Amid a 2-12 season, many have predicted that Pete Carroll will be fired as Las Vegas Raiders head coach. They have been the worst team in the NFL and seem to get worse every week, which is usually a sign that the coaching isn’t working.
Nobody is going to blame the Raiders if they decide to cut ties with Carroll. However, that would be the team’s second one-and-done head coach in a row. The optics of that aren’t great, and how are the Raiders supposed to lure high-end candidates if they can’t guarantee any level of job security?
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell recently ranked all of the potential head coaching openings this offseason. The Raiders came in at dead last.
“Welp. We’re back again for another go-around in Las Vegas, where the Raiders enjoy a fervent fan base and zero income tax for potential free agents — and somehow seem further from winning than ever before,” Barnweel wrote. “I was optimistic about the gambit of adding Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly and Geno Smith this offseason, but Kelly has already been fired, Smith has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the league this year and Carroll has been unable to stamp any sort of competence on one of the league’s worst teams.
“Owner Mark Davis is in a hopeless situation, albeit one entirely of his own making. The Raiders have now been through four permanent coaches (Jack Del Rio, Jon Gruden, Josh McDaniels and Antonio Pierce) over the past nine seasons, with Carroll in danger of becoming the fifth. I’m not sure Del Rio should have been fired 12 months after leading the Raiders to a 12-4 record and a playoff berth, but the other coaches didn’t do anything to justify holding on to their jobs. Is anyone going to be capable of building a sustainably successful Raiders team?”
Raiders Might Have to Give Out Longer Contract
The Raiders weren’t appealing last offseason, which is why they missed out on Ben Johnson, Mike Vrabel and Liam Coen, who all look like excellent head coaches. At the time, Carroll looked like a good hire, but in hindsight, there’s a reason other teams weren’t interested in him.
The Raiders’ head coaching job is now even less appealing, and it’s going to take years to rebuild the team. Barnwell suggested that Las Vegas might have to offer a long contract if they’re going to convince a top coaching candidate to sign up for the rebuild.
“Nobody’s going to do it overnight, and given the short leash Davis has had for recent coaches, this isn’t going to be a very appealing opportunity for coaches who have other options elsewhere,” Barnwell wrote. “We’ve seen teams like the 49ers (with Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch) and Lions (with Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes) offer new hires six-year contracts to prove that they’ll get the time to rebuild the roster. It’s unclear whether John Spytek will stick around as general manager in Vegas if the Raiders do clean house yet again, but the Raiders are going to need to offer their new coach proof that he’ll get more than two years to build a team that will win in the long term.”
Getting No. 1 Pick Changes Things
Right now, it’s hard to argue against the notion that the Raiders have the worst potential opening. However, that changes very quickly if they get the No. 1 pick.
That would give the Raiders a path to add a franchise quarterback and the means to add impact players in the draft. That alone has to move the team up the list. Now, even if the team ends up at No. 2, that makes the job less appealing.
The Raiders need to lose out and get the top pick. If that happens, the team’s turnaround could happen a lot quicker than anybody expects.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Raiders Put on Notice About a Potential Pete Carroll Firing appeared first on Heavy Sports.