Tom Brady may get his way in Raiders' head coaching search after all

To say that the Las Vegas Raiders' head coaching search hasn't gone smoothly so far would be just a bit of an understatement. For starters, said search got started a day or two late, after the team inexplicably let Antonio Pierce hang around beyond Black Monday only to fire him anyway. And since then, Vegas hasn't seemed to get a ton of traction with top candidates, not even landing an interview with Mike Vrabel before he accepted the New England Patriots job.

Which is more or less exactly what you'd expect from a franchise that hasn't been to the Super Bowl since 2002. The difference this time, though, is that Tom Brady is on board as a minority owner, and there's nothing Brady hates more than losing. And after watching Vegas flounder in typically Vegas fashion for a week, it appears the seven-time Super Bowl champion has decided to start throwing his weight around a bit.

Tom Brady has his sights set on Ben Johnson as next Raiders head coach

ESPN's Dan Graziano made hiring predictions for each team currently in search of a head coach, and he sure made it sound as though Brady is the one calling the shots in the Raiders front office — especially since the firing of GM Tom Telesco last week. While Brady likely would've preferred his old pal and teammate Vrabel, he's now moved on to another target: Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

"I have been told new minority owner Tom Brady has been making a personal appeal to Johnson and trying to sell him on coming to Las Vegas to build a program together with a new GM," Graziano reports, adding that the team would be prepared to offer Johnson the chance to consult on a new general manager and a very long runway to install his program — especially considering the uncertainty the team is dealing with at quarterback.

Johnson may just go ahead and tell Brady thanks but no thanks. The Raiders haven't been consistently competitive in decades now, and their ownership remains as dysfunctional as just about any in the league. Combine that with a dearth of talent, particularly at the most important positions, and it's easy to see why a hot candidate with his choice of offers would look elsewhere.

But there is a unique opportunity here. Brady brings a level of seriousness and football acumen that should at least have Johnson thinking twice about whether these really are the same old Raiders. And Telesco's firing would seem to offer at least some influence in personnel decisions, plus the freedom that comes with truly starting from scratch. You couldn't blame Johnson if he wanted to hold out for more of a sure thing, but Brady is a hard man to turn down.