The Las Vegas Raiders‘ future is murky amid a 2-14 season. With one more loss, the team has its first 15-loss season in franchise history.
Head coach Pete Carroll might have the hottest seat in the NFL, but it’s less clear whether or not general manager John Spytek is in danger. This is his first year on the job, and he was highly touted before joining the Raiders.
It might not matter, but Carroll made sure to give Spytek his flowers before the season ends.
“I’ll probably talk more about it when we’re done, but right from the start, it was really clear the intent of how we wanted to do this and wanted to work together on everything,” Carroll told reporters on Wednesday. “But there’s things that we hadn’t had a chance to come together on, so we had to work our way through stuff. And we’re way better now than we were at the start.
“I want to make sure that I can complement all that John brings, and I need him to do the same for me. And so, that’s a work in progress, and it’s relationships. You got to work hard at it, and I love the guy. I think he’s bright as hell, he’s principled, he’s strong, he’s got integrity, he’s got character. I mean, he’s got all of the right stuff to be a fantastic general manager in this league.”
Is Spytek Safe?
With the Raiders, it’s difficult to know if any head coach or general manager is ever safe. Nobody expected the team to fire Tom Telesco after one season, but they did.
Mike Mayock got the team to the playoffs, but was fired afterward. Dave Ziegler didn’t even get two full seasons to turn the team around. What helps Spytek is that he has a previous relationship with minority owner Tom Brady.
Brady clearly believes in Spytek, so if Mark Davis allows him to be in charge of the decision-making, they likely won’t make a change at general manager. Carroll is such a big name that he almost certainly had a say over some personnel matters. Spytek can simply point to that as the reason why the Raiders struggled. He deserves at least another season to keep building.
Could Spytek & Carroll Return Together?
While Carroll has made a lot of questionable decisions when it comes to playing veterans over rookies that likely frustrated Spytek, it seems like the two have a good working relationship. Spytek hasn’t spoken all season, so it’s difficult to know where his head is at, but Carroll continues to speak glowingly of the general manager.
Perhaps Brady wants to see what the two can do with the No. 1 pick. Carroll might not be the coach he once was, but it wasn’t long ago that he was leading the Seattle Seahawks to the playoffs. The Raiders have cycled through so many head coaches in recent years, and could just want to steady the ship a little longer. It still seems most likely that Carroll will get fired, but it’s not impossible to see a scenario where he’s brought back.
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