Tom Brady eager ‘to get things going in the right direction’ with Raiders

Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady remains optimistic he can be part of building a winning franchise in Southern Nevada.

“There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle you have to get right,” he told The Associated Press this week. “But I’m certainly very excited that we’re going to get things going in the right direction.”

Brady has been influential in the organization for more than a year, but the team announced he would be more directly in control of football operations alongside general manager John Spytek when coach Pete Carroll was fired last week.

Brady’s and Spytek’s first item of business is to hire a coach, as the interview process is underway.

“I think every team right now is going through their own process to try to figure out what best suits them,” Brady said of the search.

The team also has the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft and plenty of cap space to make a splash this offseason.

Perhaps that’s why analyst Jay Glazer, who works with Brady at Fox, believes the Raiders have the most appealing job opening of all the teams in the market for a coach.

Glazer said coaches are looking for a quarterback they can work with, which he says would place the Baltimore Ravens in the lead with two-time MVP Lamar Jackson.

The Raiders, however, are positioned to draft Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who will lead the Hoosiers against Miami in the College Football Playoff championship game on Monday night.

“Then you’re looking for, OK, how’s the general manager? How’s my partner? What’s the structure going to be?” Glazer said. “Then, it’s ownership who’s not going to meddle.

“As far as the most attractive, if you’re asking me, well, Vegas. What am I talking about? I can work with Tom. Yeah, I’d have to go probably Vegas, because of Tom.”

ESPN’s Dan Graziano believes that could put the Raiders in the mix to land one of the top candidates in this cycle, which he predicts will be San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.

“Saleh has been on Las Vegas’ short list in the past, and his work in San Francisco this season has caught a lot of people’s attention around the league,” Graziano wrote. “His Jets tenure didn’t go great, but that’s true of most people who coach there. It doesn’t sound like teams will let his Jets tenure deter them from talking to him this time around.”

Saleh’s biggest task will be finding someone who can mentor a young quarterback.

“Whoever gets this job must have a plan for offensive coordinator and the development of a young quarterback, likely Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza,” Graziano wrote. “But Saleh is part of that (Kyle) Shanahan/(Sean) McVay network and should have no trouble putting together an offensive staff. The Raiders were last in the NFL with 14.1 offensive points per game and 245.2 yards per game this season.”

Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports believes the job is “intriguing” because of the assets in place to turn things around in a hurry.

“If Mendoza lives up to the hype, the Raiders would suddenly have a promising young core that includes the Indiana quarterback, along with running back Ashton Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers,” Sullivan wrote. “Pair that with roughly $98 million in projected cap space — the third most in the NFL — and this rebuild could be jump-started quickly. That should make Las Vegas an attractive destination for someone like (Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, who is among the most sought-after candidates.”

The goal this offseason is to build a foundation for sustainable success, Brady said.

“We want to deliver a winner in Las Vegas,” he said. “The fan base deserves it, and it’s been a long time.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.