PHOENIX — Klint Kubiak’s phone buzzes with text messages from Tom Brady almost every day. The Raiders’ first-year head coach said Tuesday that the team’s minority owner has become a daily sounding board, offering advice drawn from his two decades of NFL success.
“We talk quite a bit. We text almost every day,” Kubiak said during AFC coach roundtables at the Arizona Biltmore resort. “He’s extremely supportive, giving great advice, talking about his experience in New England and things that he did in Tampa.”
Kubiak, who won a Super Bowl as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, said he has asked Brady to be brutally honest. “What I’ve asked him is to give the advice that I really don’t want to hear. It’s okay to hurt my feelings. I’d rather it be that way.”
The Raiders hold the No. 1 pick in the April 23 NFL Draft and are expected to select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. Kubiak confirmed that Brady’s counsel will extend to the rookie signal-caller. “In all aspects of my job, I’m reaching out to him and asking for his advice,” Kubiak said.
Buffalo Bills coach Joe Brady, who interviewed for the Raiders job before Kubiak was hired, said Tom Brady was the most impressive part of the process. “I mean, it’s Tom Brady, right? Tom Brady is the most impressive. He’s the greatest of all time for a reason,” Joe Brady said. He credited majority owner Mark Davis for bringing the seven-time Super Bowl champion into the organization. “(I was) really impressed by Mr. Davis’s understanding and approach of the dynamic and getting them all in there together. It’s not just ‘Hey, the owner’s running the meeting.’”
Tom Brady’s involvement comes as he juggles multiple roles: minority owner of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, lead NFL analyst for Fox Sports, founder of the TB12 brand, and owner of 199 Productions. In a newsletter posted to tombrady.com Tuesday, he wrote about the challenge of balancing his commitments. “When I commit to something, I go all in. That’s just how it is, and I suppose it’s the only way I know. But stretches like this have a cost. You can go hard in the paint for only so long, before you need to rest and recharge or risk hurting yourself.”
Kubiak said the relationship is still developing. “Relationships, they take time, and we’ve been putting in the time.”
