So far, Carroll has kept his word in building his staff

HENDERSON, Nev. — So far, Pete Carroll has kept his word.

When he was asked how he planned to construct his staff, the new head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders said it would be a mix of familiar faces from his days in Seattle, looking outside his comfort zone and retaining some of the staff from Antonio Pierce’s brief regime.

The hiring of Chip Kelly this week as the team’s offensive coordinator was a bit of a curveball since many expected Carroll to renew his ties with Darrell Bevell, his OC with the Seahawks. But in bringing Kelly to Las Vegas, Carroll sent a couple of messages to everyone.

First, he’s not afraid to have someone joined at his hip that he is not accustomed to. Second, Kelly has a proven track record of success when it comes to working with quarterbacks, both in college and in the NFL.

And while Kelly has stumbled as a head coach in the NFL — his brief stint with the 49ers in 2016 resulted in a 2-14 record and his dismissal while his third season in Philadelphia saw the Eagles stumble to 6-10 in 2015 after winning seasons of 10-6 both in 2013 and 2014.

But look at what he did this past year at Ohio State. With Kelly as the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator, he made Will Howard an All-America quarterback and it helped Ohio State win the national championship.

He’s going to be asked to improve the Raiders’ play at the quarterback position regardless of who ultimately is taking the starting snaps. That’s something the 61-year-old Kelly has proved he can do. We have no idea as to who that someone will be as general manager John Spytek and Mark Thewes, the team’s new VP of football operations (more on him in a moment) will have to figure that part out as they meet with Carroll and minority owner Tom Brady to plot their course of action.

But for Carroll to have a fresh perspective I think is important going forward in his attempt to turn around the Raiders’ fortunes. What worked for a while in Seattle may not necessarily work here. And while Kelly’s time in the NFL is something of a mixed bag, the fact he has had some success should count for something.

On the other side of the ball, Carroll’s decision to retain Patrick Graham as the Raiders’ defensive coordinator also sends a message, especially to the players who are staying as well as those who are thinking of leaving via free agency. The Raiders did get better defensively and while they’re not yet where they want to be, Graham’s guys played hard every down. And while we should attribute some of that to Pierce, Graham made linebackers Divine Deablo and Robert Spillane better and we saw improvement from safeties Tre’von Moehrig and Isaiah Pola-Mao, defensive tackle Adam Butler and cornerback Jack Jones.

You have to think Graham knew what he was doing. And with the expectation that Maxx Crosby, Malcolm Koonce, Christian Wilkins and Jakorian Bennett will be ready to go for training camp after missing parts or all of the 2024 season with injuries, the Raiders will have some continuity in terms of philosophy though Carroll will certainly inject some of his own thoughts and schemes in working with Graham.

He’s also keeping Tom McMahon as the Raiders’ special teams coach. This will be McMahon’s third different head coach in four years with the Silver and Black. The Raiders have no lack of talent with punter AJ Cole and kicker John Carlson.

Carroll also is bringing his son Brennan into the fold as his offensive line/running game coach. That’s not unusual. Jon Gruden hired his son Deuce when he was the Raiders’ coach and Pierce’s son DeAndre was on the staff this past season.

And Greg Olson is back for a third stint with the team. He’ll be the Raiders’ quarterbacks coach and will no doubt work hand-in-hand with Kelly to improve the team’s play at that position.

But while a lot of these moves are solid, the hiring of Thewes to work with Spytek is a critical hire. The Raiders have to draft better and to do that, they must improve the way they evaluate talent. Thewes has lots of experience, having spent the last 16 years with the Denver Broncos and like Spytek did in Tampa, he has experienced winning a Super Bowl  as he was with the Broncos when they won the 2015 title game.

Having smart people around you is important if you’re going to turn around a losing franchise. Spytek and Carroll are doing just that in their brief time in Las Vegas and while we’ll have to wait and see how it ultimately all shakes out, on the surface, it looks like they are doing things the right way. And it’s been a while since we can say that about the Raiders.