In a now-viral video from HBO’s The Shop, Tom Brady expressed displeasure and confusion over a team’s decision not to sign him. While debate rages over which team he was referring to, many believe it may have been the Raiders.Â
A Tell-All interview
As most episodes of The Shop tend to be, all the athletes and celebrities involved in the interview were very open and honest. None more so than Tom Brady. When discussing his free agency over the 2020 offseason, he remarked about teams that elected not to sign him. “One of the teams, they weren’t interested at the very end, ‘You’re sticking with that motherf—–?” Brady said in a controversy-creating quote. Instantly, the internet exploded trying to figure out who the mystery team was.
“You’re sticking with that mf†👀 Wonder what team Tom Brady was referring to when talking about a certain team sticking with a QB over him when Brady was a free agent. #nfl #tombrady #TheShopHBO pic.twitter.com/NfZsVaFSx2
— Beyond The Game (@BeyondTheGameKy) June 26, 2021
Was it Derek Carr?
Of course, Tom Brady eventually chose to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and he enjoyed a terrific 2020 season with his new team. Prior to that, joining the Raiders seemed like it would be a real possibility. Alas, they decided against it and stayed the course with long-term starter, Derek Carr.
For Carr, he enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career in 2020 setting personal bests in passing yards and QBR while leading the Raiders to an 8-8 record. By most accounts, Carr had a respectable season. However, it was nothing compared to the Buccaneer’s new quarterback who not only led his team to a Super Bowl victory, he bested Carr in yards, touchdowns, and passer rating.
Even if the Raiders were not the team mentioned by Brady in the interview, they still chose to stick with Carr over the future Hall of Famer. While hindsight is always 20/20, the Raiders are almost certainly a playoff team with Brady at the helm. Simply, he is a better player than Carr at this point. However, this move shows the commitment made to Carr within the Raiders’ organization. Barring a situation where the wheels completely fall off, they are going to stick it out with ‘4’ for better or worse.
Time for Carr’s statement season
Carr was once quoted as saying “It’s not about proving people wrong, it’s about proving the ones that believed in you right.” A personal favorite of mine, this quote rings true for the Raiders quarterback next season. The easiest way for Carr to make all of this speculation go away is to win games in Las Vegas. While Brady is the GOAT, the Raiders don’t need Carr to be that. He must only do enough to finally give Raiders fans a winning team. If not, his time in Silver and Black may be up.
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*Top Photo: Heidi Fang/Las Vegas Review-Journal