When the Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll this offseason, they did so because, well, for one, they missed out on their top candidate, Ben Johnson. But they ended up settling on Carroll because they felt good about his wealth of experience, winning pedigree and ability to build a culture.
But nobody has ever accused Carroll of being able to put together a good staff. He hit the jackpot in the early 2010s with Dan Quinn as his defensive coordinator and Robert Saleh as his defensive quality control coach. When those two left, so did any real playoff success in Seattle.
Carroll hired coordinators like Darrell Bevell, Kris Richard, Ken Norton, Shane Waldron, and Clint Hurtt, none of whom were grand successes. He did have Brian Schottenheimer as his offensive coordinator for three years, but Carroll fired him after having a top-10 scoring offense in each season.
Raiders assistant QB coach Nate Carroll deserves share of blame for offensive woes
It has, unfortunately, been the same story in Las Vegas. While retaining Patrick Graham as the defensive coordinator was smart, and probably the best that Carroll could do at that point in the coaching cycle, hiring Chip Kelly as the offensive coordinator has been an unmitigated disaster.
Outside of Kelly, however, offensive line coach Brennan Carroll has taken a lot of flak as well. The head coach's elder son took an above-average unit from last season and unnecessarily jumbled things around. Now, the Raiders' offensive line is undoubtedly the worst in the entire NFL, by a good margin.
As a result, fans have clamored endlessly for the team to either part ways with Carroll's son, which seems unlikely, or at least give Joe Philbin, a senior offensive assistant who is an offensive line guru, more responsibilities and sway in the offensive line room. But that hasn't happened.
While this sentiment has been slowly burning in Raider Nation, however, fans have completely ignored the fact that Carroll's younger son, Nate, hasn't exactly been a wild success as the team's assistant quarterbacks coach and game management coach.
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Greg Olson is the Raiders' main quarterbacks coach, and he has quite the track record. He was Drew Brees' quarterbacks coach at Purdue, has endless experience at the NFL level and was an above-average offensive coordinator in the league as recently as 2021 in Las Vegas.
Simply put, Olson knows what he's doing. But Geno Smith's unprecedented struggles beg the question of whether or not Nate Carroll is adept enough to be an NFL quarterbacks coach. After all, he never held the position before coming to Las Vegas.
He joined the Seahawks' staff in 2010 and held various offensive roles, mainly working with wide receivers, before being ousted along with his dad in 2023. He spent one season as the passing game coordinator with the Carolina Panthers, and the team finished with the 30th-ranked passing offense.
Whereas Brennan Carroll has stood on his own two feet, taking various jobs in major college football and having success at winning programs, Nate Carroll has spent just one unsuccessful season not working with his father.
Obviously, blaming Smith's struggles on Nate Carroll is not a fair thing to do. But it is quite the blemish on the Raiders for Carroll's sons to be in charge of coaching the two position groups on the roster that have struggled the most: quarterbacks and the offensive line.
All the onus should track back to the head man, but while Brennan Carroll and Chip Kelly have been condemned for Las Vegas' offensive struggles, Olson and Nate Carroll aren't exactly absolved of blame either. But at least the former is qualified with a strong track record. The latter, not so much.