Report: Tom Brady hosted Matthew Stafford at ski house amid attempts to acquire QB

Las Vegas Raiders controlling owner Mark Davis said in December that Tom Brady would help the team find their next quarterback. Davis wasn’t lying.

Brady, minority owner for the Raiders, recently hosted Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford at his home in Montana, per Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports. The Super Bowl champions spent time together and went skiing.

“Brady has been actively trying to convince Stafford to join the Raiders, and discussions are ongoing,” Schultz wrote on X. “Several teams are interested in Stafford if the Rams decide to move him, with Las Vegas believed to be the most aggressive suitor.”

Shortly after Schultz’s report, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network offered additional context. According to Rapoport, the meeting was happenstance; the two ran into each other at the Montana ski resort. The meeting “was not extensive or in-depth and did not include Brady hosting or recruiting Stafford, despite reports saying otherwise.”

Matthew Stafford on the trade block

Stafford, 37, could be available after the Rams gave Stafford’s agent permission to speak with teams about a potential trade. The “priority,” NFL Network‘s Tom Pelissero said, is to keep Stafford in Los Angeles rather than move on from him. However, contract talks also took place last year, and the veteran signal-caller doesn’t have any guaranteed money on his deal as a result.

The Raiders desperately need a quarterback. They’re unlikely to find it with the No. 6 overall selection in April’s NFL Draft. That could very well lead them down the veteran route. Brady knows more than anyone what acquiring a veteran quarterback can do for a team. In 2020, it was Brady who joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. By the end of the season, they were hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. In 2021, it was Stafford whom the Rams acquired. Stafford led Los Angeles to a Super Bowl that season.

Both general manager John Spytek and head coach Pete Carroll declined to talk about Stafford when asked Monday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

Raiders’ brass field questions about Matthew Stafford

“I don’t really want to talk about other teams’ players and get in trouble in my first press conference here,” Spytek said, via Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But I would just say that if there’s an opportunity for any player that we think can add value to the Raiders, we’ll look into it.”

Stafford remains one of the best and more durable quarterbacks in the league, even now 16 years into his career. This past season, Stafford threw for 3,762 yards and 20 touchdowns as the Rams rattled off a postseason run.

Whether it’s staying with the Rams or being moved elsewhere, Stafford is the first domino expected to fall in this offseason’s quarterback carousel.

“100%,” ESPN‘s Adam Schefter said on Wednesday’s Pat McAfee Show. “Unless Pittsburgh feels like, ‘There’s no chance we’re gonna get a deal done for Matthew Stafford. We’re just gonna go sign [someone else].’

“[All the available quarterbacks] are tied together, to a certain extent, and they’re all, I believe, waiting on Matthew Stafford.”