Kirk Morrison: How Tom Brady Is Putting His Stamp on the Raiders

Kirk Morrison gets one of the more interesting access points in the league. He plays in the Raiders' orbit, and that orbit now includes a part-owner named Tom Brady.

How involved is Brady going to be in the quarterback room?

Morrison painted Brady as a guy who genuinely does not have an off switch.

"When it comes to Tom, like, he just loves football," Morrison said. "It's not just like he keeps his thoughts and how he played so many years on a high level. Like, he's just going to be secluded and I'm only going to tell these guys. Like, Tom Brady wants to talk football."

The Brady Morrison sees on the field at practice or in his work calling games is the same Brady all season.

"Like, Tom is always intense," Morrison said. "I never see Tom just like calm. Because when he steps in between the lines, when he's at practice, he is about ball. Like, how can we be better? Oh, I love that, or this is that, or Kirk, what are you thinking? Like, to have those conversations when you do see him, it's to me it's refreshing."

His framing of Brady's role with the Raiders kept coming back to one phrase. Sounding board.

"His role is a sounding board," Morrison said. "The greatest player I know that I played against and I've seen go out and operate and work and have competed against, know what it's like, know what the process has looked like, the mind games that go on in a football game. His opportunity is to give back."

Morrison drew the line at what a young quarterback should do with that line of access. Pick up the phone.

"To be able to have that phone call, like to pick up the phone and a player like Fernando or even Kirk Cousins, hey Tom, you know what man, two-minute drill came up today, I just got a question, what are you thinking?" Morrison said. "Those are the types of questions that you can ask somebody who's been through, who's seen everything."

The comp Morrison reached for came from another sport.

"I think about Kobe Bryant and what he talked about with Michael Jordan, and how he studied and wanted to beat Mike," Morrison said. "If you want to be the best, utilize it. And it just so happens the guy who's the best at that position of all time, in my opinion, is in your building or is a phone call away."

The shift Morrison sees inside the building goes beyond Brady. The whole decision-making process feels different.

"It's all a family now," Morrison said. "Like, I think before it was always one guy makes decisions. Now it's like, hey, we all can make a decision, we all can agree on what's next."

Morrison knocked on wood, then quickly searched the studio for actual wood, before delivering the offseason verdict.

"This has been a fairly smooth offseason for the Raiders," Morrison said.

Maxx Crosby's release video stir got handled, in his framing, the way the franchise should handle that kind of thing.

"It was handled smoothly, handled with grace," Morrison said. "Maxx is a Raider. He'll always be a Raider. And I hope he stays a Raider."

The draft, Morrison said, went exactly as it should have.

"They respect the process," Morrison said. "They did the work. They treated it like they were supposed to treat it. And they picked the best player in the draft, and the guy who fits what they need to do."