Combine Q&A: Pete Carroll, Raiders HC
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll meets with the assembled media in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine.
COMBINE INTERVIEW: PETE CARROLL, RAIDERS
Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll took to the podium in Indianapolis at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine to meet with the assembled national media. (photo: @TXLoneStarLive)
Coach, you've got some familiar faces down here. Coaching and teaching, obviously, are evolutionary year-to-year. What was this season like for you, being away from the game, and how did you approach preparing for this next opportunity?
This was a really unique season for me, obviously. It wound up being full of grandkids and games. I saw more football games this year than you can imagine. All the high school games, JV, varsity, UW games, and then of course everybody that's playing all over the league and watching all those games. So, it was really a fun off-season, in a sense, that kind of just extended. But it was really rewarding, too, because you have an opportunity to look at a whole different vantage point. And in that, I saw things differently than I've seen them in a long time. So, I'm hoping to take advantage of that. I'm really excited about getting going again.
What's this month been like? It's been about a month since you've been on the job, looking at your team, and kind of finding out about the way that you're going.
It's a really frantic pace to get everything going. Hiring a staff is a great demand. Getting things going with him and all of the stuff for the organization. It's just been a lot. It's been fun as it can be. I'm excited about putting the team together, getting to know the players. A bunch of players are in the building. All of that has just been an ongoing process. It's really kind of a slow time getting here, to tell you the truth.
How much of Chip Kelly's offense were you able to watch at Ohio State and what really intrigued you to bring him in as your offensive coordinator?
Amazing offense. 2,000-yard rushers, 2,000-yard receivers. National championship was the whole thing. It was an incredible viewing throughout the season. I was watching him all year long. I didn't know that we would get a chance to get it done. I didn't know what he was thinking. I've been a fan of his for a long time. We met way back in the Oregon days. We were against him in S-C. At the time when he was setting the pace of the game at a whole different level. It was a really fun relationship. He used to come see us at Seattle. It's been a long-time friendship.
What has been surprising about the team?
I've met a bunch of guys. I like their outlook and their approach. These guys are really, really hungry for obvious reasons. Well, hungry anyway, but they really want to do something special and make something of this time. It might not seem like it, but our careers go really quickly. For these guys that are doing the playing, the sense of urgency is really obvious. We have some highlighted players that I'm excited about. I can talk about this team. The opportunity to see this thing turn is what really challenged me.
Can you mention what surprised you (during his alleged retirement)?
If you remember, I didn't retire. I did that purposely. I wasn't ready to stop coaching. We had a nice agreement up there as we turned this thing around. I was really excited for John Schneider to get his chance to do what he gets to do. In my mind, I was always competing for what was coming up. Maybe the actions I took, because you didn't see me very visibly, I was not making a point to do that. I really wanted to take to the opportunity of being around my family and all of that. Let's stay with the game throughout. There was really not much of a shift. I do know what retirement will be like, though. There's so much. There's so much interaction. It's a chance for me with our coaches. I've met with them all morning until we got in the car to get over here with my defensive staff. We're evaluating players at the same time. Learning about each other, how we see guys, how we interview them and all of that. Putting together this class. Remember, we're also in the midst of free agency with our own players and the players we might have a chance to attract. All of that is just keeping us all going. It's non-stop. It's been great. This is the same process. This is not a different process than the last couple of times I had a shot at it. It does take some time to get your foothold. We've got a lot of philosophy and approach that is unique to the way we do things. It takes some time to get that going. Meanwhile, it's right now. That's the really fun part of it. The urgency is there. It's so obvious. Yet, there's so much teaching and learning that's going on that's really exciting to me. It does take some time. I don't know how long. I'm ready to go right now.
Why was the Raiders job appealing?
The obvious part is it's a historic franchise. In a great city. Similar situation. They haven't won a lot recently. It's a big challenge. A big opportunity to turn things. I feel pretty confident about having an effect as we start a change like this. I have been through it a couple of times. There's an excitement about that in that setting. To get that thing turned around in that division that's so tough, just like ours is now. There was just a lot of really positive things about it. Of course, the quarterback was an exciting part of it. The Trojan background and all that kind of stuff was fun. I really like the people a lot that we got to work with in setting the thing up. The interviews and all of that was a real nice process. That's what we've got.
What did you tell the Cowboys about Brian Schottenheimer?
