Going off comments made by each team’s brass at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday, it sure sounded like both the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders were leaving the door open for a potential Tom Brady pursuit.
But while neither team was as forthright as Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians, former New England Patriots executive Michael Lombardi seems to believe both the Titans and Raiders indeed plan on entering the Brady sweepstakes.
“The one thing we’ve always said all along in the Tom Brady sweepstakes is comfortability is gonna be critical, right? He’s gotta feel really comfortable with the people in the organization,” Lombardi said on a recent episode of “The GM Shuffle” podcast. “He’s gotta trust that there’s an understanding, and he knows (Titans general manager) Jon Robinson, he knows Mike Vrabel really well, was a teammate of Mike Vrabel. So he knows him. It would be a locker room that it would be comfortable for him. I don’t know what the long-term plan would be for the Titans, you know? Would they sign Brady and let (Ryan) Tannehill go and then draft one? Is that what they’re thinking? That certainly could be the option.
“But I think the thing that’s been reported is how the Chargers may not be in this thing ’cause they felt like that might not be the best for him and I still don’t think the Chargers are the best place. I think it’s Tennessee and the Raiders. I think those are the two teams that at the end of the day see their window as the opportunity to get Brady and they want to take advantage of it.”
The Raiders have been the most consistently pro-Brady team in rumors dating back to the end of the 2019 season. In fact, one report indicated Las Vegas was willing to offer the six-time Super Bowl champion a two-year, $60 million deal. As for the Titans, a previous report indicated Tannehill “isn’t leaving” Tennessee, but if he’s demanding top dollar, the franchise very well could find that money better served on Brady.
Brady can officially begin speaking with the Titans, Raiders, Bucs and whomever else he chooses March 16 when the league’s legal tampering period opens.
