Finally, the connective tissue of a Las Vegas Raiders plan is starting to reveal itself. And you can see Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay experience in the fibers of it.
Follow along for a moment.
The Raiders have hired John Spytek as their general manager. Spytek’s football life intersected with Brady twice: First when they played college football together at Michigan, and when Spytek was in the Buccaneers’ front office. The man Spytek worked for in Tampa — general manager Jason Licht — was a member of the New England Patriots’ scouting staff and then later the front office during a portion of Brady’s run with that franchise. When Licht wanted to reshape the culture of the Buccaneers after Tampa had averaged double-digit loss seasons for nearly a decade, he went and hired a 68-year-old Bruce Arians out of retirement. And when Arians and Licht wanted to anchor that culture change, they chased a late-career Tom Brady.
If we’re comparing blueprints here, you can see some of the similarities connected to what Brady learned in Tampa Bay. Spytek is his Jason Licht. Pete Carroll — who was hired by the Raiders on Friday — is his Bruce Arians. Next, Brady needs to find his own Tom Brady. Or at the very least, a guy he trusts to help shape a foundational culture.
Enter Russell Wilson as an option.
That’s suddenly a realistic possibility. Partially because of Wilson’s Seattle Seahawks history with Carroll, but also because Wilson is a solidly productive veteran player Brady can count on to bridge the Raiders to their next starter. Not to mention the fact that Wilson’s free agency market will likely be limited enough to make him amenable to a short-term contract loaded with incentives rather than multiple years of guaranteed money.
Does all of that make a Wilson pursuit a guarantee? No. But it gives the Raiders another avenue to explore at the quarterback spot, while also keeping open the possibility of selecting a player at the position in April’s draft. At 36 years old and with some of his physical tools eroding, Wilson’s biggest hurdle now is finding a team that will continue to offer him a shot to start. If that means going to a franchise that is going to develop a young player behind him, Wilson will have to take it.
Virtually every team that brings Wilson on at this point will be using him as a stopgap measure rather than a long-term solution. If he was anything more than that, the Pittsburgh Steelers wouldn’t be allowing him back into free agency. While this might not be the inspiring quarterback reach that Raiders fans are hoping for, it’s the one that can buy the franchise time if neither Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders is deemed worthy of surrendering assets to trade up in the 2025 NFL Draft.
The next marker to watch will be Carroll’s choice of offensive coordinator — coming from a group of candidates that will surely have familiar names. One of Wilson’s former offensive coordinators in Seattle, Darrell Bevell, will likely be in the mix. Two other prominent names to watch are former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and current Tampa Bay quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, whom both overlapped with Brady’s Buccaneers stint.
Bevell, who has long been a trusted friend and assistant for Carroll, is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Miami Dolphins. Leftwich hasn’t coached in the NFL since his firing from the Buccaneers following the 2022 season.
