The Raiders are coming away from a draft that, by most accounts, should become one of the better groups in this year’s class.
First-year GM John Spytek was able to address a myriad of roster needs without reaching on a lot of picks. In theory, that shouldn’t be a difficult achievement, but it’s something that not many of his predecessors were able to accomplish.
One of the more interesting dynamics to the Raiders draft this year was the presence of Tom Brady and what his involvement with the draft was going to look like. Everyone knew Brady was going to take a close look at this year’s rookie quarterback class and that added a little intrigue to the evaluation process at that position.
League insider Dan Pompei wrote a story this week at The Athletic and shared a few info nuggets from Spytek around Brady’s involvement in the Raiders’ quarterback search.
“When we are looking at quarterbacks, we’d have to be fools not to involve him,” Spytek told Pompei. “Tom is the foremost expert on quarterback play I’ve ever been around.”
Pompei added that Brady “endorsed” the team’s decision to trade for Geno Smith and wasn’t quite as involved in the draft as some were expecting. Pompei said Brady was in “constant communication” with the team throughout the draft process and was “on board” with the selection of North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller in the sixth round.
“[Tom] liked the way [Miller] threw it, his technique, throwing from the ground up and his motion,” Spytek told Pompei. “And he thought he had the potential to improve.”
Of course, the biggest storyline at this year’s draft was Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders sliding to the fifth round and there has been a lot of conversation around Brady’s evaluation of Shedeur.
Brady has a relationship with the Sanders family, and it was eye opening to many that the Raiders passed on Shedeur so many times in the draft.
Brady was asked this week on the ‘Impaulsive’ podcast about Shedeur’s fall in the draft and his response was remarkably diplomatic.
“That’s a good question. I wasn’t a part of any evaluation process,” Brady said after a short awkward pause.
“I actually texted Shedeur because I know him very well and I said ‘Dude, whatever happens, wherever you go, that’s your first day. Day 2 matters more than the draft. I was [pick] 199. Who could speak on it better than me? Use that as motivation. You’re going to get your chances. Go take advantage of them.'”
Not only did Brady avoid the question, but he also didn’t offer a believable answer on his involvement in the Raiders’ evaluation process at the quarterback position.
For as much pride as Brady has taken in his efforts to return the Raiders to greatness, it would be naive to believe he “wasn’t a part of any evaluation process” at quarterback.
Considering Brady’s relationship with the Sanders family, it makes sense that he wouldn’t share why the Raiders passed on Shedeur, but no one is going to buy the notion that he wasn’t involved in evaluating the rookie quarterbacks in this year’s class.
Over the course of the last six months, there has been no shortage of team representatives and media personalities who have balked at the opportunity to share why teams were not enthusiastic about drafting Shedeur.
One draft analyst that didn’t balk at the opportunity to be real in his evaluation of Shedeur, though, was The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen.
Going all the way back to March 1, Nguyen was ahead of the curve on Shedeur’s evaluation… even in the face of a little criticism.
x: @raidersbeat
Brady had game. Peyton Manning was the smartest Q to play the position. We would’ve been the best OC as well.
Quit blowing smoke up 12’s arse.
He.
“When we are looking at quarterbacks, we’d have to be fools not to involve him,” Spytek told Pompei. “Tom is the foremost expert on quarterback play I’ve ever been around.”
Still thinking if Tom said take him they would have … especially in the later rounds. They didn’t, so Tom didn’t really want him on the team. We see if that was a mistake or not .
I’m glad they passed on him. Regardless of how good he becomes.
We don’t need any more baggage than we already carry around our necks.