‘Great Future’ Raiders Thinks Head Coach Is Sitting On A $96 Million All-Star Player Who Could Become Special….
ORLANDO, Fla. — The NFL has yet to approve Tom Brady’s bid for Las Vegas Raiders minority ownership, but commissioner Roger Goodell is not concerned.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a delay,” Goodell said Tuesday from the NFL’s annual league meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes. “We go through a very thorough process. … We’re just going through our process. We’ve been in touch with their side. I think it’s been making progress.”
Last May, the Raiders reached an agreement with Brady for him to join the organization’s ownership group, pending league approval.
“We’re excited for Tom to join the Raiders,” owner Mark Davis told ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez then. “And it’s exciting because he will be just the third player in the history of the National Football League to become an owner.”
George Halas and Jerry Richardson are the other two.
League approval requires a supermajority vote of at least 24 NFL owners. Membership did not vote on the matter this week. It is scheduled to reconvene in May.
“It’s a play that has 20 times the injury factor,” Goodell said. “From that standpoint, we can’t allow that. We’ve been very clear, when we see a technique that is going to affect the safety of our players, we will work hard to remove it.” Goodell said he expects a “transition period” with this ruling, similar to the lowering-of-the-head changes years ago.
“Like everybody, we’re trying to learn and educate, make sure all of our personnel under the policy [understands] the risk and the dangers of that,” he said. “We’ve long said that the integrity of the game is No. 1, and it still is.”
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Raiders coach on Josh Jacobs’ departure: ‘That one hurt’
The Las Vegas Raiders kept running back Josh Jacobs from reaching free agency last offseason by using their franchise tag on the former Alabama standout. But because the tag didn’t result in a long-term contract with Jacobs, the ball-carrier reached free agency earlier this month and signed with the Green Bay Packers.
“Don’t like to see it,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said about Jacobs’ departure. “I made it known – the heartbeat, a Raider through and through. But as we all know it’s a business. You hear that line, but it’s true: Money talks, BS walks. He had to do what’s best for him and his family, and I wish him the best.
Jacobs joined Green Bay for a four-year, $48 million contract that included a $12.5 million signing bonus, which is the guaranteed portion of the contract.
“It’s the nature of the beast,” Pierce said on Monday while attending the NFL’s annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. “Every team deals with it. You got to move on and move forward.
“The good thing about it is Zamir (White) got a great opportunity last year. We’ve seen what he’s able to do, and now he’s going to be the frontrunner along with Alex Mattison.”
A first-round draft choice in 2019, Jacobs spent five seasons with the Raiders, and his 5,545 rushing yards rank third in franchise history behind Marcus Allen’s 8,545 and Mark van Eeghen’s 5,907. Jacobs won the Jim Brown Award as the NFL’s leading rusher in the 2022 season, when he also topped the league in yards from scrimmage.
White ran for 451 yards and one touchdown on 104 carries last season. He started four games that Jacobs missed with an injury. The Raiders added Alexander Mattison in free agency after he ran for 700 yards on 180 carries for the Minnesota Vikings in 2023, when he did not score a touchdown.
Las Vegas did not get Jacobs signed until about two weeks before the kickoff of the 2023 season. He still started the opening game, but his output dropped to 805 rushing yards and 1,101 yards from scrimmage as he missed the final four games of the season with a quadriceps injury.