From a 10,000-foot view, a first-time general manager and a veteran head coach feel like a bad match. Sprinkle in a roster that needs a thorough rebuilding clashing with that 73-year-old leader's intentions, and you have the Las Vegas Raiders' situation in 2025.
Since Pete Carroll was fired after one 3-14 season, he and general manager John Spytek have equally made it clear they were not on the same page. At least they both can admit to fans what was abundantly clear, practically from the start.
Most recently, after ESPN's Rich Cimini kicked over the rock that he has been under to talk about Geno Smith being traded to the New York Jets, Carroll took the opportunity to throw Spytek under the bus.
"We got killed, we got killed," Carroll said of the Raiders' offensive line. "Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered. We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn't happen in the draft, and it didn't happen in the offseason.
"We didn't go for it in the offseason. We needed to buy a new line to give the guys a chance to at least be more competitive. The only reason you get sacked that much is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn't quite work out, and that's why you saw a change and all that."
Surely, the lackluster play from the Raiders' offensive line had nothing to do with moving players to positions they've never played (Jordan Meredith), moving them off their best spot (Dylan Parham) or making them compete with an inferior player because you don't like them (Jackson Powers-Johnson).
Sure Pete, Spytek didn't add the right players, or good enough players...
John Spytek seemingly took a veiled shot at Pete Carroll with comments about Klint Kubiak
Spytek recently appeared with JT The Brick on Raider Nation Radio 920AM. It was, of course, a wide-ranging conversation, and JT took an opening to invite the Raiders' general manager to talk about the start of his partnership with new head coach Klint Kubiak.
"He's been a great partner, very thoughtful, very strategic, extremely hard worker, very detailed," Spytek said.
"We bounce great ideas off of each other. You know, he and I both are, I think, very good listeners. And, you know, we see football from a similar lens."
A head coach and general manager don't have to see things from exactly the same lens, but being aligned on the most important things is critical. Spytek and Carroll never seemed to see things anywhere close to similarly, as could be expected with diverging priorities.
Spytek noting how Kubiak is a good listener could insinuate that Carroll wasn't, at least in terms of doing his part to foster an effective partnership. It's easy to envision Carroll using his résumé as a way to pull rank over Spytek. And the young general manager never spoke about Carroll this way.
All in all, after Carroll openly threw Spytek under bus, it was nice to Spytek return a subtle jab when talking about his partnership with Kubiak. It's not the first time he's done it, but it never hurts to go back for seconds.