The Raiders were hopeful that Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham would be able to blend their defensive schemes this year, but the pairing hasn’t been great and even before it looked like Carroll was going to be hired it was rumored that Graham probably wasn’t going to return in 2026.
The return of Graham was celebrated in February when it was announced, but according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vinny Bonsignore, there were some who thought the two were an awkward match from the start.
“There [were] people reaching out to me yesterday that know football, that watch football and have been watching this team. It’s clear that there is a lack of an alignment between what Pete Carroll wants to do defensively, what Patrick Graham wants to do defensively,” Bonsignore said on the Vegas Nation First and 10 podcast.
“It’s been happening all year. I was told at the very beginning of the year, before when Pat was retained, keep an eye on that because they do things completely different. Their systems are completely different.”
As the season has progressed, the Raiders’ defense has increasingly looked like Carroll’s old Cover 3 defenses from Seattle, and they now play (by far) the most Cover 3 of any team in the NFL.
From the outside, it looks like Carroll has pushed his philosophy on Graham even more in recent weeks.
The length of Graham’s contract with the Raiders has not been reported, but with the entire coaching staff likely to be let go in January, it probably isn’t going to matter.
x: @raidersbeat
Pete wants to take everyone down with him.
Bring back GRUDEN!
Not the worst idea, plus Gruden will tell Brady where to go
Are you serious? Gruden is the reason the Raiders are in this position to begin with. You who want Gruden know nothing about football
Amen!!
Hopeless. Fans have suffered since Grudin kicked our *** in the Superbowl. Davis has to be the worst owner in pro sports. And he hangs in there like the little ankle-biter he’s always been. Pathetic. Anyone that supports him by buying tickets or merch deserves what they get. Boycott this train wreck!
Mark is a fraud & the worst thing is he won’t sell
So coach Biden basically interfered with and screwed everything up. With not letting Chip Kelly run his offense, with not letting Graham run his defense, hiring his son to coach the O line which is a complete disaster.
Coach Biden, you’re fired.
You have to blame Brady first for hiring this clown show & forcing Chip on him.
Don’t forget Darnold disaster
There’s gotta be some sort of inside hit job going on here from the very tops of the organization to sabotage the team. Perhaps Brady himself given he had a heavy influence on who gets to come in and coach and who gets to come in and play. Patrick Graham has been one of the bright spots of this team since Josh McDaniels was there as coach, they have been the only ones you can actually count on to show up come game day as the offense has been flakey ever since to even put 20 up on the board. Suddenly the D starts backsliding and playing poorly this season once Brady gets ownership and Carroll becomes coach? IDK, but something seems fishy with all that.
One thing is for sure, Pete is a stubborn old mule who needs to be put out to pasture, but before that happens he’s clearly making it his personal mission of his to bring down every man on the ship with him. I have never seen an old bat have as many personal vendettas like he has had this season.
Right from the start of Mark moving all that he could to give Tom a seat at the table for a huge discount the team has gotten worse. Not hiring Ben Johnson was the death nail. Hiring Pete who wasn’t getting a job otherwise reminds me of the Gruden hire, the McDaniels hire and the AP hire. None of these coaches were getting HC jobs from any other teams. Mark screwing over JDR by not re-signing B.Musgrave was the start of the decline and now we are once again the laughing stock of the league.