Thanks to Tom Brady, Geno Smith has reunited with his former head coach, Pete Carroll, under the banner of the Las Vegas Raiders. The franchise reportedly leaned on the expertise of the former quarterback throughout their search for the next face of the franchise, with Brady ultimately favoring the experience and recent work of the 11-year veteran.
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The only problem? Various personnel from the Raiders organization, including Brady himself, repeatedly insisted that he would not be involved in the team’s decision making process. After Carroll admitted that the team would in fact be relying on him, some felt as if the franchise had been deceitful about Brady’s role as a minority owner.
Nevertheless, Brady’s fellow Hall of Famer, Chris Carter, suggested that both Las Vegas and Brady made the right decision.
“Geno Smith has a more proven track record in the kind of system that Pete Carroll is going to run… The Raiders, physically, want to run the football.
“The Vikings, for the past several years, have been a passing football team. So, yes, Tom Brady had something to do with it. Ask Tom about everything, he’s the greatest quarterback, the greatest winner we’ve ever seen… He should be a part of that… He should have an evaluation on the quarterback,” Carter said.
Considering that the Seattle Seahawks produced a total of 593 pass attempts in 2024, the seventh most of any team in the NFL, Carter seems to suggest that the late bloomer found a good fit after all. He may not have received the Brady stamp of approval, but the Seahawks are providing him with an opportunity to continue to prove his doubters wrong, and that’s just as valuable to Darnold at this point in time.
Brady’s involvement in his team’s search for a signal caller was routinely downplayed throughout the weeks leading up to and following the conclusion of the 2025 NFL Draft. While it certainly would have seemed foolish for the Raiders to ignore his advice at such a critical time, it does call into question the extent of Brady’s influence.
The franchise seems to have fully abandoned the narrative of Brady’s presence being a small one. The only question that remains, however, is just how much influence does Brady have over the Raiders?
Unfortunately, only time will be able to provide the answer, and the same goes for Darnold. His 2024 campaign may have revitalized his career, but a lackluster performance in the Wild Card round gave the naysayers an ample amount of ammunition.
He may no longer have the luxury of throwing to Justin Jefferson on Sundays, but Jaxson Smith-Njigba figures to be a nice compensatory prize heading into 2025. Now that he’s received the starting-caliber contract that he had been dreaming of, all that’s left for Darnold to do is prove that he’s worth the $100,500,000 that Seattle is willing to give him.
