Pete Carroll is the new head coach of the Raiders, and he is coming to Las Vegas on a three-year deal that includes a fourth-year team option.
Carroll will take on a huge challenge with the Raiders, but two of the biggest decisions will have to be made right away in regard to his coaching staff.
Who will be Pete Carroll’s offensive coordinator?
The Raiders have been a disaster on offense since Jon Gruden left, and Carroll has been a defensive coach for the entirety of his coaching career. There haven’t been any offensive coordinator names linked to Carroll, but it was rumored on Friday morning that Russell Wilson might be a candidate to reunite with his former head coach in Vegas.
If nothing else, Carroll needs to hit a home run with his offensive coordinator pick because there is a lot of uncertainty around the roster on the offensive side of the ball and there’s no guarantee the Raiders are going to have a good situation at quarterback in 2025.
Who will be Carroll’s defensive coordinator?
As for his defensive coordinator, it could be that Gus Bradley will be in the mix for the job. Bradley was the Raiders defensive coordinator under Gruden in 2021 but only lasted for a season as Josh McDaniels brought Patrick Graham to Las Vegas the following year.
According to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, Bradley will be a coach that is considered for the position.
“There’s a good chance if [Carroll] were to come, he may bring Gus Bradley,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast earlier in the week. “Now literally just a few moments ago, I was talking to an executive who told me that he is hearing that Carroll would bring his sons over to be part of his staff. What about reuniting with Gus Bradley, who the Raider players absolutely love? That’s certainly a possibility…”
Current defensive coordinator Patrick Graham has an expiring contract after the season, but it has been rumored that he wants to consider other opportunities around the league. Graham might be a long shot to keep, but a report on Friday said Carroll is open to the idea of bringing him back.
Keeping Graham, or even defensive line coach Rob Leonard, might help the Raiders as they prepare for an offseason with a lot of key contracts expiring on the defensive side of the ball.
To this point, the Raiders have reportedly blocked Leonard from taking interviews with other teams.
“I’ve been able to confirm something that’s not been publicly relayed. I have been told there is more than one team that put a slip in to interview Rob Leonard (photo credit below: Raiders.com) and that the Raiders have denied it. They have denied him the opportunity to interview at other places,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. ”I can only confirm one team, but I’m told that there was more than one. Because I haven’t confirmed it, I’m only going to tell you I know for a fact that one team has.”
Graham and Leonard are both respected in the locker room and familiar faces on the coaching staff wouldn’t hurt the team’s chances of re-signing a few players that otherwise might not be interested in being a part of a rebuild.
The majority of the expiring contracts on the Raiders’ roster are defensive players and that list includes Tre’von Moehrig, Robert Spillane, Adam Butler, Malcolm Koonce, Nate Hobbs, K’Lavon Chaisson and Divine Deablo.
There is also the situation around Maxx Crosby and speculation he could request a trade in the offseason.
Carroll and everyone in the building will be focused on the big picture, but losing isn’t a culture the Raiders want to embrace in year one of the new regime. Some of the names on the list (above) are going to be popular targets in free agency, so the players will need to create real optimism around the direction the team is headed in Carroll’s first season.
The fan base wouldn’t mind a little of that, as well.
x: @raidersbeat
Methusaleh will pick a resurrected Moses to be offensive coordinator and Noah and his pet giraffe to be defensive coordinator.
We should go after Chip Kelly and bringing back Patrick Graham wouldn’t be bad.
Welcome to Raider Nation Pete Carroll !
Bringing back Graham might be a difficult thing. He was probably the best coach we had on staff of the last regime, including the head coach, not disrespect to A.P., he’s a motivator more than being an a x’s and o’s guy. He was also a major part of the organization, and most times a new guy cleans house. Carroll has been around, so he’ll make the right call. Really hate how Graham got treated by Jacksonville this week, but he’ll end up as DC someplace, he’s too good. PhillyRaider has a nice idea of bringing Chip Kelly in, however, a little bit of rivalry history with SC/Oregon between the two. Maybe do USC a favor and bring Lincoln Riley in as OC, so SoCal can reboot their program.