With the Vikings electing to hand the reins over to 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy, Sam Darnold predictably departed on the open market this offseason. The latter wound up taking a three-year deal with the Seahawks to assume starting quarterback duties. 
Before that took place, Darnold was linked to a number of potential suitors as the top signal-caller in free agency. The Raiders were among the teams which made a notable move under center this spring, trading for Geno Smith once it became clear he and the Seahawks were not close on extension terms. Darnold’s predecessor is now on the books with Vegas thanks to the new regime which is overseeing the franchise.
That setup includes head coach Pete Carroll, general manager John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady. Once the seven-time Super Bowl winner’s ownership bid was approved, he immediately took on a notable role within the organization. Brady has been heavily involved in a number of Raiders decisions this offseason, and to little surprise that includes the acquisition of a new starting quarterback.
On that note, Mike Silver of the Athletic reports Brady did not support Vegas signing Darnold in free agency (subscription required). 2024 saw the former No. 3 pick enjoy an impressive run with the Vikings up to the team’s regular season finale and wild-card loss. Darnold nevertheless secured $100.5MM on his Seattle pact, one which contains a potential out as early as next March. Instead of making a similar investment, the Raiders traded for Smith and extended him on a two-year, $75MM pact.
That move will give Vegas short-term stability under center as the team looks to compete in the AFC West beginning in 2025. At the age of 28, Darnold is six years younger than Smith but the latter has experience working with Carroll dating back to their time together in Seattle. A productive reunion between the two would help a Raiders offense which finished 29th in scoring last season.
Of course, Carroll and Spytek were heavily involved in the decision to trade for Smith and thus settle the QB spot for the time being. The fact Brady preferred not to go the Darnold route was no doubt something which carried considerable weight, though, and it will be a factor in evaluating how the Raiders’ approach winds up playing out.
This makes me root for Darnold even harder.
Mr. Double-Dipper can’t get the Jets out of his head.
Why?
Contrarians love an underdog but always a certain kind of underdog. Never mind he just got a hudnred million dollar contract, lol.
@real Love some lunch pail underdogs, first one in last one out kind of guys.
Who ever thought Darnold was that though. He was a blue chip college QB and the third pick in the draft. The Jets screwed over plenty of Qbs, but he wasn’t one of them.
I love Ken Stabler kinda of guys. “Study the playbook by the light of the jukebox box” then show up and show out on Sunday. Being the first one in/last one out is cute but the ultimate respect a QB can get is when the other players consider him one of the “boys” and not just “the QB”.
I just like guys who can ball, and they come in all ways. The top four guys right now are a microcosm of this. Dudes who can’t play can study the playbook all day and stay five hours late at the facility, but when those bullets fly, it’s not going to matter because they aren’t that good.
Further evidence that Tom Brady should not be an analyst for Fox Sports. No other team should have to share any insight with their company as long as he’s there.
It’s Tom Brady’s world and we’re all living in it as long as we follow the NFL. He has a Golden Horseshoe up his arse something we need to accept
Ugh. I hate that you’re right. Eff that guy
Haters going to hate. I just look at those 7 rings and smile.
No hate, just a common sense statement that the league needs to make him pick a job. Doing both at the same time is a conflict of interest and unfair advantage to the Raiders.
How? What info is he getting as a broadcaster that the rest of the league doesn’t have access to? What insight exactly did he gain or were teams forced to give him?
If you missed all the discussions on the player and team info broadcasters get before a game (which is normally a lot more than the average observer), you shouldn’t be commenting on this post.
Except the Raiders suck, so there’s that, lol. I don’t think Brady learning about teams he already knows intimately because he knows people on every team in the league is going to change that. They need better players, a lot of them.
You don’t need to be an NFL analyst to see that Darnold has a tendency to choke under pressure. He’s done that his whole career.
This is Tom Brady’s world and we’re all just living in it, we need to accept it unfortunately as long as we follow football
Thing is Darnold had much better players surrounding him in Minnesota verses the ‘work in progress’ of the Raiders. Geno might also be more mobile as that’ll be necessary at least again in ‘25.
As to expectation from LV this season I’d suggest folks keep your betting money in your pocket.
Looking at their schedule, they can overachieve, and I’d expect that with the general upgrade in coaching that Caroll brings to the table. They have a lot of tomato cans on that schedule, and they historically play the three division opponents close. In fact, I’d say they’ve been the team to play the Chiefs the best the last few years outside of the Bengals. Ceiling is probably 9-8 if everything breaks right.
I’d say that Denver plays K.C. better, but you’re right about the schedule. I’m not as big on Carroll as some others these days, but he and the new management combined will probably be a positive on the foundational aspect of the team. There are a lot of elements here that appear transitory-Smith at QB, for instance. I also feel that Carroll is a semi-short term answer at coach, mostly to help build that foundation from the missteps of earlier regimes.
