The biggest fear about the Raiders’ hiring of Pete Carroll is becoming reality — and there may be only one direction left after this season ends
This is feeling more and more inevitable.
It’s been a disastrous season for the Las Vegas Raiders. Seemingly every major button this franchise pushed over the offseason feels like it’s missed the mark. The team’s big investment at quarterback, Geno Smith, hasn’t lived up to everyone’s expectations. The offensive line’s regression has been alarming under offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. The team made five selections in the top-100 of the 2025 NFL Draft and none of them, including star running back Ashton Jeanty, have played consistently well.
That’s before you get to the defensive side of the football, where Las Vegas currently ranks 24th in scoring defense, 30th in third-down defense, and are struggling to sack opposing quarterbacks despite having one of the best pass rushers in the game, Maxx Crosby. This isn’t how things were supposed to go for the Raiders when they decided to hire Pete Carroll this offseason. Yet here we are. And when this season comes to a merciful end, there’s only one place the Raiders should go from here.
Raiders’ misguided 2025 season should end with a reset below GM John Spytek
Minority owner Tom Brady has a connection with general manager John Spytek going back to their playing days at Michigan together. That serves as a proper foundation for Las Vegas to lean upon as they try to figure out the issues plaguing the Raiders. But their decision to hire Pete Carroll is looking worse and worse, not (necessarily) for the results on the field, but also for the apparent timeline it’s going to take to instill the change Las Vegas needs as a football team.
The one thing the candidate the Raiders chose to be their head coach this past offseason doesn’t have is a lot of time.
Carroll is the NFL’s oldest head coach, a ripe 74 years old. He certainly doesn’t act 74. But nevertheless, the trials of this season should have the Raiders zooming out and asking themselves what kind of payoff they’re hoping to see here? Will it take two more years after this foundational year comes to a close? With Carroll’s Raiders ready to compete by the time Carroll is turning 76 or 77? Every game Carroll coaches sets a new record for the oldest head coach in NFL history. What’s the end game if this is how the installation is going?
NFL’s oldest head coaches in NFL history
- Pete Carroll, Las Vegas Raiders: 74 years old*
- Romeo Crennel, Houston Texans: 73 years old
- George Halas, Chicago Bears: 72 years old
*denotes active
The Raiders need to blow this coaching staff up at the end of the year. The decision to hire Carroll would deserve more grace if he wasn’t blazing a new trail every week in senior coaches in league history. But he is. And therefore, the Raiders must confront this decision being one that’s aging poorly and decide if it is worth doubling down for another go while hoping for dramatically different results.
You can only lay so much foundation in one NFL offseason. It is a finite resource league. And Las Vegas isn’t going to have the resources to flip this roster back ground quickly. They’d be well served to zoom out, explore candidates that have the ability to push through what will be continued growing pains, and recalibrate this build before they get too far down the path.
I wouldn’t consider this Pete Carroll’s fault or that he’s not capable of coaching any longer. But what Las Vegas is enduring this season underscores that this is a long-term fix — and Carroll, at this juncture of his career, is anything but a long-term solution.
Las Vegas Raiders News
Pete Carroll is actually in much higher spirits after losing to the Denver Broncos than you would think he’d be
Pete Carroll is happy with what the Raiders showed vs. the Broncos.
