The rebuild is underway in Las Vegas and the Raiders turned to Pete Carroll on Friday to be the team’s next head coach.
Carroll became the oldest head coach in NFL history last week, and his challenge in Las Vegas will be to completely overhaul a culture that has been circling the drain for the better part of the last two decades.
Whether or not Carroll was the best choice remains to be seen, but FOX Sports insider Jordan Schultz believes the 73-year-old Carroll was the perfect candidate to return the Raiders to respectability.
Schultz covered Carroll in Seattle and he said on Friday that the veteran head coach has a “superpower” that has made him an effective leader over the course of his career.
”Pete takes [relatability and connecting to players] to another level,” Schultz said this week on FS1’s Speak. “I’ve had so many conversations over the years with Bobby Wagner, Michael Bennett, guys that have been there… and they will tell you that Pete’s superpower is his connection to the players and the fact that guys buy into his program.”
“Once [the Raiders] were not able to get Ben Johnson, they turned their attention all-in on Pete Carroll realizing that he’s the adult in the room and he can start to build that culture that, quite frankly, [they] have not had in decades,” Schultz added.
It’s encouraging that Carroll is so well respected by his former players, but it’s worth noting that his personnel at the University of Southern California and the Seattle Seahawks were nothing like what the Raiders are offering at the moment.
Will Carroll be able to win with less in Las Vegas?
What the Raiders really need is for Carroll, along with minority owner Tom Brady and GM John Spytek, to have the joint superpower of identifying a franchise quarterback. There are no overwhelmingly exciting quarterbacks entering free agency, and with the no. 6 pick, there’s a chance the Raiders won’t have an opportunity to draft Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders.
It will interesting to see if Brady, who has the greatest quarterback resume in NFL history, will be able to find a quarterback in what is perceived to be a down year for prospects at the position.
If anyone is going to be able to identify the next great quarterback in free agency or the draft, it ought to be Brady, right?