One thing can be said with certainty, though-the AFC West is pretty stacked coaching-wise. Harbaugh is the only one to not win an NFL Championship, but he has been to the game and has a college one to boot. These teams can’t gain except at the expense of another, so it’ll be interesting to see who wins out. K.C. is showing some age at certain spots, and has been looking for a long term star at receiver, so they’ll need to keep working to stave off the others behind them in the division.
Denver just finally beat them for the first time in almost ten years last year in the meaningless last game, lol. I get your point that they play them close, but they all do in that division. The Raiders have actual wins against them without exactly the best coaching the last few years. I think they’ve beaten them three times between the Gruden/McDaniel/Pierce regimes. I do think Denver has the best chance to finally knock them off from being the division winner as I think their overall roster is better, but the equalizer is of course Mahomes. There’s still a gap there with every other QB in the league, and it’s an ocean with the QBs in his division.
Fair enough. I didn’t check that stat, just recent of memories of a couple of games where it was close enough to come down to a call. I do remember two wins, though-one with Wilson and another with Nix (Wilson had a near win that he messed up for the Broncos that year, too-pretty bad performance by him). But you are right about it being a tight division generally-that was true even in the Manning days towards the end.
Pete has two national championships to go along with that SB ring.
Raiders are + 3 at New England week 1. You would take NE?
Have the Raiders all day on that game. They have a lot of bad teams like the Patriots and Browns on their schedule, which is why I say they can overachieve this year. They were dead in the water last year with that QB situation, but they played most teams close. Carroll should make a big difference. They need to sort out their LB room in particular, but they should be much improved.
PC is a super competitive coach. He gets 110% effort for 4 quarters out of his players. Always a good underdog and a solid bet in the preseason. Very tough division to win in, but they should be able to hang around in games and keep them close. No home field advantage though, most fans are from the other team.
After Darnold’s collapse down the stretch against quality opponents, I would’ve steered clear of him as well.
Be interesting to see if Milroe has the mental tools to push Darnold out of the starting job. Much like Russell Wilson did to Matt Flynn many moons ago.
I stil don’t get that move. The Rams was one of the two teams that humiliated him twice last year. The 49ers defense is going to be a problem for him, and the Cardinals definitely beefed up their defense on paper. He’s easily the worst QB in the division where I could argue Geno was better than Murray. I get Geno wanted out, but you were going to draft a guy anyway, that’s pretty obvious by now.
I like Geno but when Kyler is on he’s better than Geno. It’s the consistency with Kyler. But again if he’s on, Geno isn’t near him
Agree, but Murray isn’t on nearly enough. He hasn’t duplicated that stretch to start their playoff year before or since. Geno’s been more consistent, has better stats, and btw, he’s fourth in the league in QB wins the last three years. It’s a huge upgrade for the Raiders. What makes this better for the Raiders is that he’s going to the coach who is familiar with him, so you don’t have to worry about if it’s going to work or not.
Can’t really say much to that. Pretty spot on with your reply.
Watching that week 18 game vs DET, they were behind and had the ball 1st and goal from the 3 (or something). They needed a TD. They looked terrible and Darnold was clearly stressed and throwing the ball all over the place. I think DET got a penalty giving MINN extra downs too. They didn’t score. This was against a DET D full of 2nd/3rd stringers and guys signed off the street. A game to determine #1 seed. A game they needed to win.
That’s when you know Darnold doesn’t have “it”. No matter how good the coaching or WRs are, how talented you are as a NFL QB, if you can’t step up in big situations by his stage in his career, you never will. No doubt TB12 watched that game and said “F that guy”.
Geno > Darnold ???
…so he traded for a guy who is nearly 35 and hasn’t accomplished all that much more than Darnold. Okay buddy.
Because Darnold kind of sucks. Take away arguably the best receiver duo in the league and one of the top play callers, and you have that same pumpkin you’ve always had, which is what you saw in those four meltdown games last year. Happy feet are like the yips for kickers. You can’t ever fix that. It’ll reemerge and rear it’s ugly head eventually.
And Geno had perhaps the best WR trio in the league last year and did worse. I don’t think Darnold is some world-beater, but neither is Geno.
He was one of the top passers in the league the last three years. He wasn’t the reason they went on that losing slide, just like he wasn’t the problem Carrol’s last two years there, it was the defense that was like bottom five in the league in scoring. He certainly has his flaws, but they’re way less than Darnold’s. Also, you think Seattle’s receiving trio wa sclose to what the Vikings have? Like seriously. JSA definitely came into his own midway through last year and became one of those guys, but he certainly didn’t start the year that way, and Metcalf would be the third reciever with the Vikings still currently. Lockett is a great third receiver. However, everyone is taking the Viking duo ten out of ten times over what Seattle had last year. You also have to factor in his offensive coordinator got fired for a reason.
You and I must watch a different NFL.
Darnold had a flash. I hate Brady as much as the next guy, but I can’t argue with what he’s brought to the Raiders. On paper everything is looking great, but time will tell.
Those that are pissed about Brady’s involvement are only mad he’s not helping their team. Own up to it and just admit it.
