Can Carroll recreate the 'Legion of Boom' in Vegas?

HENDERSON, Nev. — I’m not sure if Pete Carroll can replicate the “Legion of Boom” with the Las Vegas Raiders. But you can’t fault him for trying.

You remember the Legion? It was the famed secondary of the Seattle Seahawks when Carroll was the coach during the decade of the 2010s and it helped bring a Super Bowl title to the Emerald City. Its main members were cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Bower and safeties Kim Chancellor and Earl Thomas along with Walter Thurmond and Byron Maxwell. They were brash, tough and outstanding football players. And they were the anchor of a tough defensive unit.

With Carroll back as an NFL head coach and with his background as a defensive whiz, it stands to reason he’s going to demand the Raiders have a secondary that can go toe-to-toe against some of the top gunslinger quarterbacks in the NFL, particularly in the AFC West where Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs, Justin Herbert of the Chargers and Bo Nix of the Broncos reside.

That means veterans Sam Webb, Jeremy Chinn, Jakorian Bennett, Eric Stokes, Isaiah Pola-Mao and the recently acquired Jamal Adams along with newcomer Darien Porter, the team’s third-round draft pick, will have to forge their path together in defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s scheme to compliment the Raiders’ pass rush led by Maxx Crosby and Malcolm Koonce.

When asked about the secondary earlier in the week , Carroll said: “I’m fired up about the back end. We’re really athletic, we’re really fast and we’re big. It’s an impressive looking group.

“I can’t remember ever having a group that looks more impressive than this group. How we blend that together is what a defensive coordinator, defensive coach dreams about. And this is going to be an exciting challenge for us.”

They’re going to need to be better if the Raiders hope to win a bunch of games like Carroll predicts. Last year, Las Vegas allowed 333.1 yards per game, 216.2 yards through the air which ranked them in the middle of the pack in the NFL at 15th. But the Raiders allowed 25.5 points pregame and that tied them for 25th. That needs to change.

Linebacker Elandon Roberts, a 10-year NFL veteran who came to the Raiders from Pittsburgh, said it’s a matter of all three levels working in connection.

“I think it’s coming along good,” he said of the chemistry. “We’re starting to understand each other. If we play together like we should be able to, if everyone does their job, we can be a really good defense.”

Chinn, who played for the Washington Commanders last year, said he sees some similarities with the Raiders.

“I do. Last year, there was a lot of veteran leadership on that Commanders squad,” he said. “And I think we’ve got a lot of things going here as well, veteran-wise and leadership-wise. And one thing is just the competitive aspect and training camp that we had there.

“I feel like for me, I can bring that here and just compete my tail off and bring the best out of guys. So just competing during camp and trying to have iron sharpen iron and just stay on that every single day.”

Carroll has been stressing daily competition as a way for the Raiders to improve. He’s also trying to create depth, something that hindered Las Vegas last year as player after player went down with injuries on both sides of the ball.

Thursday, the Raiders’ secondary during a two-minute drill consisted of Stokes and Decamerion Richardson at cornerback with Pola-Mao and Lonnie Johnson at safety. The second unit was Porter, Bennett, Thomas Harper and Chris Smith. But don’t read too much into that. A lot is going to happen between now and the start off the season on Sept. 7. And don’t be surprised if general manager John Spytek scourers the waiver wire late in the preseason to see if he can acquire additional depth.

But there appears to be more talent than previously. Whether the defense can stay healthy enough to improve we’ll have to see.