After another disappointing season, the Las Vegas Raiders decided to start anew, hiring John Spytek as their new general manager and Pete Carroll as their new head coach. Both are expected to bring a new perspective to issues that have long plagued the Raiders.
The Silver and Black have spent most of the past few seasons unsuccessfully battling shortcomings in leadership and the quarterback position, among many others. Still, as much as the Raiders need change, they could also use some continuity.
Las Vegas will enter next season with a new GM, head coach, and offensive coordinator. They could also start next season with a new starting quarterback, running back, middle linebacker and outside linebacker, depending on free agency. Contiunity could be fleeting.
Wisely, Carroll analyzed the total scope of the state of the Raiders in an offseason filled with an already large number of revisions. Realizing that many of Las Vegas' issues last season stemmed from the offensive side of the ball, Carroll made an intelligent decision.
After the Raiders' defense played well over the second half of the past two seasons, usually under unfavorable positions, the Raiders and Graham decided to stick together. Graham's return is one of the biggest positives for Las Vegas heading into next season.
At the NFL Combine, Carroll addressed the decision to retain Graham this offseason. There have been few positives for the Raiders over the past two seasons, but the production Graham has got out of a banged-up Raiders defense last season spoke volumes.
"In putting the staff together, I really wanted to see if I could bring some people that had been with me that I could have background with, that could help me share the ideas and the concepts of what we were going to present. I wanted to get guys that had never been with me before, so they had to learn it with us for a couple reasons," Carroll said.
"One, I wanted the guys that had been with me to help have to teach those guys and to share with them. And then the third element of it, was to get some guys that had been in the program so that they could give us an advantage, a leg up on the continuity that's necessary. Knowing the players, knowing the system, knowing the division, all of that. So there was really three elements of putting it together. Patrick [Graham] and Robbie Leonard were right at the top of the list to get that done. It's been done. It's working out quite well."
