Who knew that having Tom Brady on your team was such a good idea?
The Raiders wasted absolutely no time whatsoever putting Brady to work after coming on as a part owner, and a new report from NFL Network's Ian Rapoport sheds some light on what exactly he's been up to. According to Rapoport, Brady has spent much of the past few days talking with Lions' offensive coordinator Ben Johnson about the team's head coach opening.
RELATED: Deion Sanders is reportedly very interested in coaching the Raiders
And here's the fun catch: Johnson, who's long been rumored to be the frontrunner for the Bears' job, is apparently legitimately interested. Are the Raiders back?!
Tom Brady is reportedly trying hard to convince Ben Johnson to coach the Raiders
"Now let's talk about the Raiders,"Rapoport said. "Ben Johnson, the Lions' offensive coordinator, interviewed with them earlier this week ... My understanding is the name to watch is Johnson. They are said to be enamored with him ... Tom Brady has loomed large recruiting Ben Johnson, imploring him to take the interview and consider the Raiders. If that is something that would be a possibility for Ben Johnson, [he] is said to at least be interested. Keep an eye on this one."
It's hard to know how much to read into a report like this. Rapoport is obviously as plugged into this stuff as any NFL reporter, so it's safe to assume that conversations are, in fact, actually happening. That in and of itself is great news for the Raiders, who spent the last week kinda looking like one of the NFL's more unattractive dumpster fires. The fact that they rolled out the firing of Antonio Pierce and Tom Telesco the way they did and still have a chance to land this year's best coaching candidate is maybe their biggest upset win of the entire season.
It'd still be somewhat shocking to see the Raiders leap the Bears, but if the Bears have taught us anything for the last 50+ years, it's that they're truly an elite franchise when it comes to organizational dysfunction. Would it be that surprising to see them go hire, like, Ron Rivera or someone with ties to a generation of football that most of their fans don't even really remember anymore? If this was any other team, I'd say that even Brady faces an uphill battle. But it's not any other team – it's the Bears. Ben Johnson, welcome to Las Vegas.