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The Las Vegas Raiders went with one of the more high-profile names in this head coaching cycle, hiring longtime Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll to lead the next era of the franchise. Carroll has a proven track record of rebuilding teams from scratch, and he will have to do that again with the Raiders.
Of course, Carroll is a defensive-minded head coach, making his staff hires very important. The Raiders are looking for someone to call their offense next season, which is obviously a very critical decision.
Now, as the coordinator cycle heats up, the Raiders are honing in on a few names that could potentially fill that spot according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.
“Early names emerging from Las Vegas include Titans QBs coach (and former interim Raiders OC) Bo Hardegree as well as Broncos senior personnel executive David Shaw, sources say,” Jones wrote. “Shaw, the former Stanford head coach, has had three head-coach interviews the last two seasons and is interviewing for the Bears offensive coordinator position.”
Hardegree is familiar with Las Vegas after he spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons as their quarterbacks coach under Josh McDaniels. He also served as the interim offensive coordinator during the 2023 season before heading to Tennessee in 2024. Shaw is an intriguing option after running a Stanford offense that was pretty effective for the most part from 2007-22 as the offensive coordinator and later the head coach.
The Raiders also interviewed Dolphins quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell, who served as the offensive coordinator under Carroll in Seattle, for the open position on Tuesday according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
Pete Carroll may not be the flashy young offensive mind that teams are trending towards with their head coaching hires, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t the right guy for the job in Las Vegas. An offensive play caller didn’t make a ton of sense for the Raiders considering their uncertain quarterback situation, but Carroll is a great fit.
Carroll is a culture builder and a floor raiser who will establish winning habits in the Raiders building. He has shown during his time in Seattle that he can hold a winning culture basically from scratch, which is what he will have to do again with a Raiders roster that is lacking talent all over the roster and is stuck in a very competitive AFC West.
There are valid concerns about what the ceiling is with Carroll, but the Raiders will be fine crossing that bridge when they get to it. For now, Carroll just needs to come in and make the team competitive again by developing some young talent, which is something that he can do and do well.
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