The Las Vegas Raiders have fired head coach Pete Carroll after the team went 3-14 in his first season, the team announced Monday.
Carroll was hired in January 2025 on a three-year contract, but the Raiders will move forward with a new leader after clinching the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and entering what they described as a new era.
Carroll, fired by the Seattle Seahawks after the 2023 season, wanted to keep coaching. His next NFL stop turned into an immediate mess and did not last long. He was brought in to improve the culture and competitiveness of a Raiders franchise that has been among the league’s worst for decades.
The hire was widely viewed as an unusual match: a rebuilding team hiring the oldest head coach in NFL history. Carroll carried a long track record of success with the Seahawks and previously at USC, and he was expected to represent an upgrade over recent Raiders regimes. It did not work out that way.
Carroll came to Seattle with a modest NFL resume from the 1990s, including an unsuccessful stint with the Jets and one season with the Patriots that ended with a losing record. After a dominant run at USC, he returned to the NFL and became a major success in Seattle, posting a 137-89-1 record and leading the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl championship.
His exit from Seattle surprised many, but few questioned his coaching ability. After the Raiders failed in a publicized pursuit of Ben Johnson to replace Antonio Pierce last offseason, they settled on Carroll. Not much went right.
The Raiders also made three major moves aimed at improving quickly. They hired Chip Kelly as the highest-paid offensive coordinator in the NFL, traded for Carroll’s former Seattle quarterback Geno Smith, and drafted running back Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick. All three were framed as win-now decisions.
Instead, Kelly was fired midseason. Smith struggled badly and was booed by home fans. Jeanty had a disappointing and unproductive rookie year.
The results collapsed. After a season-opening win at New England, the Raiders won only one of their next 15 games, a home victory over Tennessee. Several losses became non-competitive, including a 31-0 defeat at Philadelphia in Week 15.
The Raiders did beat Kansas City in Week 18, a notable finale but far from enough to save Carroll’s job. As the losses piled up, it became increasingly clear he could be replaced after one season. The question shifted to whether he would make it to the end of the year.
The firing opens another search for the Raiders, a job that was already considered a difficult sell when Johnson chose the Chicago Bears over Las Vegas. The No. 1 pick and the chance to start fresh at quarterback could be a draw, with the story noting Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza as a potential option.
The roster has star power, including Brock Bowers and Maxx Crosby, but the story argues the Raiders lack young talent beyond that core. Crosby’s future is also framed as uncertain after a disagreement over the team placing him on injured reserve for the final two games of the season.
The Raiders have not won a playoff game since the 2002 AFC Championship Game and have cycled through head coaches at a rapid rate. Counting interims, the story notes the Raiders have had 14 head coaches over the past 24 seasons, underscoring instability and ongoing dysfunction.
It was presented as a long-term project when the Raiders hired Carroll. The fit appeared odd from the start, and it ended even worse than many expected.
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