Tom Brady might not be in the Raiders’ building on a regular basis, but his impact on the organization has been uniquely felt since he bought a minority share of the team in October of 2024.
Unlike other minority owners, Brady was brought to Las Vegas to step into a leadership role with the organization and for the quarterbacks on the team, Brady’s influence has even shown up in team meetings.
This week, FOX game analyst Mark Schlereth shared a story Kirk Cousins told him in production meetings last week as the network was preparing for Sunday’s telecast.
According to Cousins, Brady has offered him a “direct line” to discuss football situations, adding that he took Brady up on the offer not long ago.
“The other thing I asked him, and this was great. I asked him about the Brady influence. What’s it like? How much are you on the cell phone with him? Do you have the direct line?” Schlereth said on the Stinkin’ Truth Podcast.
“He goes, ‘Man, I’ve got the direct line to a seven-time Super Bowl champion. And he’s not hitting me up, asking me things or whatever, but we had a meeting the other day and we got this exotic blitz look. And the quarterbacks in the meeting room are going, ‘Well, what would you do, Kirk?’ And he goes, I think I would do this… this would become my check or whatever. And he goes, let me video the play. So he videoed the play on his cell phone and sent it to Brady. And within a minute, Brady gets back to him and goes, this is how I would do this. And Kirk goes, it’s exactly what I had said. And I got confirmation from the greatest quarterback… to ever play the game.”
Raiders sticking with Cousins for now…
Everyone wants to know when Fernando Mendoza will be handed the keys to the offense, but Schlereth said the Raiders are going to stick with Cousins as the starter until it isn’t working any longer.
“As long as Kirk Cousins plays well, it’s Kirk Cousins’ job, and that’s all season long,” Schlereth said.
“[Cousins] said, ‘I wouldn’t have it any other way. If I don’t play well, I deserve to be benched.’ And he said this, he goes, ‘The best thing I can do for Mendoza is show him how to prepare and what an NFL offense looks like. That’s the best thing I can do, because he’s going to learn through osmosis how this thing gets done.’”
On the Sunday broadcast, play-by-play announcer Chris Myers shared a similar message from his pre-game conversations with Klint Kubiak and John Spytek.
“We asked both the Head Coach and General Manager of the Raiders, ‘Do you have a plan to work in Mendoza?’” Myers said. “And they both said ‘Not necessarily. As long as Cousins is rolling with the team and we’re winning, we’ll stay with that.'”
x: @raidersbeat