Pete Carroll’s future with the Las Vegas Raiders appears to be in serious doubt as we approach the new year. He became the oldest coach in NFL history when the Raiders hired him for the job last January. There were expectations that he would be the Raiders’ coach for a long time.
Pete Carroll’s Raiders Tenure Already on the Brink After Brutal 2025 Collapse
With an impressive resume of a national title and a Super Bowl championship, there was hype that he would transform the Las Vegas Raiders into a contender. However, after a disastrous 2025 run, the Raiders may move on from Carroll and go in a different direction.  According to PFSN’s Football Playoff Meter, the Raiders have an abysmally low 12.5% win percentage.
Carroll and his Raiders took a beating from the New York Giants 34-10 on Sunday afternoon. Both teams were fighting for the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft. The loss may be a blessing for Las Vegas’s future, as they are now in a position to secure the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
However, the Raiders still suffered a horrid run in the Pete Carroll era. Las Vegas has now lost its 10th consecutive game. Additionally, the Raiders had been competitive in several games during that stretch. It’s no surprise that Carroll may be in the hot seat, considering that the Raiders have shown little life on the field.
Reportedly, Carroll has been on the hot seat with the Raiders for weeks. At different points in November, Carroll parted ways with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly and special teams coach Tom McMahon. Despite those moves, the losing hasn’t stopped on the football field.
Although Kelly was the NFL’s highest-paid offensive coordinator, and part-owner Tom Brady played a key role in landing him the job, it still didn’t make a difference in football games. The philosophies of both Carroll and Kelly often clashed during their 11-game tenure together.
The offense made little impact on the field during Kelly’s run as offensive coordinator. However, replacing him with Greg Olson hasn’t made a difference. In hopes of improving Carroll’s chances of instant success, the Raiders reunited him with quarterback Geno Smith.
Las Vegas traded a 2025 third-round pick to the Seattle Seahawks for Smith and gave him a $75MM two-year extension with the team. While Smith played well for Carroll in their 2022-23 stint in Seattle, that hasn’t been the case this season. Per PFSN’s Offense Impact metrics, the Raiders are ranked 31st with an F-grade 57.6% score.
A senior NFL national reporter shared some speculative news on Carroll’s future with the Raiders. According to ESPN, he said, “My sense is that a lot of people are watching Las Vegas for the potential that Pete Carroll is one-and-done with the Raiders. This season has gone quite poorly, and they seem to be positioning themselves for the No. 1 draft pick, so the theory is they might want someone else around to develop that selection if it’s a quarterback.”
It has been another tough season for the Raiders, and considering things have fallen way short of expectations, Carroll’s days with the Raiders seem to be very numbered. Whether or not the Raiders will officially move on from Carroll remains to be seen.
