Raiders to hire Pete Carroll as head coach

Pete Carroll recently emerged as the top name to watch regarding the Raiders’ head coaching vacancy. He is indeed on track to take over on the sidelines in Vegas.

Carroll and the Raiders are negotiating an agreement, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report. No deal is currently in place, but that is the goal on both sides. If this hire comes to pass, Vegas will have its new HC-GM combo in place. An agreement has now been reached, with ESPN’s Adam Schefter noting this will be a three-year contract, including a team option for a fourth year.

Ben Johnson was seen as the Raiders’ top head coaching target, and a major offer was expected. However, the quarterback position is different in Vegas than in Chicago. The former Lions OC ultimately chose to take the Bears’ gig, taking the most in-demand coaching candidate off the market and forcing the Raiders to pivot.

On Monday, it was reported Carroll had become the frontrunner for the Vegas posting. The former Seahawks Super Bowl winner interviewed with the Bears before they elected to bring in Johnson, but since he also spoke with the Raiders, it was clear a market existed for a return to the NFL. The 73-year-old discussed the Cowboys’ vacancy with Jerry Jones Thursday, but instead of making a serious run at that position, he will take over a Raiders team that has undergone significant changes recently.

Not long after his minority stake in the franchise was officially purchased, Tom Brady became a central figure in Vegas’ head coaching and general manager searches. Antonio Pierce was fired after one full season on the sidelines, and when that move was made it appeared general manager Tom Telesco would be safe. Two days later, though, Telesco was dismissed after his debut campaign running the front office. The Raiders have filled both vacancies with Brady and Jed Hughes (who played a role in Carroll’s Seahawks hire in 2010) leading the way.

Former Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek reached an agreement with the Raiders on Wednesday to take over as the team’s new general manager. Now, he and Carroll will look to lead the franchise in a new direction from a cultural perspective while overseeing a roster rebuild. The quarterback position is one of many that needs to be addressed in the spring.

Before Friday’s news, the oldest head coaching hire in NFL history came when 66-year-old Bruce Arians took charge of the Buccaneers. His Tampa Bay tenure included a Super Bowl win with Brady under center, and now the latter will look to steer the Raiders back to contention with Carroll on the sidelines. Given his age, it will be interesting to see how deep into this contract Carroll lasts.

In any event, owner Mark Davis’ willingness to allow for a long-term plan to be put in place by the Carroll-Spytek tandem will make for a key storyline. Davis informed Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler they would have three years to oversee a rebuilding effort upon being hired in 2022, but pulled the plug midway through Year 2 of that setup. Davis was known to favor something other than the ‘Patriot Way’ approach this time, which has proven to be the case with the new faces in the front office and on the sidelines.

Carroll coached the Jets in 1994 before taking charge of the Patriots from 1997-99. It was not until 2010 that he got his next NFL head coaching opportunity, but in the intervening years, he had a successful tenure at USC, including a national title. His 14-year Seahawks run produced a pair of Super Bowl appearances and the franchise’s only championship.

Carroll stepped aside from Seattle last offseason, although he attempted to reverse course on that move. In the end, the Seahawks moved on by hiring Mike Macdonald as head coach. That left Carroll out of coaching, and in August he expressed contentment with that situation. Things have obviously changed since then, though, and now he will take charge of a Raiders team with considerable ground to make up moving forward.

Each of the other three teams in the AFC West (coached by Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton) qualified for the playoffs in 2024. Expectations will remain high in Kansas City, Los Angeles and Denver in the immediate future, whereas the Raiders face a number of questions at this point. It is now known that Carroll — who, of course, had considerable sway regarding roster moves in Seattle — will be tasked with adding Vegas to the list of playoff contenders in the division during the latest chapter of his decorated coaching career.