Las Vegas Raiders HC Pete Carroll spills the tea on why they were so quick to make recent decision
Even still, the biggest hole on the Las Vegas Raiders roster for the 2025 season may be the linebacker room. There are others you could make a case for, like the cornerback room, but even then, you have faith in guys like Jakorian Bennett. With the LB room, you have four main guys who can't […]
Even still, the biggest hole on the Las Vegas Raiders roster for the 2025 season may be the linebacker room. There are others you could make a case for, like the cornerback room, but even then, you have faith in guys like Jakorian Bennett.
With the LB room, you have four main guys who can't cover anymore. Former Pittsburgh Steelers LB Elandon Roberts, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers LB Devin White, former New York Giants LB Jaylon Smith, and now former Cincinnati Bengals LB Germaine Pratt, who they just signed not too long ago.
It's better now after the Pratt signing, sure, but that's because it's hard to make this room worse. But, I still stand by what I said — the signing doesn't really move the needle. If we are basing everything on what we last saw of these guys, none of them can cover. They still need someone they are confident in when it comes to dropping an LB back in coverage.
But the Raiders did it for a reason. Maybe they know something we don't. Well, of course, they do, but maybe they are very confident in what they can do and the others around them. There has to be a reason they signed him so quickly.
"Well, he's a really hard-nosed kid, tough kid, played a lot of football, has been really healthy, has played all of the positions to give us a flexibility that really will help us," Carroll told reporters at mandatory minicamp. "And so, we've been really pleased with Elandon [Roberts], he did a great job of taking over the leadership position and calling everything, and Devin [White] has done a really nice job too.
"To put these three guys together where they're on the field at the same time, that’s a loaded-up group. And they're all tough and they're all physical and they're all downhill players, which is the style that we love to play with. So, I was really pleased that Johnny [Spytek] was able to get that done.”
Last year, Pratt posted a PFF coverage grade of 53.4, an overall grade of 60.6, and a run defense grade of 70.1. And, hey, since everyone is saying he is a great tackler because of how many he had in 2024, he also posted a PFF tackle grade of 47.6, with 19 missed tackles in 2024. Based on those standards, he wasn't that great, and the tape really says the same.
But he has been good before. The Raiders are banking on getting that version of him, not last year's version. If they weren't, they wouldn't have given him a one-year deal worth $4 million.
‘There’s a million things’ – Raiders’ Pete Carroll used mandatory minicamp to learn the things he needed to learn about his new team
The Raiders are getting some things done that they need done.
