Who Should I Start? Tom Brady or AJ McCarron

Monday, January 13, 7:41 PM

As recently as last week, there was a feeling inside the Las Vegas Raiders' team headquarters that owner Mark Davis would give head coach Antonio Pierce and general manager Tom Telesco another year to figure things out after a 4-13 finish in 2024. However, seven-time Super Bowl-champion Tom Brady, who purchased 5% of the team last October, felt a total reset was needed and persuaded Davis to fire both Pierce and Telesco. "This is Tom's show now," a person with knowledge of the situation said. Davis will make the final call on decisions for the franchise, but Davis wants Brady to have a "huge" voice and has a lot of trust in him. By firing Telesco, the Raiders have made the head-coach job more attractive to potential coaches, and the Raiders are willing to consider a package deal if their top coaching candidates have preferred front-office leaders in mind.

Wednesday, February 14, 2:08 PM

The Cincinnati Bengals announced on Wednesday that they released quarterback AJ McCarron. The Bengals signed McCarron back in November for more quarterback depth after starter Joe Burrow (wrist) was lost for the season. The 33-year-old veteran signal-caller appeared in two contests for Cincinnati in relief of Jake Browning down the stretch and went 4-for-5 for 19 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He'll be searching for a new team to play for this offseason. The former fifth-round selection of the Bengals in 2014 out of Alabama has a 63.1 career completion percentage with 1,192 passing yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions in his seven years in the NFL with Cincy, the Houston Texans and the Las Vegas Raiders.