Under new general manager John Spytek, the Las Vegas Raiders are rebuilding their front office. The team has added high-level executives like Brian Stark as assistant general manager, Mark Thewes as senior vice president of football operations and strategy and Anthony Patch as a senior personnel executive.
Despite the fact that the Raiders have already made so many big front office moves this offseason, they still aren’t done. The team announced that they have also hired Brandon Hunt as the vice president of player personnel.
This is a big hire as Hunt has been the senior director of scouting for the Philadelphia Eagles and has been with the franchise for the past three seasons. Patch was another high-level executive with the Eagles that the Raiders poached this offseason.
Considering Philadelphia general manager Howie Roseman is known to run one of the best front offices in the NFL, it’s a serious coup that Spytek has convinced two of his top guys to come to Las Vegas. Spytek’s first draft with the Raiders looks very promising, but the team should be in a position to be even stronger in the draft going forward with so much high-end front office talent.
Spytek Has Said He Wants to Emulate Eagles
It makes sense why Spytek has been poaching from the Eagles. He was with the franchise for several years in the 2000s, and he has immense respect for how Roseman has built the team.
“You see what the Eagles did this year. Saquon (Barkley) is a different animal, but emphasis on the run game and the physicality that comes with it,” Spytek told reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in February. “For running backs, people get really caught up with speed. If you could find a Chris Johnson that runs 4.28 and nobody can catch him, great. To me, it’s more about guys who have great instincts, great vision, that are hard to get on the ground. If they can run 4.3, even better. But I’ve seen a lot of great ones that run the 4.5s or 4.6s and they set the tone for the team so we’re looking for that.”
The easiest way to emulate the Eagles is to poach some of their best talent evaluators. Considering many of these guys came on after free agency and the draft, the Raiders may not see results from all these moves until 2026.
Raiders Setting up for Long-Term Success
The decision to hire a 73-year-old Pete Carroll as head coach may look like a short-term move. While the Raiders can’t rely on Carroll to be the coach for the next decade, it’s clear that the franchise is trying to build sustained success through a front office that’s loaded with potential future general managers.
It’s a lot easier to win games when a team has a lot of great players. The Eagles have had coaching questions for years, but they’ve won two Super Bowls over the last decade. The Raiders’ front office hasn’t been a strength of the team for a very long time, but it appears like that could be changing.
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