SI

Pete Carroll Had Telling Line About Tom Brady’s Involvement With Raiders’ QB Search

Carroll was not subtle about Brady's involvement in the franchise's hunt for a quarterback.

Liam McKeone

Pete Carroll
Pete Carroll / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
In this story:

On Monday Pete Carroll was introduced as the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. He was asked arguably the most pressing question when it comes to the team's current status: how will he go about finding a long-term answer at the quarterback position?

In his answer Carroll offered a telling line about the involvement of Tom Brady, minority owner of the franchise who has already made his voice heard within the building.

"We're going to lean on Tom [Brady] as much as we possibly can for his insights," Carroll told assembled media Monday afternoon.

The Raiders started a quarterback combination of Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew in 2024, and their play contributed to the team's 4-13 final record. Vegas needs to find a QB of the future and it makes sense to include Brady in that process as the greatest quarterback of all time. The franchise is well-positioned to do so, with the third pick in the 2025 NFL draft and some money to throw around in free agency in search of a band-aid solution (like, say a former signal-caller of Carroll's from his Seattle days).

Of course, being a great QB and being a great evaluator of QBs are two different ideas. The Raiders will soon learn if Brady's word is worth much with the latter.

More of the Latest Around the NFL

Published
Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.

Home/NFL