There's been a lot of Raiders *stuff* to talk about this offseason. Take your pick: Maxx Crosby got a big ol' extension, Geno Smith got a kinda big ol' extension, and Pete Carroll's in the building. Few teams have been in the headlines for as consistently-long as the Raiders have over the past couple months, so much so that it almost makes one forget that Tom Brady works for them. Almost.
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Ever since he came aboard, people have tried to figure out what, exactly, Brady does for the Raiders. He's obviously restricted in certain ways because of his high-profile announcing gig with Fox Sports, which is totally not a conflict of interest – definitely not – so why don't you mind your own business and stop asking so many questions about it already???
From what we've seen so far, Brady kind of exists in a weird, ambassador-type role that involves a lot of phone calls and probably the occasional 18-holes of golf. The latest example of that popped up in Albert Breer's latest deep-dive into the Geno Smith trade. There are about a half-dozen interesting Raiders nuggets in the story, but arguably the most interesting (*clickable) part is Breer's brief look at Brady's role in making the trade happen.
It sure sounds like Tom Brady got the Geno Smith trade over the finish line
"Brady FaceTimed Smith right as the transaction with Seattle was being pushed over the goal line, telling him how he loved how Smith had come to master the game in his 30s ... Soon thereafter, Brady invited Smith over to his house in Miami to continue the discussion—on football, on what it took for Brady to play into his mid-40s (“I want to play many more years, so to have a guy right there who’s done it that I can just basically steal his regimen”) and on life as an NFL quarterback in general.
“... What I was talking to Tom about, this is something he said, and this is true: We don’t want to celebrate contracts. We want to celebrate wins,” Smith says. “And the thing is, that just kind of set the tone for the team. This is our quarterback. This is the direction we’re headed. And there’s no gray area there. Everything’s set in stone. And when you have that, when you can set a real plan, then you can get things going."
I mean, if you're going to have someone on payroll just to make calls and host people, there are certainly worse options than Tom Brady. I wonder if he pulls a Pat Riley and just sets out all seven Super Bowl rings on the table whenever he has people over. Whatever he's doing, it's clearly working in some way or another. Now if he can just convince every team before the Raiders not to draft Ashton Jeanty, he may have a future in this league.