The Raiders announced on Monday that Pete Carroll has been fired and the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.
Carroll’s fate did not come as a surprise, as it has been reported for months that Carroll and GM John Spytek were many times not in alignment in their first and only year together on the job.
With more than $100 million in salary cap room and the first overall pick in the 2026 draft, the Raiders are entering a 2026 offseason that will involve major decisions and according to owner Mark Davis, it will be Spytek and Tom Brady calling the shots going forward.
In a statement released by the team on Monday, Davis doubled down on Brady and Spytek but also alluded to some of the friction the team navigated with Carroll in the building.
“Moving forward, General Manager John Spytek will lead all football operations in close collaboration with Tom Brady, including the search for the club’s next head coach,” Davis said in the statement. “Together, they will guide football decisions with a shared focus on leadership, culture, and alignment with the organization’s long-term vision and goals.”
The fact that Davis mentioned “alignment” in his statement was a clear acknowledgment of the season-long differences between Carroll and those in the team’s front office.
For more than a year, Brady has been the dominant voice in the Raiders’ building, so it was a welcomed shift to see the organization acknowledge his role, but it’s also fair to say Davis didn’t offer any information we didn’t already know.
Brady will continue calling the shots in Las Vegas and Spytek will assume the role he always had.
There will be a new head coach with opinions, and the hope will be that those opinions line up more with what Spytek and Brady want for the organization.
It will be interesting to see what direction the Raiders go with their next head coach, but there’s a high probability the new coach is going to be someone who has a preexisting relationship with Brady.
In many ways, Carroll seemed to be set in his ways and that’s to be expected from a 74-year-old Super Bowl winning coach.
Could the ‘Patriot Way’ be coming back to Las Vegas?
According to NBC Sports analyst Mike Florio, Brady is rumored to want to bring another former Patriot into the fold in the desert.
The Josh McDaniels experiment didn’t work for the Raiders two years ago, and it is believed Brady didn’t want owner Mark Davis to fire McDaniels when he did.
Now it sounds like Brady might be trying to bring back another of his pals from New England.
“With an infusion of Patriot DNA dramatically altering the situation in New England, where two years of 4-13 have become 13-3 and the first division title since Brady’s last year in the building, Brady may be thinking about bringing a little Beantown to Sin City,” Florio wrote over the weekend.
“The obvious choice would be offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. But that act has already played, and failed, in Vegas. There’s a rumor currently making the rounds that, once Brady rolls up his sleeves (while also wearing one glove and an expensive-*** watch), he’ll make the case for bringing in Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores.”
“As the chatter goes, Flores would be the head coach, and former Giants coach Brian Daboll would be the offensive coordinator. Like Flores, Daboll has extensive experience with the Patriot Way. Daboll was there for the first three Super Bowl wins of the Brady/Belichick era, and for two of the second trio of championships,” Florio continued.
“Brady and Flores are believed to have a good relationship. Flores was among those in Miami who wanted to bring Brady to town after his time in Tampa.”
If Flores really is a candidate at the top of Brady’s list, it will be interesting to see how that is received among other NFL owners.
In February of 2022, Flores filed a class-action civil rights case alleging widespread racial discrimination by the NFL and several teams, including the Giants, Broncos and Texans in their hiring of Black coaches, claiming they used “sham” interviews to satisfy the Rooney Rule.
After three years of legal battles over whether the case should go to court or arbitration, a federal appeals court ruled in August 2025 that the claims could proceed to trial, allowing discovery and a potential jury verdict on systemic issues.
x: @raidersbeat
The franchise is doomed.
They learn nothing and double down. They basically state Spytek wont get final say on football matters and why? Coz these 2 dumb owners cant stop meddling
This has been inevitable, probably from about the time Chip Kelly was axed, and Pete went rogue. It seems we were sold a boatload of (your favorite expletive) last off-season when were assured how well these guys were going to work together. Our GM got a head coach he didn’t want. The head coach got an offensive coordinator he didn’t want. The defensive coordinator was retained, but had to operate a scheme modified by the head coach. What could go wrong? We have to have a front office working in unison with the coaching staff. We’re stuck with Davis and his man crush influenced management style. Gotta let them pick their own Head Coach.
What’s wrong with this picture? The guy, Brady, responsible for hiring the HC, that led to the 2-15 debacle, gets MORE say so on the team’s direction???!!! Where is the accountability? No wonder the shyte show goes on. Then again, nothing new we Raider fans haven’t already figured out, that the team will remain a doormat as long as moron Mark runs it.
Brady has as much knowledge in football operations same as what’s in a football lots of air he’s makin money off the team and destroying them at the same time Woodson wood do a better job
Nowhere in that statement did Mark acknowledge anything about Pete and a lack of alignment. The author made an assumption that this was the underlying meaning based on something Mark said about alignment moving forward. This makes the entire basis of the article and it’s title hyperbole.