Jan 27, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Las Vegas Raiders coach Pete Carroll at press conference at Intermountain Health Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Raiders Pete Carroll on the Process of Competing, Reloading

Originally posted on Las Vegas Raiders on SI
By Michael France | Last updated Feb 25, 2025 5:04 PM ET

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll was adamant during his introductory press conference in January: it was all about competing.

"It all starts with competition," he told reporters. "You're either competing or you're not. I'm going to make sure that that's really clear to these guys from the moment they get here. We're going to go out and draft a class and there will be a few free agents maybe we'll be able to attract, and we'll need to see those guys and we'll need to see what they're all about. ... If there's one thing that I want them to understand - and I'll start the message right now - if you want to be on a great team, you need to be a great teammate. Teaching what that's all about and instilling that in the makeup of our program is going to be crucial.

"The central theme in the program is always going to be competition, and that's where it starts."

At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday, Carroll told reporters that the process hasn't changed from his approaches to resurrecting the Seattle Seahawks and the USC Trojans--two stints that are synonymous with his name.

"Yeah, this is the same process," said Carroll. "This is not a different process than the last couple times I had a shot at it. It does take some time to get your foothold, and we've got a lot of philosophy and approach that is unique to the way we do things, that takes some time to get that going. Meanwhile, it's right now. And so that's a really fun part of it. The urgency is there. It's so obvious, but yet there's so much teaching, learning that's going on that's really exciting to me. So we'll see how it goes. It does take some time. I don't know how long. I'm ready to go right now."

Carroll was high on the roster he currently controls, saying, "We've got some highlighted players, and yeah, I'm excited about the opportunity to see this thing turn, is what really charges me."

This article first appeared on Las Vegas Raiders on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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