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Tom Brady is not only a seven-time Super Bowl champion and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, but he’s also a great recruiter.
New Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins credited Brady, a minority owner of the Raiders, for giving him a big nudge during his free-agency decision.
“I texted (Brady), asked him to call me when he could, and he actually FaceTimed me—I was at youth baseball practice. So, I stepped away and just FaceTimed with Tom for a minute just to kind of get on the same page and understand his vision for the organization and kind of what he saw up ahead and if I would be a good fit for it or not,” Cousins said during a recent appearance on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.”
“And I got off the call and I called my wife and I said, ‘That was a really life-giving call with Tom.’ You know, he gets it. He’s been where I’ve been and then some, and I think he understands what it—what it needs to look like, what it will look like, and I felt really like a shot in the arm, um, you know, after talking to him. And I felt like that was a big nudge for me to come to Vegas.”
Cousins said Brady has been “great” throughout the process and that his conversation with the New England Patriots legend was one of many he had while doing homework on the Raiders. The 37-year-old said Brady was in the building for the first day of OTAs and wants to be a resource.
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“He just wants to be a resource. I don’t know that he’s going to be around all the time, but he’s always a phone call, text away. And I think to have a guy who’s won seven Super Bowls, a phone call or text away who’s embedded in your organization, that’s got to be a positive,” Cousins said.
While the Raiders are widely expected to take Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, there is no guarantee he will start in Week 1. Brady and general manager John Spytek have said numerous times that they believe in not playing a young quarterback right away, making it no sure thing that Mendoza would start Week 1.
Cousins also has familiarity with new Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak. During Cousins’ time with the Minnesota Vikings, Kubiak was his quarterbacks coach for two seasons and his offensive coordinator for another.
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The Raiders’ plan could be to sit Mendoza under Cousins until they think he is ready to start and become the face of their franchise.
In 10 games and eight starts last season with the Atlanta Falcons, Cousins completed 61.7% of his passes for 1,721 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. The team had a 5-3 record in his starts, including winning the last four.
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