And yes, Geno > Darnold in every way shape and form.
There’s a very legitimate concern about the fact that he’s given been allowed to be a major network analyst and an owner acting as a partial GM at the same time. Brady, in addition, stated repeatedly that he would be “passive” as an owner in order to get his stake approved while also announcing. There’s a legitimate gripe there that has nothing to do with his abilities, perceived or actual.
Analysts are given gameday info in the week leading up to the game. They are hiven it to theoretically enhance the broadcast.
There is a a better than average chance Brady will be feeding nuggets to the Raiders for common opponents.
And Brady is a cheater. Its not even conjecture or opinion – its fact.
As great as he also was, he is not even that great if a broadcaster. This should not be allowed.
Brady lovers know this deep in their soul, but its hard to set straight in their minds.
Raider fan here….tuck rule…yes I hate him too. A Bills fan hating Tom Brady…not a shocker.
I agree he shouldn’t be an announcer, but if you think people in the Raiders opponents organization are giving top secrets to the broadcasters, boy you really don’t know football. ESPECIALLY somebody tied to your opponents organization. If you’re not giving them the Marshawn treatment “I’m just here so I won’t get fined”, then you deserve to lose.
I hate to break this to you – but this is common practice and the major reason why there is a problem with Bradys dual role.
It happened before Brady was ever a broadcaster.
How much it changed bc if Brady is unknown to me. But it was common.
Raider fan here. I was actually at the tuck game. That was our year. Never have liked Brady but Brady knows so many people that are insiders. You don’t think he could get info without being an analyst? Come on!
So your argument is give him access anyway?
Is that your point?
No my argument is he doesn’t work for the NFL. Is he a minority owner? Yes. TB works for Fox. It’s hard to ban someone if they don’t sign your checks. I get as a bills fan you don’t like TB. I have more of a distaste for him than any bills fan. That tuck game still
Hurts but to think he gets some sort of advantage by being an analyst is such a media talking point. Most of these media guys are NFL fans and have favorite teams. What’s stopping them from sharing info? I mean in today’s day and age you can get burner phones, fake email accounts etc
So I think you understand the concerns of a duel role then?
If Brady can somehow cheat without using media credentials – why make it easier?
And the NFL is under no obligation to accept conflicts of interest. They don’t have to let him have access to practices or players.
You’re right. They don’t. Personally I’d rather have him pick a role. It’s like having a wife and a mistress. It’s fun but it gets harder and harder to be good to both.
Geno is a stop gap, Darnold wanted a long term pact. Was not worth the investment, I get it.
I agree. Give em 3 years or so while you find a suitable replacement, not an emergency replacement. Darnold has been mid everywhere, including SC. However, he looked great in Minn. You have to see if it was him or those Minny WR’s. This year will show that. Raiders couldn’t afford to swing and miss, so they made a move for a safer alternative. I’m not mad.
Darnold is basically a one year deal
Darnold got a 1 yr deal with $55M guaranteed.
Geno got a 2 yr deal with $66.5M guaranteed.
Advantage, Raiders.
Tom Brady: “It hurts me to say this Sam but I wasn’t really impressed by your ability to deflate footballs…we’re going to go with Geno”.
Bradford + Milroe (92nd pick sent by Raiders to Hawks) > Geno Smith… and it’s not close.
The Milroe pick hurt, but he’s a development. Plus that’s hindsight. To suggest that Geno isn’t a huge upgrade to the Raiders is ignorant. At this point, it’s all hear say until the season starts. By all means, @ me during the season 😊
Yeah, they had to do it. Minshew was actively losing them games last year. That one game against the Chiefs where they had dominated but just couldn’t score with three or four point blank cracks at the end zone was indicative of their troubles. But their QB play would throw them out of games every week.
Who said Geno wasn’t an upgrade for the lowly Raiders? The Hawks had the better QB offseason though. It’s not even debatable in my opinion.
How is he wrong? Darnold fell back to Earth at the end of the season and has potential to really struggle.
The biggest issue projecting success for Darnold is that Seattle doesn’t have a very good offensive line. That’s going to be a problem. That’s going to be a huge problem.
Neither of these two guys will win anything moving forward, thus it didn’t make any difference where they ended up.
I am completely floored why so many teams passed on Sam Darnold this past offseason? The guy is a former blue chip prospect drafted in the top 3. He is just now turning 28. He threw for over 4,000 yards and 35 TDs with a 102 rating and top 10 MVP voting last season.
Yet the Raiders go for a 35 year old QB who is obviously on the decline.
The 6’3” prototypical QB Darnold is going to light it up for years to come while Geno will be hurt by week 5 next season. Tom Brady is the GOAT but like Jeter he is just another over blown ego when it comes to running a team.
To reply to my own comment – if Pete Carroll (74 years old) and Geno Smith (35 years old) are so good together then why did Carroll get fired and Smith get traded????
Sam, Sam the magic man is the best, who ever said kyler is better they must have rocks in there head. Kyler and Flutie are cut out of same mold they both are midgets.