LA Chargers: Updated Tom Brady sweepstakes after Ryan Tannehill’s deal

3. Las Vegas Raiders

While I understand it enough to consider them one of the three finalists for Tom Brady, merely because of the massive amount of speculation around the Raiders, I do not really see how the Raiders are a great fit for Brady to finish his career. Thus, I think they are leaps and bounds behind the Chargers and Patriots in terms of likelihood.

There are multiple things working against Brady playing on the Raiders. First is Derek Carr, who is still under contract and is making $25 million per season. The Raiders dodged a bullet as his guaranteed number is not as high as other quarterbacks with similar contracts, but they still would have to find a place for him to go.

No matter what the team does they are going to carry a dead cap hit of $7.9 million this season. Plus, it is hard to think of a team that would be willing to take on Carr’s salary after how he has been playing. They could always release him, but I think it is too much of a headache to grow through.

I also do not think Brady fits well alongside Jon Gruden, even if that partnership seems like it will work on paper. Sure, Gruden has a great mind for the offense and in particular the quarterback position, but he is far too controlling to be Brady’s new head coach.

Brady is reportedly looking for two things: some control on the roster moves made and some input on the offensive playbook. Gruden has too big of an ego to give up any ground in those decisions to a quarterback that may only be there for two years.

Plus, the Raiders are not that great. They do not have as many targets as the Chargers and while the offensive line is better, it is still just around league average.