It's fair to say that John Spytek and Pete Carroll were a marriage arranged outside of the then-new Las Vegas Raiders' general manager's authority. And the results for the team last season, with unconnected priorities dating back to the start of the arrangement, showed it.
Spytek is getting his second shot at leading a draft this year, and everyone involved will be far more aligned. Spytek made it clear his relationship with head coach Klint Kubiak is already in a better place than his with Carroll ever was, and everyone is rowing in the same direction regarding the roster plan.
To his credit, Spytek openly acknowledged where he fell short during the 2025 NFL Draft process when he talked to the media before this year's proceedings. To sum it up, he learned he needed to be better at delegating, and he is already making strides.
John Spytek will automatically be a better GM in Year 2 running the Las Vegas Raiders' draft
Spytek spoke to the media last week ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft and fielded questions from local reporters. When asked about last year's process by Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Spytek was brutally honest.
"Not knowing everybody in the building, having my own vision that I was trying to teach to people about the way that we wanted to do it, how we wanted to build, the kind of person we were looking for, I think I tried to do too much,” Spytek said. “I think it’s always important to really have great people around you and trust and empower them to do their jobs, to support you as well as they can. And it’s really not about me, it’s about the team and the Raiders and the best decisions. And I’m just very grateful to have a great group of people around me.”
During a recent episode of the Just Win Podcast, Ted Nguyen of The Athletic essentially backed up what Spytek essentially admitted he did a year ago.
“I’ve heard that last year he kind of shut people out, kind of went rogue and did his own thing,” Nguyen said. “I think this year, having a whole year to work on the draft with his people preparing and everything, whereas last year he was kind of hired and had to go into the draft right away, not knowing everybody around him. He hired Brian Stark, the assistant GM, who was part of the presser after the draft last year. So he knows who he’s working with. This is his coach that he hired. It’s going to be a bit different with how he works with everyone and how he collaborates with everyone.”
This comes as no surprise, but prior reporting has said that Carroll was the primary driver of the decision to take Ashton Jeanty No. 6 overall last year. Others in the room thought an offensive lineman was the way to go.
While taking Jeanty worked out fine, and Spytek would stand behind the pick, using a top-10 selection on a running back and putting him behind last year's Raiders' offensive line yielded the results that were invited by putting the cart before the horse like that.
Spytek now has a head coach he hired, rather than one who was thrust on him and who got the outsized roster influence his résumé naturally dictated. This is Spytek's show now, with lessons learned from a year ago, and everyone in alignment as his second draft as a general manager looms.
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