Pete Carroll returns to NFL as Las Vegas Raiders coach, per report

A year after being let go as Seattle Seahawks head coach, Pete Carroll is reportedly returning to the NFL sidelines with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Carroll has agreed to a three-year contract to become the new head coach of the Raiders with a fourth year team option, according to ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter. The news broke Friday morning.

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As was the case during Carroll’s last season with the Seahawks in 2023, the now 73-year-old Carroll becomes the oldest coach in the league. In fact, he will be the first person in league history to be a head coach at the age of 74 after his birthday in September.

After taking a one-year break from coaching, Carroll was in the mix with three teams this coaching cycle. He had a formal interview earlier this month with the Chicago Bears, who hired Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson this week, and it was reported Thursday that he also had an informal interview with Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones.

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It was also reported this week that the San Francisco 49ers were considering Carroll as an option to be their defensive coordinator.

After Carroll was removed as Seahawks head coach last winter, he moved into an advisory role for the franchise. But ESPN Seahawks reporter Brady Henderson explained earlier this month that his “understanding” is that Carroll was no longer under contract with the Seahawks, eliminating a possible hurdle to Carroll landing a new job, which is that a trade may have been needed to be arranged with Seattle to hire him.

The Raiders will be the fourth NFL team to have Carroll as head coach. Prior to his time at USC and with the Seahawks, he had stints as New England Patriots and New York Jets head coach.

The Seahawks and Raiders are slated to play each other in the 2026 season.

Good for @PeteCarroll

The NFL & football is better with him a part of it

He would tell @TheMikeSalk & me so often how much he loved the Raiders growing up in the Bay Area. Now, he gets to lead em.

— Brock Huard (@BrockHuard) January 24, 2025

The state of the Raiders

Carroll joins a team that’s partly owned by Tom Brady, who beat Carroll and the Seahawks in the Super Bowl 10 years ago. Brady watched from the sideline as Malcom Butler picked off Russell Wilson’s pass at the goal line to seal the victory for the New England Patriots.

Brady is believed to have a major hand in the hiring process for this job and the general manager spot, which was filled by Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek on Wednesday. The club, however, has not announced Spytek’s hire. Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, finished his career with the Bucs.

By joining the Raiders, Carroll will renew a rivalry with Jim Harbaugh as Vegas and Harbaugh’s Los Angeles Chargers both play in the AFC West. Previously, the two clashed when Carroll was at USC and Harbaugh was at Stanford, and then when Carroll coached the Seahawks and Harbaugh led the 49ers.

Vegas went 4-13 in 2024, which was its third straight losing season. The Raiders fired coach Antonio Pierce after going 4-13 in his first full season. Pierce was 5-4 as an interim coach in 2023 after replacing Josh McDaniels.

Carroll becomes the Raiders’ 14th head coach since Jon Gruden was traded to Tampa Bay in 2002.

The once-proud organization with three Super Bowl trophies and the motto “Commitment to Excellence” has appeared in just two playoffs since making the championship game in the 2002 season. The Raiders lost in the wild-card round in both years.

Carroll has the demanding job of trying to revive an organization in an AFC West loaded with proven coaches and quarterbacks who appear to be in place for years to come. It will become the first division to open a season in which each head coach has appeared in a Super Bowl.

One of his chief challenges will be what to do at quarterback in a division that includes the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, the Chargers’ Justin Herbert and the Broncos’ Bo Nix. Mahomes is pursuing his fourth Super Bowl title and third in a row. Herbert is considered a potentially top-level QB and Nix just completed a largely successful rookie season.

The Raiders pick sixth in the draft this year and likely won’t be in position to take one of the top two QBs — Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward — barring a trade. The free-agent market doesn’t appear robust, so the Raiders’ options might be limited and could return to Aidan O’Connell as the starter.

If the Raiders are unable to make a major move at quarterback, they will have nearly $100 million in salary-cap space, according to Over The Cap, to bolster the rest of the roster.

History of Pete Carroll

Carroll is the most successful coach in Seahawks history, having led the team to a combined 187-89-1 record with two Super Bowl appearances and the franchise’s only championship over 14 seasons.

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Seattle removed Carroll from the head coach position following a 9-7 finish in 2023, which marked the second time in three years that the Seahawks missed the playoffs. Seattle went 10-7 but again missed the playoffs under first-year head coach Mike Macdonald this season.

Carroll began his NFL head coaching career with the New York Jets in 1994, going 6-10. He was 27-21 in three seasons with the Patriots from 1997-99 and joined Seattle in 2010 after nine seasons at USC. He led the 2004 Trojans to a national championship and also the 2003 AP national championship.

Overall, Carroll is 170-120-1 in the NFL. He will become the third coach since 1940 to lead at least four teams, joining Bill Parcells and Marty Schottenheimer.

Both Carroll and former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who is 72, were let go from their longtime posts within days of each other at the end of the 2023 season. Belichick recently returned to the coaching ranks by taking over the University of North Carolina program, and Carroll now joins him in coaching again after a year off. Belichick replaced Carroll as Patriots coach in 2000.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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