EAGAN, Minn. — It’s been a busy offseason for Raiders owner Mark Davis.
His team hired a new coach in Pete Carroll and general manager in John Spytek. There’s also a new dynamic to the club’s ownership group with Tom Brady, Tom Wagner, Egon Durban and Michael Meldman added to the mix.
On the field, the Raiders traded for a new quarterback in Geno Smith and drafted standout Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick. It should give the team’s offense under new coordinator Chip Kelly a different dimension than the group that scored the fourth-fewest points in the NFL last year and finished 4-13.
Davis shared his thoughts on the Raiders’ offseason in a wide-ranging interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday at the NFL’s spring owners meetings in Minnesota.
Here are some highlights from the conversation:
Review-Journal: It seems like people around the league and fans are confident in the changes you made this offseason. Do you feel that sentiment?
Davis: “I’m not hearing it so much, but maybe it’s because I’m not listening to what other people think. Because I never do. But, there is a sense of confidence around the building.”
Review-Journal: How has it been working with Carroll and Spytek?
Davis: “It’s been fun. It’s been fantastic. Again, I’ve grown up around football my whole life. And around people who understand football. I don’t want to go back into the whole (former coach) Jon Gruden thing, but again, Jon was somebody who understood football, and that’s where I tried to go. But it didn’t work. I haven’t gotten it right, and hopefully this time I will. I love Pete Carroll. I’ve watched him from afar for many, many years.
“John, I’ve just gotten to know. I think he’s a special person, somebody who can be here for a long, long time.”
Review-Journal: How was it watching their first draft together?
Davis: “I’ve been in a lot of draft rooms, and I’ve seen different ways of going about it. I’ve seen drafts that nobody really expected to be great that turned out to be really good. And I’ve seen guys who were drafted who were expected to be great, who weren’t. So, again, it’s results. But it is exciting. We’ve got some really, really interesting players. Young guys that I think can play. But until there are results, it’s just optimism.”
Review-Journal: What are your thoughts on Jeanty?
Davis: “I think he’s a wonderful young man. I really do. We’ll see how it goes, but I think he’s a special player.”
Review-Journal: Carroll said his interest in coaching the Raiders had a lot to do with the ownership additions you made, including bringing in Brady. Do you believe those additions are having a positive impact?
Davis: “Absolutely. And that’s why the changes were made. And it was a battle to get it done. It took four years to actually get Tom into the building and bring in that expertise and that confidence that we’re talking about. I think it started there. And obviously, the other additions that were made, and then getting someone like Chip Kelly. And I said, OK, there’s some stability here, we’re building something. There is a vision, and Tom does have vision. I don’t think there’s anybody more competitive, that I know of, than Tom Brady.”
Review-Journal: You also added Wagner, Durban and Meldman, three powerful business people, to the ownership group. Why?
Davis: “It was to bring infrastructure into the organization. Tom was brought in initially for the football side of the building. Somebody who is going to be there for a long, long time. Not as a president, but someone who’s got skin in the game. Egon, Meldman and Wagner were brought in for their business acumen off the field. They have ideas on the field as well, but off the field, they’re brilliant, brilliant businessmen. Our president, Sandra Douglass Morgan, is doing a phenomenal job, but we also needed to bring in people who understand the bigger picture.”
Review-Journal: You have a far-reaching fan base, but there’s also a local fan base in Las Vegas you’re trying to build. How is that going?
Davis: “Our fan base is very strong throughout the whole country and in particular the Bay Area and Southern California. We are a team that came to Las Vegas without that built-in fan base. Everybody here in Las Vegas is basically transplanted from somewhere else, and they have their team. And I respect team loyalty and all of that stuff. And as I say, you know, if you’re going to come over to the dark side, make sure you’re coming over, because once you’re a Raider, you’re always a Raider. You don’t get to switch back.
“But it’s going to take time to build the local fan base, and I think really what we need to do is get into the youth and the young kids and make the Raiders their team. And then in 10 to 20 years, we will be fully invested in the community.
“It just takes time and takes generations. And you have to understand that. And I’ve seen it. I saw the Raiders grow in Oakland, with the 49ers being across the (San Francisco) Bay, and how we were the stepchild. I saw how we went into (Los Angeles), and we were probably accepted better than most of the teams there. We were right up there with USC. But to build a fan base and build a culture and to build trust, it takes a lot of time.”
Review-Journal: The NFL has said it wants to bring the Super Bowl back to Las Vegas and the host site for 2029 could be announced this year. What are your thoughts on another Las Vegas Super Bowl?
Davis: “We’re excited about it. I don’t think that there’s a better place in the world to have the Super Bowl than in Las Vegas. We proved that. The big events that are coming here are proving it. We have the infrastructure, we have the hotels, we have the hospitality. We have everything you need for entertainment beyond just the game. You know, the game is an afterthought for a lot of people. For me, I enjoy the game part. But for all the events and the parties and everything else, you can’t have a better place than Las Vegas for all of it.”
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at [email protected]. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.
