The Las Vegas Raiders had no shortage of issues during the 2024 NFL season. They were able to muster four wins, however, despite poor quarterback play, an inability to run the football and a series of major defensive injuries.
New head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Spytek have already changed things dramatically ahead of the 2025 season. They started to mitigate these problems by bringing in players like Geno Smith and Ashton Jeanty, as well as a crew of young defensive prospects.
However, the Raiders were also plagued by the fact that their defense could not effectively force turnovers last year. According to Pro Football Reference, they had just 13 takeaways during the 2024 season, which ranked 29th in the NFL.
Pete Carroll is putting a premium on takeaways for Raiders defense
Luckily for Raider Nation, the team's new head coach is dialed in on exactly this. When Carroll spoke to the media on Thursday, he touched on how important it is for the defense to cause turnovers.
"In the first football meeting that we had, (the first thing I said) was 'it's all about the ball,'" Carroll explained. "Today, I started this last meeting that we had, 'it's all about the ball.' It's about how you emphasize it, and it's not just that you emphasize it, it's how well you can emphasize it in creative manners."
Over the three seasons that Patrick Graham has been the Raiders' defensive coordinator, takeaways have been an issue. The team has finished 32nd, 19th and 29th in total takeaways during the last three campaigns, but that is bound to change under Pete Carroll.
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Fortunately, this message is not falling on deaf ears. Veteran running back Raheem Mostert marveled at the defense's efforts this offseason during his media availability on Thursday.
"The defense, man, they're doing an unbelievable job," Mostert said. "We had a stat today, throughout this entire process from OTAs on to minicamp, there was 280 something plays. Within those 280 plays, there was 2,783 punch attempts (from the defense), which shows you that they're really trying to get the ball out."
If the stat itself is not impressive or meaningful, just consider what an emphasis is being put on turnovers if a program is tracking how many punch out attempts are made during OTAs and mincamp.
Things may not turn around immediately in Las Vegas, but with a new approach, this defense should see an improvement in their takeaways during the 2025 season, and they'll have Carroll to thank.