Raiders need coach who fits John Spytek’s vision

Editor's note: Este artículo está traducido al español.

The first red flag rose last January at the Raiders’ ceremony to announce the forced marriage between general manager John Spytek and coach Pete Carroll.

A reporter asked an innocuous question about which of the two men would have power over personnel decisions. Carroll jumped in to answer immediately. He rambled long enough that Spytek didn't get an opportunity to share his thoughts.

“We’re sharing everything,” Carroll said back then. “We’re collaborating to the nth degree, and we’re going to do this together. We're going to draw the best we possibly have out of each other to make every decision we can make as clear and as sound as possible.”

Collaboration is crucial, but there's a hierarchy. Someone will inevitably always reign supreme.

Throughout the Raiders’ just-concluded and miserable 3-14 season, that was Carroll. The 74-year-old coach was set in his ways after a successful 14-year stint with the Seattle Seahawks, but his methods were outdated.

Coaches exercising the amount of influence Carroll had on this season's Raiders’ roster have fallen out of favor in the NFL with the underwhelming end to Bill Belichick’s storied tenure with the Patriots a year ago the final straw.

Las Vegas had to make a change after an embarrassing campaign that began with promises of double-digit wins and ended with a minus-191 point differential, the third-worst behind only the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans in the NFL this season and third-worst in franchise history.

The overall No. 1 pick in April’s 2026 NFL Draft will arrive as a result of the futility, and a prospect of the caliber that selection will yield shouldn’t arrive to a place with this much dysfunction.

The Raiders made the right decision in ditching Carroll on Monday while doubling down on Spytek by giving him the autonomy he always deserved ahead of next season.

“Moving forward, General Manager John Spytek will lead all football operations in close collaboration with Tom Brady, including the search for the club’s next head coach,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said in a statement. “Together, they will guide football decisions with a shared focus on leadership, culture and alignment with the organization’s long-term vision.”

No one in NFL history has won at the level of Brady, a Raiders’ minority owner and unofficial director of football operations, and it’s still a worthwhile bet that his playing prowess can carry over to a decision-making role for the front office.

Spytek, meanwhile, has more recent high-level success than Carroll, including a pair of Super Bowl victories in the last decade as part of personnel departments in Denver and Tampa Bay. His fingerprints were all over the 2020 Brady-led Buccaneers team that bullied the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55.

This isn’t to say the duo of Spytek and Brady, who were famously teammates at the University of Michigan in 1999, should get off scot-free for the debut season.

The distance Brady has kept, reportedly rarely being seen at the team’s Henderson headquarters, while appearing more committed to his 10-year, $375 million gig as a Fox Sports color commentator, is a concern.

Carroll might have been the driver of the Raiders’ biggest personnel mistakes — acquiring and extending Geno Smith past a quarterback’s traditional prime, drafting running back Ashton Jeanty No. 6 overall despite having needs at more important positions and not addressing a dreadful offensive line — but Spytek didn’t pull off any masterly moves either.

No real evident gems were unearthed later in a draft where the Raiders selected 11 players. The two free agents most linked to Spytek from past history, linebacker Devin White and center/guard Alex Cappa, were a mixed bag.

White was better than expected and finished third in the NFL with 174 tackles, but he made a few glaring mistakes throughout the year and was a liability in pass coverage. Cappa, meanwhile, graded out as one of the worst offensive linemen in the league.

“Tom is a certified winner in the league,” said White, who played alongside Brady on the Buccaneers’ championship team. “John Spytek has a winning culture as far as being the assistant GM in Tampa, so I feel like they brought in the right people and players to be able to win a Super Bowl. So, hopefully, they took what they learned there and apply it here.”

The first step is finding a coach who, as Davis alluded to, aligns with the philosophies of Brady and Spytek.

That was never Carroll, who admitted before he was fired that the relationship with Spytek didn’t get off to the best start as they had to “work our way through stuff” early in the year.

The next coach must clearly understand his role to bring out the most of an assembled roster, not meddle and wrest control everywhere else.

Some have suggested this year’s coaching cycle is lighter on talent than in past years, but there are always worthy candidates available.

There are enough possibilities this year that Brady and Spytek should be able to find the right fit. Former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski, Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula are among the hottest names.

Early reports link Las Vegas to Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who could bring in former Giants coach Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator. Both Flores and Daboll spent four years in New England with Brady.

“He’s one of the best,” White said of Flores, who was head coach of the Miami Dolphins for three seasons before being abruptly fired. “He dials it up. He gets his linebackers involved all different types of ways. Never played for him, but I do respect good defensive coordinators.”

Expect to see a pair of big college names thrown around in North Carolina’s Belichick and Indiana’s Curt Cignetti, but those are ultra-longshots at best as figures that would jump out as the face of the franchise.

The Raiders tried that with Carroll last year. This is the Brady and Spytek Show now.

“Hopefully they bring in the right guy,” Jeanty said. ““You kind of just have to be ready to adapt for whoever is coming into the building.”

And whoever it is will need to assimilate to Spytek’s style. That should be an easier equation to figure out this time around for Brady, who may have greenlit the Carroll hire in a mini-panic.

The last coaching search may have failed, but Brady was on the right path initially. He was determined to land then-Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who ultimately chose Chicago over Las Vegas.

The Raiders held off on any hirings until Johnson committed to the Bears, presumably because Brady sought to pair him with a general manager of his choice if he came to Las Vegas.

Spytek — not Carroll — was the first figure the Raiders hired after missing out on Johnson. Carroll arrived two days later, but only after Jaguars coach Liam Coen declined an interview — a sequence that left Spytek with virtually no say in choosing his most critical collaborator.

Spytek may not have realized how much of a shadow Carroll would cast over him, but it was in plain sight for all to see on the first day their union was unveiled.

“I hope our coach, whoever it is, whatever happens, gets everybody on the same page so we can all — offense, defense, special teams — come together, go out there and execute,” defensive tackle Jonah Laulu said. “If we do that, we’ll win. That’s really what we need.”