Silver And Black Pride
Pete Carroll has chosen the Raiders as his next reclamation project, and here are three Secret Superstars who can help return the Silver and Black to past glory.
Whether they’ve been located in Oakland or Las Vegas over the last 20 years, it’s safe to say that with the hires of (in reverse order) Josh McDaniels, Jon Gruden, Jack Del Rio, and Tom Cable, the Raiders have relied on more head coaches than not who aren’t really known for their warm and fuzzy TED talks.
In 2024, Antonio Pierce tried his level best to establish a culture with whatever McDaniels hadn’t destroyed as his predecessor, but the organization realized that to really cement the idea of a positive governing philosophy, it was time to back up the Brinks truck for a coach who has proven over and over to be completely conversant in those ideas.
Enter Pete Carroll after his year away from the NFL, following the mutually-agreed-upon breakup with the Seattle Seahawks.
As a Seattle resident, and someone who was first credentialed to cover the Seahawks in 2010 (Carroll’s first year there), I can attest that Carroll’s “Win Forever” and “Always ComPETE” stuff is far more than bumper sticker fodder. The man believes it all, and he’s quite adept at getting even the biggest skeptics to buy in, as well. You don’t back into Carroll’s record of success in the NCAA and the NFL in the new millennium by accident.
Carroll comes armed with quarterback Geno Smith, who has said that he owes Carroll the positive sides of his own NFL career based on Carroll’s belief in him when both men were in the Emerald City. Smith maybe the most talented quarterback this franchise has seen since either Carson Palmer or Rich Gannon, and when you have a coach and a quarterback who are already aligned as Carroll and Smith are, that can only help things. Of course, it’s not a net negative that they can chop it up with part-owner Tom Brady from time to time.
Still, there’s a lot of building and rebuilding to be done for an organization that went 4-13 in 2024, and hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2002 season. If Carroll is to make the Raiders his next successful reclamation project, he’ll need more than just the team’s superstars to make that happen.
In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, we look at three underrated players for these Raiders — one veteran, one free-agent signing, and one draft pick.
While defensive lines are generally defined in the minds of the public by superstar quarterback disruptors, there are always those guys on great lines who glue the whole thing together with their efforts, even if those efforts fly under the radar. Adam Butler has been one such player since his days with the New England Patriots, the team that signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt in 2017.
[I’ve been on the “Adam...
