The Las Vegas Raiders hired head coach Pete Carroll this offseason, and many thought that this would signify the end of the road for defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. Originally brought in by Josh McDaniels, he remained under Antonio Pierce, but a third new regime seemed too much to ask.
Although he wasn't their top choice, Carroll and Co. opted to keep Graham in the building, which seemed like a goodwill gesture and a bit of respect being paid to the veteran coordinator for keeping this Raiders defense afloat over the last several seasons.
Graham's units have never been elite, but they've always bent more than they broke. Plus, he's done a lot with not many elite pieces. This season would be another major task in and of itself for Graham, as general manager John Spytek let most of the key defensive pieces walk in free agency.
Raiders clearly running Pete Carroll's defense more than Patrick Graham's
Except Graham isn't really calling his defense during the 2025 NFL season. Obviously, a melding of philosophies was expected for the Raiders when they hired a defensive-minded head coach, but things have swayed too far in one direction.
According to Football Insights, the Raiders are running Cover 3 zone on a league-high 47% of their defensive snaps. They are also running man coverage, whether it be Cover 0, 1 or 2, at a league-low rate of just 13% this season.
Last year, when Graham didn't have Carroll influencing him, he only ran Cover 3 zone on 30% of the defensive snaps, which was near the league average. They also ran man coverage on 30% of their defensive snaps, also near the league average.
Unless a team has an elite unit that specializes in certain coverages, it's never good to be on two extreme ends of the league scale. Considering Las Vegas has an average to below-average group this season, and they were at least marginally better last year, perhaps a change was unwarranted.
But Carroll rose to stardom in the coaching world on the back of his Cover 3 defense, which was popularized by the success that the Legion of Boom had with the Seattle Seahawks. When something has worked so well for so long, it can be hard to let go of it for a veteran coach.
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However, at 74 years old, Carroll needs to prove to owner Mark Davis that he can be adaptable and move with the times if he wants to keep his job in Las Vegas. Carroll was asked about his usage of Cover 3 during Friday's press conference, and he didn't exactly explain the reason for the change.
"There's still a lot of Cover 3 played around the league, but we're just trying to get really good at some basics and the things that we really count on, and then we mix our variety of things throughout," Carroll said. "We don't want to be really predictable, but yet we also want them to have to beat us. So, we're trying to learn how to play that way."
While Carroll's point is understood, the Raiders aren't exactly mixing it up with a variety of things. Again, they run Cover 3 zone on almost half of their defensive plays, and they play man coverage less than any other NFL team. That sounds fairly predictable.
This wouldn't be a big problem if Las Vegas' defense were having success this season, but they aren't. It also wouldn't be a big deal if reports hadn't been piling in over the last week or so that Carroll had too much of a hand in Chip Kelly's offensive play-calling.
There is a picture being painted in Las Vegas of Carroll being a bit too hands-on with his coordinators, which isn't exactly breeding success. Carroll is clearly influencing Graham to use Cover 3 zone, despite none of the league's best defenses using it nearly as often as the Raiders have.
If Carroll wants to finish his three-year contract and eventually watch this team grow into a contender, he needs to stop getting in the way. That starts with letting the coordinators coach, letting the young players play, and putting his ego aside to move with the times and do what is best for the team.
His clear signature on the defense is evidenced by the high usage of Cover 3 zone, his calling card, which is a microcosm of him and the Raiders' struggles throughout the 2025 NFL season.