"If you wanna be great, you gotta go against the great ones, and you gotta beat the great ones." Raiders head coach Pete Carroll declared this week, channeling his inner competitor as Las Vegas gears up for a high-stakes offseason.

The Raiders haven't had a stable quarterback in several years. They can't go into another season without making a big investment at the position.

Forget the quarterback, the roster or the salary. The most compelling part of the Raiders’ job for new coach Pete Carroll came in the form of minority owner Tom Brady. “Tom Brady. It starts there,” Carroll told ESPN at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.