National Football League

Is Tom Brady a fit with the Las Vegas Raiders?

Published Jan. 5, 2023 7:08 p.m. ET

The NFL quarterback carousel is set to rage on again in just a matter of weeks, and the only seven-time Super Bowl winner in league history will once again be one of the top prizes.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady is set to become a free agent at season's end. And just a week after they benched Derek Carr, the Las Vegas Raiders are making Brady their top target this offseason, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Colin Cowherd originally questioned whether the Raiders would be the best team for Brady.

"It is not a perfect fit if Tom Brady went there," Cowherd said on Thursday's "The Herd." "Josh McDaniels, he's comfortable with him, and Brady likes comfort, but he's never proven to be a successful head coach. There are a lot of critics of Josh McDaniels' game management. They lost a lot of big leads this year.

"The defense — the secondary's been a mess. Their first pick should be a corner. Their second pick should be a safety. The secondary's been a mess. The offensive line is fine, not great, but it's top 12, 13 in the league. "

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However, Cowherd did admit that the Raiders are good in the right areas when he investigated a bit further, believing that they might indeed be the best fit for Brady.

"The Raiders are the opposite of the Colts," Cowherd said. "They have holes, but they check the right boxes. Left tackle Kolton Miller, he's a good starter. They have a star receiver (Davante Adams) and a star edge rusher (Maxx Crosby). Brady would be the star quarterback. They have an offensive head coach in 2022. So, the boxes are checked."

With the Raiders having the right guys in the right spots, Cowherd thinks that they have a slight edge to sign Brady over the team that tampered in their attempts to sign him in the past.

"I would guess Raiders," Cowherd said on who he thinks Brady's next team will be. "They also play indoors. It's pleasant. Tom's got a lot of wealth and there's no state tax in Nevada. I think the [Patrick] Mahomes, [Justin] Herbert thing is a bit daunting. It's Miami or the Raiders. I would say I'm leaning 51 percent Raiders based on the Las Vegas Review-Journal story. It sounds like the Raiders are going to go after Brady hard."

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Not only does Cowherd believe that the Raiders hold the pole position for Brady, he thinks they're in an advantageous spot all around. Carr is set to receive a $40 million guarantee for the 2023 season on Feb. 15, just three days after the Super Bowl. But as the Las Vegas Review-Journal story points out, the Raiders and Carr could agree to some type of renegotiation that would allow Carr to be traded easier and land in a preferred destination.

If the Raiders are able to find a way to trade Carr without having to give him the big guarantee, Cowherd thinks the return they'll get for him would help their cause to get Brady even more.

"I also believe that the Raiders will get a second- or third-round pick for Derek Carr," Cowherd said. "Are you going to tell me that Derek Carr, to help stabilize the New York Jets' situation, isn't worth a second- or a third-round pick? Second- or third-round picks, 30 percent of them are busts. Derek Carr isn't going to be a bust.

"Remember, the teams that would want Derek Carr — Indy, the Jets, perhaps Houston — the bad teams, or the teams that won't make the playoffs, their season's done Tuesday. You've got five weeks. … I think it's doable. I think it's going to happen. I think the bad teams have plenty of time."