The Las Vegas Raiders are placing their trust in Alex Guerrero’s methods; however, his track record prompts some concerns. Here’s why he might create divided opinions in 2026.
Alex Guerrero’s Raiders title survived contact with reality for one clause. The Athletic’s Tashan Reed once wrote that Guerrero’s title, wellness coordinator, is intentionally nebulous, giving him purview over all training staff operations, including strength and conditioning, nutrition, medical and mental health. That reads less like a job description than an organizational chart with the middle deleted.
The case for Guerrero is real. The Raiders sustained only two major injuries during 2025 training camp, and both were contact-based: a fractured wrist for Aidan O’Connell and a broken fibula for Lonnie Johnson Jr., not the soft-tissue strains that usually chew through a roster by Labor Day. Owner Mark Davis, general manager John Spytek and then-head coach Pete Carroll all signed off on the hire.
Quarterback Brian Hoyer, who worked with Guerrero in New England and Las Vegas, said he never saw anyone leave a treatment session without feeling better and that players and coaches often waited their turn.
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The case against it is where this stops being a training-room story. Michael Silver of The Athletic reported that Guerrero, who regularly attends practices and meetings, purports to possess significant organizational power, informing players of impending transactions and indicating to staff members who don’t follow his instructions that their jobs may be at risk.
Raiders fans should be more concerned about Alex Guerrero…
Silver also reported friction with Maxx Crosby and a perceived pipeline to Brady, who lives in Florida. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer corroborated the Crosby tension independently. None of this is something to scoff at if you’re a Raiders fan.
The Jack Easterby comparison holds up. Easterby moved from Chiefs chaplain to Patriots character coach to Texans executive vice president, then effectively ran Houston’s front office after Brian Gaine’s 2019 firing, later assuming the GM role on an interim basis. He left in 2022 and hasn’t worked for an NFL team since. The mechanism repeats: a title that sounds like support staff, proximity to power, and constant presence where decisions get made.
Both halves of the original premise can be true at once. Improved soft-tissue numbers and a fraying locker room aren’t contradictory outcomes; they’re the same phenomenon viewed from different rooms.
Given the Easterby precedent and an ownership stake vouching for him from three time zones away, a Guerrero promotion wouldn’t be shocking. Whether that’s good depends on whether Las Vegas wants Foxborough’s old playbook minus the championships.
Are you worried, Raider Nation?
*Top Photo: Getty Images