It hasn’t been a conversation as much in recent days, but when the Raiders initially hired Pete Carroll, one of the talking points around his arrival was the long-term succession plan.
Carroll turns 74 in September and even though he gets around and has the energy of a 30-year-old, it would be foolish to not have an eye on the future with a coach his age in the building.
If all goes as planned for Carroll in Las Vegas, he’ll probably hold his job longer than most of the other 31 NFL coaches, but if he does choose to step aside in the next few years, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore brought up a name to keep an eye on for his replacement.
“If Carroll, who is on a three-year contract with a team option for a fourth year, gets the Raiders rolling and decides to retire, the name to watch is his son Brennan,” Bonsignore wrote last month.
“Brennan Carroll, 46, is the team’s offensive line coach. He was previously a college offensive coordinator at Arizona and Washington and experienced plenty of success. His time is coming. Don’t be surprised if he gets his shot with the Raiders if everything goes smoothly the next few years.”
It’s all conjecture at this point, and the Raiders will need to take a step forward over the next couple of years for anyone in Vegas to move to the front of the line to replace Carroll.
One thing that’s for sure, though, is that no one in the Raiders building is thinking about Carroll’s departure. He has brought as much energy to the team as anyone since Jon Gruden.
Looking elsewhere, the coach on the roster that will deserve a look to one day replace Carroll (assuming all goes well) is defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.
Graham nearly got the Jaguars job in January, according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, and he has certainly earned the respect of the locker room in Las Vegas since showing up to the team with Josh McDaniels in 2022.
x: @raidersbeat
Holy Raider “insider” Shiite!!! How about letting the Coach take the field for the first time with the Raiders and win a Game or Two? I guess there really is NOTHING to write about right now…