Things are going well for the Las Vegas Raiders as they start their offseason program, so Brady will show up.
We still don’t know what Tom Brady’s exact role is with the Las Vegas Raiders, but one thing we do know is that Brady is like a moth to a flame when it comes to spotlight opportunities.
Given that, it wasn’t exactly surprising to see Brady turn up for the first day of the Raiders’ offseason program yesterday, according to a story written by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk via Ryan McFadden of ESPN.
Brady recently posted a long essay about his new quest for balance in his life, which makes this appearance especially laughable. As Florio noted, “For Tuesday at least, his balance included traveling from his home in Miami to Nevada for the first official day of coach Klint Kubiak’s regime — and for quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s official visit to the team that holds the first pick in the draft.”
We also don’t know if Brady will be a regular presence for the Raiders during the offseason program, but Florio added that it “represents a break from his absentee landlord vibe,” which isn’t what owner Mark Davis expected when he gave Brady a chance to buy a chunk of the team at a below-market price.
The latest from the team has GM John Spytek still running the football operation in “close collaboration” with Brady, but this tends to vary on either a weekly or monthly basis.
Florio continues to hammer on Brady’s obvious conflict of interest, which becomes more apparent and blatant when he spends more time with the team. He’s flogging a dead horse given how much the NFL doesn’t seem to care about this, and the league also doesn’t seem to care about announcer Troy Aikman’s supposedly growing role with the Miami Dolphins as well.
For Raiders fans who have been watching Brady do this sort of thing for a couple of years now, the cheat code is obvious. Brady will show up when things are going well with the Raiders to get his share of the credit and photo and red-light opps, and this is one of those occasions.
He’ll undoubtedly do some glad-handing with coach Klint Kubiak, not to mention quarterback Kirk Cousins and possibly Fernando Mendoza if the quarterback is around, but based on past behavior it would be shocking if Brady stuck around for any length of time.
The other half of the cheat code is that Brady will instantly disappear if something goes sideways. The possibilities here include something going wrong with Mendoza, the Raiders being criticized for their draft strategy and decisions, or another disastrous version of the ill-fated Maxx Crosby trade. If any of those things occur, he’ll be "long-gone Tom" and Brady’s search for “balance” will likely take him to new money-making spotlight opportunities.