By Matt Khitikian
Raiders Round Out Main Coaching Staff
In the past week, the Las Vegas Raiders have made several decisions that will guide the franchise into 2025 and beyond. After selecting John Spytek as their GM, the Raiders tabbed Pete Carroll (the oldest head-coaching hire in the NFL to date) as their new locker-room leader.
After kicking the tires on a few other candidates, the Raiders elected to retain Patrick Graham as their Defensive Coordinator as well as Tom McMahon as their Special Teams Coordinator. With a franchise as unstable as this, the continuity’s likely important.
With interim-OC Scott Turner joining the Jets, the Raiders were in need of a new Offensive Coordinator. Rumors linked former Seahawk OC Darrell Bevell to the Vegas job, mostly due to his relationship with Carroll. The Raiders also interviewed Jerrod Johnson, QB coach for the Texans, before lavishing former Eagles HC Chip Kelly with the highest-ever AAV salary paid to a coordinator at $6 million per year. At 61 years old, this will be Kelly’s thirty-fifth season as a football coach (college, NFL) but Kelly hasn’t coached in the NFL since being fired by the 49ers in 2016.
Can Kelly adapt to the modern NFL after 9 years away, or will this turn into a reprise of the ill-fated Art Shell & Co. Part Deux experiment from 2006?
Some other coaching and front-office pieces have also fallen into place, with Rob Leonard staying on as defensive line coach, John Glenn joining the team as the linebackers coach and Matt Capurro joining the front office.
Many positions remain open; there’re rumblings of a 3rd Tom Cable stint in the silver and black (reprising his role as offensive line coach) while it’s also possible that Ricky Manning Jr., Vegas’ cornerbacks coach, remains with the team.
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