Did anyone really think Tom Brady was going to buy a piece of the Raiders, pull up a chair next to Mark Davis and spend his Sundays hoping they could sneak into the playoffs as a seventh seed?
Come on. You know the guy.
Of course Brady has a Super Bowl in his sights. The man won seven of them. The interesting part of his prediction that the Raiders will win one is that he gave everybody in Raider Nation a date to circle.
Appearing on the Gronk and Jules Show on Sunday – that would be his former teammates Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman – Brady answered “true” when asked if his Raiders would hoist a Lombardi Trophy within the next four years.
And that date probably gives you a pretty good idea of what he thinks of Fernando Mendoza and Klint Kubiak.
Work backward from 2030.
If Brady has this thing figured right, the kid sitting behind Kirk Cousins today will be the quarterback with the ball in his hands on Super Bowl Sunday. And the guy in his ear calling the play will be Kubiak, the first-year head coach that Brady and the Raiders believe will create a long-time dream duo with Mendoza.
Brady played a huge role in the Raiders decision to draft Mendoza first overall in the NFL draft. And it was Brady who helped guide the search that landed Kubiak.
His confidence in them leading the Raiders to a Super Bowl is a pretty good window into the building. From the outside, we’re still debating when Mendoza ought to get his first start. The guy upstairs is already comfortable putting a timetable on the franchise’s fourth Lombardi Trophy. Hard to imagine he’d do that if he had much doubt about the coach and quarterback he helped pick.
Brady, after all, is a minority owner and the Raiders’ de facto head of football operations. At 4-5, he has a say in what general manager John Spytek does at Tuesday’s trade deadline. He also gets to answer for how this all turns out. Nobody made him put a specific year on it.
Although there is one date on the calendar that might appeal to him even more. Las Vegas hosts the Super Bowl in 2029.
Mendoza to Brock Bowers to win it all at Allegiant Stadium?
You think that picture hasn’t already crossed Brady’s mind?
