Last season, the Raiders’ offensive line was arguably the worst in the NFL, and some would say a lot of their struggles were connected to coaching issues.
The offensive coaching staff was not a good fit last year, and based on what an NFL person told Vinny Bonsginore, it might have been the worst O-line coaching performance… ever.
Bonsignore didn’t name the person who made the comment to him, but it sounds like it was someone in the Raiders’ building.
“I’m going to throw this at you, talking to some people in the Raider organization as they assessed, actually it was during the season, late in the season. I was told that the coaching along the offensive line last year, and this is by somebody that’s been around the NFL for a long time, it was the worst he’s ever seen,” Bonsignore said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
Pete Carroll didn’t have full autonomy over his coaching staff last year, and according to multiple reports, Chip Kelly was Tom Brady’s choice to be Carroll’s offensive coordinator.
The Raiders not only overspent on an inferior coordinator in Kelly, but hiring Carroll’s son as the offensive line coach also didn’t turn out to be a great choice, either.
Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said repeatedly last year that “Carroll had bosses, too” but it’s hard to separate the younger Carroll from the offensive line’s failures of a year ago.
Former Raider great Lincoln Kennedy talked about Carroll’s decision to hire and not fire his son at the mid-point of the season.
“He’s the coach’s son. I mean, look, I’m not one who wants to mix business with family. Okay. Trust me… I don’t do that. But at the same point, at this position, something’s got to happen,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast in November.
“I’m not that fire guy. I’ve never been that… because, look, I don’t want to get into coaching because I don’t want to live with my bags packed, but also because of reasons like this. The fact that the players are out there not doing well, sometimes they’re in the wrong position. That does have something to do with coaching. At the same point, it also has to do with execution.”
Not long after it was announced that Carroll was fired, The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen said the decision to hire Carroll’s son was one of the 74-year-old head coaches biggest mistakes in Las Vegas.
Nguyen added that the younger Carroll was not known to be a “detail-oriented guy” during his tenure with the team, which would make sense considering the offensive line was in no way a detail oriented offensive line at many points in the season.
x: @raidersbeat
The O-Line did NOT have a Coach. They had a high paid dummy son of the coach… When have you ever heard about a o-line and running backs have secret meetings to try and figure out a scheme??? Not in the NFL you don’t!!! Carroll Senior has ALWAYS been a Fraud and/or a Cheat. Look carefully at his record – NOT the press buildup. Even the press always fell for his bull because he is a Great Snake Oil Salesman. He and his son should RePay Mark Davis EVERY Penny and Brady should Pay Mark back for Chip Kellys 6 million a Year!!!!