Why Raiders' Pete Carroll's Seat is on Fire

The Las Vegas Raiders are headed for a monumental offseason that could witness significant changes on and off the field.

Carroll's Hot Seat

The Raiders are on a collision course with the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. One more loss secures the coveted pick for the Silver and Black. That alone is enough hope for the future. However, Ralph Vachianno of FOX Sports is unsure that Pete Carroll will be in Las Vegas to see the pick made.

"When Carroll’s legendary career is remembered, it’s probably best that what happened in Vegas stays in Vegas. It has been a miserable, dysfunctional, confounding year that sure has the 74-year-old wishing he stayed retired. Nothing he’s done has worked. In fact, in many ways, he’s made the Raiders worse. Now they’re going to have to basically start over after they draft a quarterback at the beginning of the 2026 draft," Vacchiano said.

"Carroll surely doesn’t want to stay around for a rebuilding project, and the Raiders don’t want that either. That’s ironic, though, because Carroll’s willingness to help them tank for the top pick has jump-started the project for somebody else.

Although likely securing the No. 1 seed is a positive for the franchise, another losing season is not. It is fair for Carroll to be on the hot seat after how bad this season has gone for Las Vegas. Carroll was brought in to help turn things around by winning, not by securing the top pick in the draft.

Following Sunday's loss to the New York Giants, Carroll explained why he felt the Raiders' season had gone the way it had. Las Vegas has lost 14 of its last 15 games, including the previous 10 games in a row. It is the second consecutive season they have had a 10-game losing streak.

“Brock [Bowers] got hurt in that game in the fourth quarter, and I don't think we adapted well with that, so we went through a few weeks of floundering. I don't even know how long it took us to get to the Titans game to get the next win, but it seemed like forever. I had no place in my mind to see this either, so you just try to figure out how to go one week at a time,” Carroll said. 

“Come on back, and find the focus to work really hard, and give it a really good shot to see if we can play good football. That's what we're going to try to do again. I don't doubt these guys one bit. If you're asking the question in a little bit, 'Did it go south or something?' I don't think that. I think that's what we look like without those guys playing. Unfortunately, they're that valuable to us. Everybody tried. Everybody did everything they could and all that, but it just wasn't enough."

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