What the hires of coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek mean for the Raiders

Pete Carroll took over losing teams in each of his last two coaching spots, the USC Trojans collegiately and the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL, and got them both back into the postseason in his first season.

The veteran then delivered a championship within four years, making him one of three coaches ever (along with Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson) to have won both a college football national championship and a Super Bowl.

Those past “timelines,” as Carroll calls them, set a high standard, one he’s embracing and sprinting to match as he takes over as the Las Vegas Raiders’ new coach. 

“It took us a few years to get to the very top at the last couple programs I was with,” Carroll said in his introductory news conference in Las Vegas. “We’re starting right now, going for it immediately. We don’t have some time that we’ve got to make it five, six years down the road. That’s not what we’re thinking.”

The Raiders have continually put off committing to a full rebuild since moving to Las Vegas before the 2020 season. There was a sense around the NFL that this offseason would be when it finally happened, with team majority owner Mark Davis operating with a new inner circle most notably including new minority owner Tom Brady.

The group decided to move on from coach Antonio Pierce after one season, but the hiring of Carroll signals that snapping a 23-year drought without a playoff victory is more of a priority than stockpiling young and future assets.

Carroll will be the oldest coach in NFL history by Week 3 of next season when he turns 74 years old, so it makes sense that he wants to chase climbing the standings right away. But Davis said that was not a mandate in the hiring process.

“That’s not the message we sent,” Davis said. “We’re trying to build something here. That’s been the process and the mindset all along. It got offset, blown up when Jon Gruden was sent away. We’ve been trying to get it right since then. We’ll see but I’ve got patience to get it right and I think we’ve got the people now.”

Davis has now churned through four coaches in the four years since Gruden resigned after a string of racist and misogynistic e-mails became public during an investigation into then-Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder.

Carroll is the first one with a proven track record of head-coaching success, though he may otherwise look like an odd fit with the Raiders.

But he also wasn’t their first choice.

Las Vegas, led by Brady, heavily pursued Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who was considered one of the two top candidates in the league this coaching cycle — along with Mike Vrabel, who signed with the New England Patriots early on without considering the Raiders. Johnson was reportedly leaning toward the Raiders before ultimately going to the Chicago Bears instead.

The Raiders then shifted their focus and hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager John Spytek for a role that also became open when they separated with GM Tom Telesco after one year.

The 44-year-old Spytek, a long-time Brady confidant, was brought on two days before Carroll. That presumably means he could have advocated for another coach, but Spytek said he felt an instant connection with Carroll when the two jumped on their first phone call together.

“Everywhere he’s been, he’s won,” Spytek said of Carroll. “I go back, I can remember vividly watching those USC teams. They were some of the most fun football teams I’ve ever watched, and I think I admired him a lot because, yes, they were full of talent, and our job is to find a lot of talent here, but they were full of competitors and guys that love football … That’s, to me, what this is about. You’ve got to love this. I can’t wait to learn from him. He’s a wealth of knowledge.”

Carroll’s aura makes him the clear headliner of the Raiders’ new power duo, but Spytek will likely wind up the more influential figure long-term. Carroll intimated that the two would work hand in hand when it came to personnel matters, but it’s hard to imagine Spytek, surely along with Brady’s input, not having the ultimate say.

Spytek’s roster-building philosophy pairs stronger with Davis’ stated intent of establishing a foundation. He was considered instrumental in helping to build a Buccaneers’ roster that won Super Bowl 55 in 2020 and then four straight NFC South titles. 

Spytek pointed out that all but two of Tampa Bay’s starters this year were homegrown talents. One of the exceptions was notably quarterback Baker Mayfield, whom Spytek and company signed as a free agent before the 2023-2024 season.

Las Vegas is believed to covet a top-tier quarterback prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, but landing one might not be possible by the time it picks at No. 6 overall. Scouts currently grade only Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders that highly, and other quarterback-needy teams choose ahead of the Raiders.

So they could opt to go the free-agency route where Carroll’s former Seahawk quarterback, Russell Wilson, has already been linked to the Raiders. Or, at a higher price point, Sam Darnold would be a somewhat similar move to the Buccaneers bringing in Mayfield, if the Minnesota Vikings opt not to keep him.

How Las Vegas addresses the position will be perhaps the first of many major decisions where Spytek will have to choose how to balance the current and future objectives of the franchise. Carroll’s motivations may differ.

The coach wants to get in position to win right away, just like he’s done everywhere else in his career.

“We’ve got to start right now to go after it and build this team as quickly as we can,” Carroll said.