If you watched the Las Vegas Raiders closely this season, you could feel something was off long before the losses piled up. Drives stalled. Protection broke down. Runners hesitated instead of exploding through holes. By December, it wasn’t just about talent or scheme. It was about trust, and whether the people in charge had it.
How Did the Raiders Offensive Line Dysfunction Expose a Coaching Fault Line?
The Raiders’ offensive line never looked settled. Not in September. Not in December. And certainly not when the season unraveled. Linemen were shuffled across positions, sometimes week to week, sometimes midseason, creating a group that looked unsure of its own identity.
When players don’t know where they’ll line up until late in the week, confidence erodes fast. You could see it in the footwork, in the hesitation, in the way protection calls broke down under pressure.
The numbers back that up, but they don’t tell the whole story. Geno Smith being sacked 50 times was not just about losing one-on-one matchups. It was about timing being off. Communication slipping. Players are thinking instead of reacting. The run game, suffering the worst production in a quarter century, reflected the same issue. No rhythm. No cohesion.
That’s why the detail reported by ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler and Ryan McFadden hit so hard. Multiple agents described offensive linemen holding meetings with Smith and rookie back Ashton Jeanty without coaches present, trying to align on blocking expectations themselves.
“It was that bad,” one agent told ESPN. “They were meeting on their own and trying to figure it out together, which I have never heard of in my history of working in this league.”
Players publicly framed those sessions as chemistry-building. That explanation makes sense on the surface. Teams do extra work all the time. But when it happens consistently and specifically without coaches, it raises a bigger question. Why did the players feel they had to fix things themselves?
Much of the frustration pointed toward offensive line coach Brennan Carroll. Agents questioned rushed drills, unclear teaching, and the difficulty of pushing back when the coach is also the head coach’s son.
“There is some sort of nepotism going on,” one agent said.
Another agent was more direct. “This offensive line coach is the biggest issue with this team. Everybody knows and nobody talks about it because it’s Pete’s son.”
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Those kinds of comments do not come lightly. Agents talk to multiple locker rooms. When they use language like that, it usually reflects something players feel but won’t say publicly.
The dysfunction did not stop with the line. Chip Kelly’s midseason firing and the continued offensive collapse afterward suggested a staff working without alignment. Even after the change, the offense looked unsure of itself, and Smith pressed more, finishing with a league high 17 interceptions.
So what does this mean going forward? The biggest concern is not just rebuilding talent. It is rebuilding credibility. Players will buy into tough coaching. They will accept losing if the direction is clear. What they struggle with is confusion and mixed messages.
One thing to watch is whether the next staff prioritizes clarity over cleverness. Stable positions. Defined roles. Teaching that matches execution.
Pete Carroll eventually admitted he was “blindly optimistic.” That admission may have come too late. If the Raiders don’t fix the structural issues that led players to coach themselves, the next rebuild risks ending the same way.
