Silver And Black Pride
Returning Raider Nation’s questions for the week.
It was a busy week in the offseason for the Las Vegas Raiders as John Spytek was named general manager shortly before Pete Carroll filled the head coach vacancy. Now, the next step is to fill out the rest of the coaching staff, including the offensive and defensive coordinators, which is the focus of this week’s mailbag.
Q: Who could be young up-and-coming candidates, with or without prior connection to Carroll, for both coordinator spots? Please don’t hire Gus Bradley.
A: The guy I’d like to see the Raiders go after as offensive coordinator is Bobby Slowik. He’s someone I thought might be in consideration for the head coach job since he was getting interviews at this time last year, and I think the Texans overreacted by firing him.
Slowik had a lot of success working with C.J. Stroud as a rookie, comes from the Shanahan/McVay coaching tree and could be the coach Carroll molds to eventually take over. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any direct connections to Carroll, but Carroll’s last OC hire in Seattle was Shane Waldron, who also stems from the Shanahan/McVay tree.
Defensively, I don’t think you have to worry too much about Bradley, lol. While Bradley does have ties to Carroll, the Seahawks started running more of a Vic Fangio-style defense at the end of Carroll’s tenure. A couple of names to look out for are Clint Hurtt and Sean Desai
After working for Fangio in Chicago, Hurtt was the DC in Seattle during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns and currently is the Eagles’ defensive line coach. Desai also worked for Fangio with the Bears and spent 2023 as the DC in Philly. That didn’t work out but he was Carroll’s assistant head coach in 2022 and could get a second chance at calling the defense in Las Vegas.
Q: If a quarterback doesn’t fall and the Raiders go offense, do you think using the sixth pick on Ashton Jeanty is a good idea, or given the depth of this RB class or would Tetairoa McMillan be a smarter option if they’re both available?
A: Between those two options, I’d lean toward McMillan. I worry about how much tread Jeanty has left after getting 830 touches in three years at Boise State, so I think the wideout would be a better long-term option. With a top-10, nearly top-five pick, I’d prefer to have someone who has more future value and McMillan is an excellent receiver in a thin class at the position while running back is a deep position group.
Q: Do you believe it is in the Raiders’ best interest this year to prioritize signing their own free agents to maintain continuity, sign other teams’ free agents on the market to fill existing gaps on the team, or use their cap assets equally between their own free agents and those from other teams?
A: I’d definitely prioritize re-signing Tre’von Moehrig and would like to see Malcolm Koonce get...
