Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis fired head coach Antonio Pierce at the beginning of the 2025 NFL offseason after a four-win season in 2024. In a corresponding move, he hired Super Bowl-winning head coach Pete Carroll to replace him.
Carroll made previous stops with the New York Jets, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. After 18 years as a head coach in the NFL, however, he spent the 2024 football season on the sidelines, not coaching.
However, he made his return with the Raiders and has spoken at length during the team's offseason program about how rejuvenated he is to be back. The 73-year-old is already making the most of what seems to be his final NFL head coaching gig.
On Thursday, Carroll broke his silence about why he decided to come out of retirement and join the Raiders. He revealed this information on an episode of the Get Got Pod with Marshawn Lynch and Mike Robinson.
"There was a little bit of interest you know, college too. There was some stuff going on back and forth. And the more I got around it, the more I felt the passion growing. The way I would say it, I was in the pursuit of my passion," Carroll said. "It has never been anything but fun. Fortunately, it worked out. You know, a couple of crazy things happened right around the end of it. But the Raiders thing when Tom [Brady] joined up, that really made a difference to me. That shifted my gears a little bit."
Brady entered the fold for the Raiders last fall when he bought a minority stake in the team. In his first offseason with the franchise, he has already laid a major claim in the team's personnel decisions.
He was integral in the hiring of Carroll, and signed off on the acquisitions of quarterbacks Geno Smith via trade and Cam Miller in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Carroll spent many years as the head coach of the Seahawks competing against Brady on both the Patriots and Buccaneers. During that time, Carroll clearly established a deep respect for Brady, as he was admittedly a key cog in getting Carroll to Las Vegas.
