Pete Carroll's approach to team building is reminiscent of classic Al Davis Raiders

For most Americans, today is the day we celebrate our Independence. For, one particular nation, it's also a day we celebrate Al Davis's Birthday.

It has been some 15 years since the legendary late Raiders owner passed. He would have turned 96 today.

The Raiders had some rough times in his final years. And things haven't really gotten any better in the years since his passing. The word culture gets thrown around a lot, mainly because it always seems like the Raiders are in need of a change in that department.

During Davis's time with the team, and most notably in the first 20 years, the Raiders had a very well-defined identity and culture. It made for a lot of wins and a few Super Bowl titles along the way.

Davis brought much of that identity with him. He was about winning at all costs and it meant seeking out players who much of the league either missed or avoided. And with the mantra 'Once a Raider, always a Raider' he cultivated a loyalty from his players along with getting the most out of them.

I heard the echo of that in a recent story in The Athletic about Raiders new head coach Pete Carroll. Specifically in this snippet right here:

“He makes people better,” [former Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan] Quinn said...

To do so, Carroll must know them as people, not just football commodities. Learning their stories, no matter how bumpy the road, is a key part of the process. In Seattle, he was drawn to players with chips on their shoulders.

This partly explains Carroll’s success with late-round draft picks like Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman; undrafted players like Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse; others in search of a second act like Marshawn Lynch, Brandon Browner, Quandre Diggs and Geno Smith; and some with a history of off-field issues like Bruce Irvin.

Carroll saw what they had been through, where they’d been and how it informed who they could become.

“Coach Carroll is extremely relatable,” said Smith, one of Carroll’s all-time favorite players, who joined him with the Raiders this offseason. “He understands that guys have got to be themselves in order to be their best selves.”

In reading that, I immediately thought of classic Al Davis. He built those championship teams through a combination of uncovering lesser known talented players, castoffs or misfits others shied away from, and previously highly touted players looking for a career rebirth.

The Raiders' first three Super Bowl teams were made up of plenty of players that would fit that mold. Just like Carroll had his late-round DBs Chancellor and Sherman, Davis had the likes of Lester Hayes, George Atkinson, and Skip Thomas.

And, you want to talk about players looking for a second act, those teams were full of them. Such as CB Willie Brown, LB Ted Hendricks, DE John Matuszak, DE Lyle Alzado, TE Todd Christensen, and QB Jim Plunkett. Just to name a few. That trend continued with their 2002 Super Bowl team which had the second act and career rebirth of players such as QB Rich Gannon, RB Charlie Garner, RB Tyrone Wheatley, and RT Lincoln Kennedy.

Geno Smith's career could be compared to that of Rich Gannon. Both were starters for a time early in their careers only to spend several years as a backup before being given another chance at starting. And when they finally got their shot again, they broke out to become Pro Bowl players.

In 2022, at the age of 32, on his fourth team, Smith got his shot again in Seattle under Pete Carroll. And the result was consecutive Pro Bowl seasons for the journeyman QB. It was Gannon's fourth team at the age of 34 when he got his shot with the Raiders. And went on to four consecutive Pro Bowls, an MVP season and a trip to the Super Bowl.

Smith is now 34 and looking for his late career rebirth with the Raiders. And, like Gannon, he is in the best possible situation to do it. With the guidance of a coach who believes in him and lets him be his best self. Just as Al Davis once did with great success.

At the risk of being accused of revisionist history, yes, there where Davis and Carroll could not have been more different. You could point to the alienation of Marcus Allen in the early 90s or how he butted heads with Jon Gruden before trading him away or how he forced his coaches to play QB JaMarcus Russell simply because he was a number one overall pick -- decidedly counter to Carroll's mantra about competition.

The point here is Al Davis's best quality as an owner -- which directly led to the Raiders immense success over a 20-year period from 1963-83 -- is the one he and Carroll share. It led to Carroll's own career rebirth as a coach, his two college football National Championships, two trips to the Super Bowl, and one Lombardi trophy.

Sure, the personalities of Carroll and Davis are very, very different. But the objective and the result is the same. And that's what matters.