Pete Carroll’s return to the NFL sidelines was a 180 from what he had expected when he became the Las Vegas Raiders coach. Carroll said the Raiders would win “a bunch of games” in his first season. Instead, he led Las Vegas to a 3-14 record — his worst as a coach — and the team fired him on Monday morning with the 74-year-old 17 games into his three-year deal.
Carroll strongly believed that his history of winning (nine seasons with at least 10 wins and a Super Bowl XLVIII victory) would be enough to put the Raiders on the right track. He was “blindly optimistic” about the talent on the roster and was reminded throughout a brutal season that the Raiders were further away from being competitive than he had hoped.
Las Vegas lost by double digits in nine games and was shut out twice.
Editor’s Picks
1 Related
Quarterback Geno Smith threw a league-high 17 interceptions. Carroll fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and special teams coordinator Tom McMahon midseason. Despite the addition of rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, the Raiders finished last in rushing yards (74.9 per game).
The philosophies of Carroll and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham never quite meshed. Las Vegas was 26th in points allowed (26.3) and 24th in defensive efficiency (44.81).
The Raiders’ disastrous season served as a reminder that Las Vegas is trending toward a full rebuild. The Raiders will do so with Carroll out of the picture and having to find their fourth head coach since 2023.
“I’ve never even dreamed it would be like this,” Carroll said. — Ryan McFadden
What does this mean for the locker room — and the franchise?
Players enjoyed playing under Carroll and wouldn’t have minded him staying. At the same time, they understand it’s a results-driven league, and the Raiders took a step back after last season, when they won four games under former coach Antonio Pierce. By bringing in Carroll and reuniting him with Smith, the Raiders attempted to be competitive right away, despite the talent of the roster suggesting otherwise.
Moving forward, the Raiders will most likely embrace a rebuild. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a long process. Las Vegas already has a couple of talented young players in Jeanty and tight end Brock Bowers. The Raiders are projected to have 10 draft picks, including the first pick, and the second-most cap space in the league. — McFadden
What went wrong with the Raiders?
Breaking news from Adam Schefter
Download the ESPN app and enable Adam Schefter’s news alerts to receive push notifications for the latest updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner. For more information, click here.
Carroll might have put himself in a bad spot when he confidently outlined his bold expectations for the season at training camp. Even though he was determined to win right away, general manager John Spytek said he was focused on building for the long term.
Las Vegas struggled on both sides of the ball throughout the year. The Raiders were near the bottom in almost every offensive category. On defense, they were plagued by poor tackling, an inability to get off the field on third down and inconsistencies in pressuring the quarterback. Defensive end Maxx Crosby finished with 10 sacks, but the unit as a whole finished 31st in pressure rate (26.6%) and tied for 27th in sacks (29). — McFadden
How does the 2025 season affect Carroll’s legacy?
Though this Raiders season was about as disastrous as it could be, it doesn’t drag down Carroll’s legacy much, if at all. Carroll is far from the first coach to hang ’em up a few years later than he should have, but he is one of the few coaches to win a Super Bowl and a national championship.
The wounds are raw now, but Carroll’s 2025 will quickly fade into a background of disappointing Raiders seasons across the 2010s and 2020s, ending up a trivia factoid in his career bio. And if this first pick becomes a franchise-changing quarterback, well … — Ben Solak
How desirable is the Raiders’ coach opening, and what kind of coach might they be looking for?
The key to all of this, from everything I’ve been told, is Tom Brady. Though Spytek is making the calls and the deals, Brady has immense influence on the decision-making. He led the pursuit last offseason of coaching candidate Ben Johnson and quarterback Matthew Stafford, but the Raiders didn’t get either. So, they pivoted to Carroll and Smith. That didn’t work, so expect Brady to be aggressive in finding his guy at coach this offseason.
A lot of the speculation has included coaches with Michigan ties (Jesse Minter?), Patriots ties (Brian Flores?) or candidates the Raiders have explored in the past and are available again (Vance Joseph? Robert Saleh?). The job will be more desirable to candidates who know Brady a bit and are OK with his level of influence on organizational decision-making. And the Raiders will need a concrete plan at quarterback to make it a desirable job. Having the No. 1 pick in the draft could help if the prospective coach is enamored with one of the top prospects under center. — Dan Graziano
What should the Raiders do with the No. 1 pick and what does that mean for Geno Smith?
Best of NFL Nation
• Inside the Williams-Johnson dynamic• Seahawks’ defense dominates• How Steelers won the North• What now for the Vikings?
The Raiders’ clear need at the top of this draft is finding a franchise quarterback to go with the young offensive playmakers whom Las Vegas has already acquired. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) is the top passer in this class, and he would represent a clear vision for the future in Las Vegas. His strong pocket-passing ability would pair perfectly with Bowers and complement the Jeanty-led run game.
Mendoza has thrown 36 touchdown passes and just six interceptions in 14 games. Smith might be retained as a placeholder for the rookie, or he could be on another team next season, but a change at QB is coming. — Matt Miller
