Last week, the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to hire 73-year-old Pete Carroll as their head coach.
The Raiders made the decision not long after the hottest name on the job market, Ben Johnson, left the Detroit Lions to take the Chicago Bears head coaching gig. Rumors circulated for several days that Johnson had the Raiders’ No. 1 on his list, but his agent Rick Smith of Priority Sports later dismissed those reports as false.
Smith did say minority owner Tom Brady had a strong pitch to Johnson. That helped the Raiders land Carroll.
Per Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda, Las Vegas is facing ridicule at the East-West Shrine Bowl for hiring the Super Bowl-winning head coach after Brady botched an attempt to land Liam Coen before he took the Jacksonville Jaguars job.
“The Raiders have received a lot of ridicule from all corners here at Shrine practice after hiring Pete Carroll as their head coach,” Pauline wrote. “The team, and Tom Brady, wanted Liam Coen to take the job, but he chose Jacksonville; and other than trying to stabilize the franchise, choosing Carroll doesn’t make much sense to anyone.”
Carroll was plan C.
A good move at GM?
While the NFL world is down on Carroll, Las Vegas is receiving praise for replacing general manager Tom Telesco with John Spytek.
“The reaction to their new general manager hire couldn’t be any different,” Pauline wrote. “People have praised the hire of John Spytek, who was assistant general manager with the Tampa Bay Bucs before taking the Raiders job. People are confident Spytek knows personnel and will do a good job filling in the missing pieces on the Raiders roster.”
Carroll is 170-120 as a head coach in the NFL. While he might not be the Raiders’ top option, it feels like a safe move for Las Vegas.
