ESPN details the turmoil of Pete Carroll’s lone Las Vegas Raiders season, from staff optics to offensive confusion and player-led meetings as losses piled up. Let’s call a spade a spade; it sounds like the situation was SNAFU.
The Raiders’ 3-14 finish already reads like an indictment. A new layer of it, detailed this week, is harder to quantify but just as corrosive: internal trust. It’s funny how a regime that was supposed to bring stability ended up causing the opposite.
Nepotism played a role in ruining the Raiders…
ESPN reported Tuesday that Las Vegas endured “another failed year” marked by “continued dysfunction”—the product of “an impatient owner, a misaligned front office and coaching staff, and players who lost respect for their coaches.”
Carroll’s staffing decisions became part of the story. He hired his sons—Brennan Carroll to coach the offensive line and Nate Carroll as an assistant quarterbacks coach—and at least one agent said the optics alone were a problem a struggling team could not carry. The agent said his client believed Brennan Carroll rushed drills and did not always explain what players were supposed to take from the work.
The reporting also described offensive linemen setting up their own meetings with quarterback Geno Smith and running back Ashton Jeanty outside team activities to better understand the scheme. One agent viewed that as a clear signal players were trying to fill gaps on their own. Another agent called Brennan Carroll the “biggest issue” and said the family connection made it harder to address openly inside the building.
Chip Kelly was just a scapegoat…
That same dysfunction echoed in the offensive collapse that led to Chip Kelly’s midseason firing after a Week 12 loss to the Cleveland Browns. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported at the time that the move highlighted a “lack of cohesion.” Basically, the coaching offices were not aligned with one another. On top of that, opponents believed the Raiders offense reflected Carroll’s imprint more than that of Kelly’s.
None of it proves a single root cause. It does, however, describe a familiar Raiders failure point: blurred roles, blurred accountability.
The next coach will not just inherit a roster and a scheme. He will also inherit an operating problem. As a result, the baseline has to be restored—clear lines of authority, clear teaching, and clear ownership of outcomes. In that structure, players should not be organizing themselves to find answers. Likewise, staffing decisions should not create their own gravity inside the building.
*Top Photo: YouTube/Las Vegas Raiders Insider