3 Questions for Raiders' Pete Carroll Entering 2025

1. What will Carroll be able to do that no one else has done since 2002?

Make no mistake about it, the Raiders have had failure after failure with their head coaching hires since firing Bill Callahan after the 2003 season. Since Callahan's departure, the Raiders have only made the playoffs twice. Once under Jack Del Rio and again with interim head coach Rich Bisaccia.

So, what does Carroll bring to the Raiders? Positive attitudes, mindsets, and environments. He maintained the defensive culture with Patrick Graham while he's revamping his offense with a run-first, spread option attack. We've seen other offensive minds come through the Raiders. Jon Gruden's power offense, Josh McDaniels' Patriot Way offense, and so on. What's different about Carroll's and was the scheme the issue, or were the issues of the past based in the way the offense was coached?

2. Why Chip Kelly?

Chip Kelly is a bold choice to lead the Raiders' offense. While his success at Ohio State during the 2024 season speaks for itself, Kelly has been out of the NFL for eight seasons. While he had two good years in Philadelphia, his final two years, split between the Eagles and the 49ers, were awful to be blunt.

To Kelly's credit, that was due to roster moves more than scheme, but one must ask how much influence did Kelly have with the Raiders' draft picks because when given free reign in Philadelphia, we all saw what happened.

However, Kelly did cultivate an offense that got the most out of their running back room, and with arguably a potential top-five running back in Ashton Jeanty, we'll have the answer to why Chip Kelly.

3. Why Geno Smith?

It makes sense why Carroll acquired Geno Smith. They know each other, Smith is a playmaker, and he's a veteran mind. However, when Carroll first went to Seattle, he had a veteran quarterback in Matt Hasselbeck.

After Hasselbeck's departure, Carroll tried to make it happen with the late Tarvaris Jackson, a five-year NFL veteran and former Vikings' starter. It didn't work. Then he signed Matt Flynn from Green Bay, but it was another quarterback from Wisconsin, a rookie Russell Wilson that took the Seahawks to immortality.

It's going to be fun finding out these answers. Can the season get here already?

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