By most accounts, the Raiders made an outstanding hire when they announced Pete Carroll as their next head coach.
Carroll arrived in Las Vegas last week with a resume that blew away every candidate for the job in this year’s hiring cycle. In fact, Carroll’s resume is more accomplished than most of the 30 head coaches already hired in the NFL (the New Orleans Saints are still on the hunt).
But despite all the praise around Carroll’s new role with the Raiders, there is always a dissenter in the NFL news cycle and FOX Sports 1 host Emmanuel Acho filled that space for Carroll and the Raiders last week.
“You got a bridge coach and you’re going to have a bridge quarterback, and you expect to have a successful season? It’s bad math,” Acho said on FS1’s The Facility last week. “Pete Carroll turns 74 years old in September. How long do you anticipate that he’s going to coach? Pete Carroll is a defensive-minded head coach, at least I would suggest that. But the Seattle Seahawks hadn’t had a top-10 defense since 2016. You’re a defensive minded head coach, but your defenses the last several years were 25th, 25th, 11th, 15th, 22nd, 11th and 13th. So the thing you do best, you didn’t do it best.”
“Furthermore, Pete Carroll hadn’t won a playoff game since 2019,” Acho continued. “Not to mention that Pete Carroll and his leader Russell Wilson, there was tension there. As a result, they both departed. So, while I love it because the name Pete Carroll will always and forever ring a bell in the sport of football. He’s one of the most brilliant football minds ever. I just don’t know that it makes a ton of sense.”
Time will tell if the Raiders got the best coach in this year’s hiring cycle, but it’s a hard argument to make that Carroll isn’t among the best to ever coach in both the college and NFL ranks.
There’s a case to be made that Carroll might be on the backside of his coaching career, but even at 73 years of age, he looks to be more energized than most.
In was clear in his press conference on Monday that Carroll is still sharp, and on Wednesday it was reported that he will be retaining arguably the most important assistance coach on the previous staff. According to league insider Josina Anderson, Patrick Graham will return to the Raiders in 2025 in his familiar defensive coordinator role.
For the aforementioned Emmanuel Acho, the return of Graham should ease any concerns about Carroll’s defense in Las Vegas. But if there is anything Acho and the other talking heads in the industry should be worried about in regard to Carroll, it’s the matter of the quarterback position.
Can Carroll, along with minority owner Tom Brady and GM John Spytek, find a quarterback in the offseason that can change the trajectory of the organization?
Until that happens, it doesn’t matter who is wearing the headset on the sidelines in Vegas.
No one wins consistently in the NFL without a great quarterback.
As of now, one of the quarterbacks being linked to the Raiders is Russell Wilson, who will be entering free agency at the end of the league year. Wilson has a relationship with Carroll from their time together in Seattle and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported last week that some believe the two would be a good fit in Las Vegas.
”I reached out to a few former Carroll lieutenants in Seattle. Both expect Carroll to be a great fit in Las Vegas, but they also both pointed out, they would not be surprised if Carroll reached out to Russell Wilson, possibly trying to sign the free agent, make amends for what went wrong at the end of that Seattle era,” Fowler said.
“One of them even pointed out that Carroll and Wilson began to rekindle their relationship about a year ago or so,” Fowler added. “Wilson has always been intrigued by wearing the Black & Silver so it could be a back pocket item for later.”
x: @raidersbeat
Acho, just because you played doesn’t mean you know **** except watching film and learning a playbook. You’re just another mouthpiece with a platform.
I agree largely with his assessment. He’s a bridge coach who won’t be coaching for long.
Disagree that you can’t win without a great QB.
Burrow, Lamar, Allen, etc.
ain’t ever won a Super Bowl.
Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson did.
Nick Foles beat Tom Brady.
Stay with O’Connell and build the team.
Chip Kelly for OC.
Bless you Achoo! Now go to bed.