The Las Vegas Raiders fired Pete Carroll on Monday after a dismal 3-14 season, but the real story isn't about the 74-year-old coach who never stood a chance. It's about Tom Brady officially stepping out of the shadows and into the front office.
Owner Mark Davis didn't mince words in his statement: GM John Spytek will lead football operations "in close collaboration with Tom Brady." Translation? Brady is no longer just a minority owner cashing checks from a luxury suite. He's running this thing.
The Carroll experiment was doomed from the start
Let's be honest about what happened here. Carroll inherited a roster that was already thin, took a gamble on Geno Smith at quarterback, and watched it all fall apart spectacularly. The Raiders lost 10 straight games at one point. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was fired mid-season. Special teams coordinator Tom McMahon got the axe too. By the end, Carroll was coaching a team that had mentally checked out weeks ago.
But here's what nobody's saying: Carroll was always a placeholder. Brady handpicked him, and when the results didn't come, Brady needed a reset. The Super Bowl-winning coach lasted exactly one season. The Raiders' next head coach will be the fourth in four years.
What Brady's power move really means
"We're looking for someone to build this the right way and not think we've got to produce 10 wins or whatever next year," Spytek told reporters Monday.
That sounds patient. It sounds measured. It also sounds like a franchise that's completely handing the keys to a quarterback-turned-owner who has never run a football operation in his life.
Brady's Rolodex is impressive — he knows every coach, every agent, every player who matters. Names like Robert Saleh, Ben Johnson, and Jesse Minter are already being floated as potential candidates. The connections are real. But running a team isn't about connections. It's about structure, patience, and making the unglamorous decisions that don't generate headlines.
The No. 1 pick changes everything
Vegas finished with the league's worst record, which means they'll pick first in the 2026 NFL Draft. That's leverage. That's a potential franchise quarterback. And that's an enormous amount of pressure on Brady and Spytek to get it right.
The last time the Raiders had this much draft capital and this much uncertainty, they blew it repeatedly. Jon Gruden's ghost still haunts that building. Now Brady has to prove that being the greatest quarterback ever translates to being a competent executive.
Early returns? A fired coach, a 10-game losing streak, and a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game since 2021.
What comes next
Expect Brady to be heavily involved in the coaching search. Expect him to push for his guys. And expect the Raiders to sell this as a "new era" while ignoring the chaos that preceded it.
The AFC West already belongs to the Chiefs, the Chargers are ascending under Jim Harbaugh, and the Broncos have a young quarterback worth watching in Bo Nix. Las Vegas is rebuilding from scratch — again.
Tom Brady conquered the NFL as a player. Conquering it as an executive is a completely different game. And right now, the Raiders look like a franchise that's betting everything on his name.