority is I’m the head coach and I’m going to take those responsibilities as they relate to everybody involved in the organization. I’m going take to those serious and focus on that. I’m not joking, lying, misleading. I don’t think about all those questions, ever. It’s a waste of my time and I don’t try to waste my time or other people’s.”
The most immediate question is whether McDaniel will be relieved of his duties after Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Patriots. If McDaniel stays, the next question is whether the next G.M. will decide to make a coaching change.
The Dolphins may be without a couple of their best offensive players for their final game of the regular season.
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle has been listed as questionable to face the Patriots. He missed Wednesday’s practice with injured ribs, but was able to return for limited sessions on Thursday and Friday.
Running back De’Von Achane is unlikelier to play. He missed practice all week with a shoulder injury and has been listed as doubtful.
Safety Minkah Fitzpatrick (calf) is the only player who has been ruled out. Linebacker Quinton Bell (illness), center Aaron Brewer (neck), linebacker Jordyn Brooks (hamstring), right tackle Austin Jackson (back, groin), edge rusher Chop Robinson (concussion), and kicker Jason Sanders (right hip) join Waddle as questionable.
There was a time, maybe more than 10 years ago, when the prospect of an NFL broadcaster taking a side job with one of the NFL’s 32 teams would have been a non-starter. Thanks to Tom Brady’s dual role as Fox’s lead analyst and the Raiders’ minority owner (and other societal shifts that made Brady’s situation possible), the rubber band has been stretched more than far enough for ESPN’s Troy Aikman to short-term moonlight as a consultant with the Dolphins.
It’s really that simple. The NFL has no qualms with Brady being in position to gather league-wide information, and to cultivate league-wide relationships, one high-profile game at a time. (That’ll change quickly, if/when the Raiders ever become a powerhouse.)
Brady can talk to coaches and key players in production meetings, and/or on the phone in the days proceeding each given broadcast. He can eyeball players during on-field warmups. He can talk to assistant coaches and front-office staff and otherwise form opinions about players the Raiders could pursue, and coaches they could hire. It’s a valuable advantage, no matter how hard anyone tries to downplay it.
Although Brady’s potential advantage hasn’t done much to help the Raiders (if anything, they’ve gotten worse during his tenure with the team), his primary gig with Fox (at $37.5 million per year) gives him a level of access that no other owner and no other team has. And while he has chosen to be indignant about the suggestion that he’d possibly use his unique perspective to the Raiders’ advantage, the simple reality is that he owes a duty to the Raiders to do just that. Which makes the conflict of interest inescapable.
The question isn’t whether Brady can successfully navigate the two positions. The question is whether anyone should be in that position.
For Aikman, it’s a much easier analysis. His temporary gig with the Dolphins won’t impact his ESPN job because he won’t be working any Dolphins games for the balance of the year.
Of course, Aikman worked a Dolphins game on December 15. It would be interesting to know whether he was talking to the Dolphins at the time about possibly becoming a consultant for the team’s G.M. search, and whether that was disclosed to the Steelers.
Looking at it more broadly, Aikman is now leveraging his years of league-wide access and information to benefit one specific team. Which is why, in days gone by, Aikman’s effort to cover the league for ESPN and to consult with one specific NFL team would not have been allowed.
But those days are gone forever. Now, we do what we want. When we want. How we want.
Which means that more teams can — and should — lean on folks whose primary jobs give them the ability to provide specific assistance to a franchise that lacks the kind of big-picture expertise that would help it break from a cycle of dysfunction.
The best approach would be for the NFL and all networks to make it clear that broadcaster can’t simultaneously work for teams. In any capacity.
The problem is that it’s too late to put the genie back in the bottle. So, teams, hire broadcasters. Broadcasters, go chase another paycheck. In the end, all’s fair in love, war, and football.
