The Las Vegas Raiders brought in Pete Carroll and John Spytek last offseason to fix things. While they got to work during free agency and made a few trades as well, their first true building block for the future was bound to come in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Defying conventional wisdom, the four-win Raiders selected running back Ashton Jeanty with the No. 6 overall pick. That choice was met with plenty of criticism, but the pairing clearly felt strongly about finding a surefire solution to its league-worst rushing attack from the year prior.
Due to no fault of his own, Jeanty wasn't able to turn Las Vegas' run game around, as the Raiders finished dead last in the league in rushing once again. The entire campaign, in reality, was a mess, which culminated in Carroll's unsurprising firing on Monday.
Raiders' Ashton Jeanty (barely) weighed in on Pete Carroll's firing
Everyone saw the writing on the wall for Carroll during the Raiders' three-win season. ESPN's Ryan McFadden spoke with Jeanty just hours after the news of Carroll's dismissal was made public. Jeanty gave a full "that's above my pay grade" type of response.
"I don't make those decisions. Obviously, new head coach coming in, so hopefully they just bring in the right guy," Jeanty said.
Jeanty also told reporter Nick Walters that he learned from Carroll how to be relentlessly optimistic, but he is also looking forward to winning more next season. Tre Tucker also shared his feelings about the decision, as well as the future in Las Vegas, with Walters.
"For us, we have a lot of young guys that are really good that I think will help us in the future," Tucker said. "Pete gave everything. Utmost respect for him. Very great guy. As a person, tremendous. For this organization, we have a lot of different views on things. A lot of young players we can build off of. We’ll see what we can do with it."
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Walters also noted that Jeanty believes that the team is set up for success with the No. 1 pick next April. It seems like these two players, while maintaining respect for Carroll and a disappointment that he is gone, are taking things in stride and looking forward to the future.
Las Vegas has plenty to be optimistic about, as they'll be on the clock first in the 2026 NFL Draft, they have $110 million to spend in free agency, at least, and 10 or more picks next April to complement and support a strong young nucleus set to return.
Jeanty, like everyone in Raider Nation, doesn't make the decisions about the franchise's head coach and simply hopes that Tom Brady and John Spytek make the right decision. It's above our pay grade as fans, and even above his as the star running back.