The 12 months Pete Carroll spent out of football last year didn’t just motivate him to return. It provided the Raiders’ new coach a different vantage point.
Carroll’s fresh perspective helped deepen some of his long-held beliefs when it comes to building a winning football team. It also opened his eyes to new possibilities.
“I can’t wait for all of the things that I see that I want to do differently than what we’ve done in the past,” Carroll said at his introductory news conference Jan. 27. “And I think there are improvements, or I wouldn’t be thinking that. It’s been an amazing journey to get to this moment right here, and so I’m really fired up about taking advantage of that this year.”
Carroll’s willingness to embrace new ideas is reflected in his first Raiders coaching staff. Especially when it comes to his offensive and defensive coordinators.
The 73-year-old resisted the urge to hire coaches he’s previously worked with or those who run systems he’s familiar with.
Carroll instead retained defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who will return for his fourth season with the Raiders. It was a notable decision because Carroll, a former NFL defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator, won Super Bowl 48 with the Seahawks behind a “Legion of Boom” defense that played a high amount of Cover 3 zone defense.
Graham prefers to play Cover 2, so it will be interesting to see how the two coaches meld their defensive philosophies.
Carroll picked Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to run the Raiders offense. It was another against-the-grain hire for Carroll, who has typically picked up-and-comers for the job. Some of his previous offensive coordinators include Texas coach Steve Sarkisian and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin.
Kelly is the complete opposite. He’s 61-years-old and has coached the Eagles and 49ers in the NFL as well as Oregon and UCLA in college.
It’s interesting Kelly got the job even though Carroll interviewed Darrell Bevell, his offensive coordinator for seven years in Seattle. It shows Carroll kept an open mind during the hiring process.
“I want guys that have never been around me before so they have to learn what we’re all about and we can watch the process of them learning what we’re all about and what we expect,” Carroll said.
Offensive staff shaping up
Carroll, in addition to Kelly, turned to the college ranks for two more of his offensive assistants.
He hired his son Brennan as the Raiders offensive line coach. Brennan Carroll was Washington’s offensive coordinator last season and Arizona’s offensive coordinator from 2021-23. He worked for his father previously at USC and in Seattle.
Running backs coach Deland McCullough was at Notre Dame the last three years. He was the Chiefs running backs coach from 2018-20.
Wide receivers coach Chris Beatty has been in the NFL the last four years with the Chargers and Bears.
Pete Carroll hired Greg Olson, who he worked with in 2023, as the Raiders quarterbacks coach. Olson was previously the team’s offensive coordinator from 2013-14 and 2018-21.
Defensive staff coming together
Carroll’s defensive staff has more NFL experience. He retained defensive line coach Rob Leonard as well as Graham on his defensive staff.
New defensive pass-game coordinator Joe Woods has spent the last 20 years in the NFL, including the last two seasons as the Saints defensive coordinator. Secondary coach Marcus Robertson was also in New Orleans last year and has 17 seasons worth of experience in the league.
Linebackers coach John Glenn has a long history with Carroll and held the same position in Seattle from 2018-23.
Defensive assistant Beyah Rasool has worked at the college level the last two years on Florida’s staff.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at [email protected]. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.
