The Las Vegas Raiders were a bad football team in 2024.
Whether it was underperformance from players, a lack of preparation from the coaching staff, or poor roster building by the general manager, the formula just wasn't working. That's why owner Mark Davis cleaned house this offseason.
He and his hiring committee landed on a tandem of Pete Carroll and John Spytek to be the team's next head coach and general manager. The two seem well aware of the Raiders in their current state and have already made large-scale changes.
While Carroll did retain a few successful coaches from Las Vegas' previous regime, most notably defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, he and Spytek started making staff changes earlier this week as they finalize their new set of coaches.
On Wednesday, the Raiders hired coaches for two positions that they struggled to get much production from a year ago.
Raiders hire Notre Dame assistant coach Deland McCullough as RB coach
McCullough has spent the last three seasons at Notre Dame, but before that, he made stops at the University of Indiana, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the University of Southern California. He is a respected running backs coach who has served as an associate head coach and worked for several highly successful programs at both the college and professional levels.
At Notre Dame, he worked with Rams star Kyren Williams, and the Broncos' Audric Estime. At Indiana, he worked with both Tevin Coleman and Jordan Howard, and at USC, he worked alongside Ronald Jones II, who won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Kansas City, he was integral in developing Chiefs star Kareem Hunt as well.
Simply put, McCullough knows how to coach running backs, and that is a desperate need for the Raiders. Las Vegas had the worst rushing attack in the league last year by a decent margin, so they are hoping to remedy that in this year's draft and free agency period.
Chris Beatty tabbed as Raiders next WR coach
Beatty has really worked his way up through the coaching ranks, but his most recent stops have been as a wide receivers coach at the University of Pittsburgh, the Los Angeles Chargers, and the Chicago Bears. He also served as the interim offensive coordinator for Chicago last season when Thomas Brown was promoted to head coach.
He has experience with some of the league's best receivers, namely Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, and Jordan Addison. He also worked with Rome Odunze, Mike Williams, and Raiders current wide receiver DJ Turner.
While former Raiders wide receiver coach Edgar Bennett was highly regarded and thought to be a leader for the organization, Carroll chose to go with a fresh face in the building. Bennett had served as the wide receivers coach for the Silver and Black since 2018, but after the Davante Adams trade in 2024, the rest of the receiving corps did not step up outside of Jakobi Meyers.
With all the new blood in the building, it is an exciting time to be a Raiders fan.