The Las Vegas Raiders are hitting the reset button once again this offseason after earning just three wins during the 2025 NFL season. While John Spytek will keep his job as the franchise's general manager, Pete Carroll was informed of his firing just a day after the season finale.
Spytek and Tom Brady are reported to be putting their heads together as they seek a new head coach in Las Vegas, the organization's sixth in as many years. At some point, one great leader has to put a stop to the never-ending merry-go-round that has been the head coach post for the Raiders.
$110 million to spend in free agency, the No. 1 pick in April's draft, veterans like Maxx Crosby and Kolton Miller, and a strong young core, highlighted by Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty, will be a selling point during the process. But Las Vegas also needs to take the temperature of the team.
Ashton Jeanty knows what he wants in the next Raiders head coach
Players should have a voice, but having too big a one is what led the team to Antonio Pierce, which was a mistake. Jeanty refused to comment much on the news of Carroll's firing, but he may have said the quiet part out loud about Carroll's Raiders when asked about what he looks for in a coach.
"I think just holding guys accountable, especially when they need it. Knowing your players well enough to just keep that standard up. Obviously, a head coach has really got to be a leader," Jeanty said.
Now, this isn't a direct shot at Carroll or anything, as the rookie running back has proven to be a class act when speaking to the media and never points the finger. But it's hard to imagine that he isn't, at least subconsciously, craving in a new head coach what he didn't have in Carroll this year.
The Raiders appeared to be a mess from the outside looking in this year, and it was clear from listening to Carroll's press conferences and analyzing his personnel choices that accountability was fleeting. Especially when it came to "his guys," like the contingent of former Seattle Seahawks.
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Jeanty endured a coaching change while in college at Boise State, too, and a reporter asked him in the same media availability about how that experience would help him now that the Raiders will have a changing of the guard this offseason.
"You kinda just have to be ready to adapt for whoever is coming in the building," Jeanty said. "Obviously, when we changed around at Boise State, we got better, so I'm hoping it'll be the same thing."
Raider Nation is hoping for the same thing as Jeanty, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Las Vegas could be way better than it was under Carroll. But for him to acknowledge that a coaching change can instantly turn things around is both promising and revealing.
While Jeanty praised Carroll at length in the same interview about teaching him the importance of endless positivity, it shouldn't be a stretch to think that any player in the building might believe that a coaching change could be a positive thing, especially Jeanty, who has seen it happen before.