Raiders GM John Spytek answered questions at the podium on Monday and to his credit, he took some of the responsibility for the team’s 3-14 record this season.
He also managed to throw a gentle jab at Pete Carroll.
For months, reports have been saying that Spytek and Carroll were on different timelines his season and that seemed evident by Carroll’s unwillingness to play rookies for much of the season.
Even when the Raiders were eliminated from the playoffs, Carroll’s tendency was to learn on his veteran players. That was a development that apparently wasn’t well received by everyone in the organization.
“I can tell you, factually, there are people in the building frustrated… about young people not getting played,” Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said last week on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
The assumption is that one of those frustrated with Carroll’s hesitation to play rookies was Spytek and that seemed to be evident in one of his comments on Monday.
“We’re looking for someone to build this the right way and not think that we’ve got to produce 10 wins or whatever next year,” Spytek said.
“That’d be great to do, and we see teams like the Patriots and the Jaguars flip it. I’ve always kind of thought that you’re never as good in this league as you think you are, and you’re never as far away as you think you are.”
Carroll made several comments before the season about winning, but Spytek’s comments were probably aimed at Carroll talking about how he had won 10 games for 20 consecutive seasons.
“I can’t wait to kick this thing off and get rolling,” Carroll said in July.
“We are going to win a bunch of games. I can’t even imagine anything else. I’ve been winning 10 games a year for 20 years or something. What are my expectations? We are going to win a bunch, and I don’t care who hears that. It ain’t about what anybody hears. It’s about what we do, and so that’s why expectations are really high. The standards need to be so that the expectations can be met. We’ll see what happens.”
Unfortunately for everyone involved, the Raiders and Carroll did see what happened, but the consequences for Carroll’s failed season in Las Vegas weren’t all bad.
Carroll and the Raiders backed their way into the no. 1 pick in the 2026 draft and now have the opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback in April.
Which quarterback that is going to be remains to be seen, but the popular opinion right now is that it’s going to be Fernando Mendoza.
x: @raidersbeat
Best to hire Chris Shula & Brian Daboll. Draft Mendoza & beef up O- line and bring in some ferocious linebackers
YEP & YEP🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️💯
Please Raiderramble, stop quoting Hondo, stop describing him as an “insider,” stop giving this dude the time of day. By quoting Hondo, your website is proving that stupidity rules.
Sorry. I meant Raidersbeat. I need to check my own stupidity.