He is ready. He's been waiting for this opportunity for a number of years. He's been ready for some time. I just told him all of the positive stuff about Brian. The stuff we've been through together and the confidence I had in him. Trying to reassure him. It sounded like he was really in a good position to get that job. I was trying to help Jerry feel good about it, too. He was starting to get ready for it. I was glad I had a chance to help him.
You've been watching Ohio State this past year with Chip. What do you think about the way they've developed receivers and the trend they've had of producing guys?
It's an incredible program. They continue to just fuel that thing with great players. The coach has got it going. He knows how to utilize those good players and make sure they continue to stay on top of things. The fact that he was able to roll Chip in there and out of there that fast and have an immediate impact like he did. That's philosophy and approach and vision for that program that they've been able to maintain. It's really impressive that they continue to do it.
What's some of the perspective that you've learned in watching so much football?
You're playing JV, college, NFL. There's patterns to the game that I saw differently. There's patterns to down-the-distance situations. Whether you're playing JV football or you're playing for the Super Bowl. You can see that occur in games more clearly. Really, a lot of it was the analytic outlook of it. But it was kind of like... Things kind of slowed down a little bit watching it this time around. When you're in the midst of all of these seasons and every week you're just so frantically going about planning for the next game. You don't get the chance to have that perspective and slow your mind down and really take a clear visual look at it. It was a real highlight. I knew it was happening. It wasn't like it happened and I thought about it afterward. I could tell it was happening. I could tell I could see differently. I could feel the rhythms of the game differently. I'm really excited to convey those things that we're looking at differently than I have before. I have a really strong philosophy about how we do things and why we do what we do. But yet, if you're competing then you have to be dynamic enough to continue to grow and expand. I'm really interested to see how that plays out. To your point about obviously a win forever.
You learned something in each stop you've had as a coach. What did you learn with your time in Seattle?
What I did take away, the whole experiment going to Seattle after USC, was to see if we could carry the mentality and the approach to how we dealt with people in the program and people outside of the program, the fans and the following as well, in a similar fashion to see what would happen. What was different between college and what would be different between the NFL. I didn't find any difference at all. I was really thrilled about that. It just supported the mentality. If there's anything that was easy to see, transfer from college to the NFL, it's how you treat people and how you look after them and care for them. You realize that the connection and the interaction that you can have with people can really help them find the best that they have to offer. Throughout all of those years, it's been 20 something years, the same outlook fundamentally. What was really true is how you deal with people and how you treat people. If you treat them well and look after them and care for them, you can help them find what they have to offer. That's something I'm really excited about learning. I really wasn't sure. When I said that when I started up, I didn't know. But I found within a couple of years, and really even in my first year in Seattle, we were able to turn the mentality and the approach. You want a division somehow, and you want a playoff game somehow, and we got going. The rhythms of both SC and Seattle took us a couple of years to be in the thick of it. It didn't take very long. I'm excited about it.
What's the last month been like, you and Jon Spytek, trying to grow as a GM and head coach? Also, what's your shared vision of the Raiders? What does your team look like?
The time I've had with Jon, it really connects with Tom (Brady) as well, because Tom and Jon are very well-connected. To feel the continuity of our competitiveness and our approach now, and how we want to picture this thing coming together, it's just as solid as it could possibly be. I couldn't be more fired up about it, because when Tom talks and when Jon talks and when I talk, we're talking the same language. It's been a seamless start to this thing. I didn't know. I didn't know that until we started hanging out. The relationship between the head coach and the general manager, to me, is the most important relationship in the NFL. It was when Jon Schneider and I started, 14, 15 years ago now. I really treasure this relationship, and I'm going to make it as good as possible. This is Jon and Tom, and their outlook and stuff has made it really easier. It's facilitated. One of the things, too, I might mention, you guys haven't asked yet, but what's really unique about our club now is the ownership shift that's happened. Mark Davis figured out the guys he wanted to put together, starting with Tom and then Egon Durban, and Michael Melvin, and Tom. We've put together a group of guys that are really fricking jacked to do something special. It's so heartwarming to me that we're on the same page and we're going for it. You'll see in the efforts that we're making to put this team together that we're not holding back. There's no timeline that we're going to try to do something good somewhere down the road so we can feel okay about ourselves. We're going for it. It's exactly the way I wanted to do it and hoped that I would have partners in doing so. These guys are really big-time. Hopefully, you'll see, it'll be obvious, but right now there's a great feeling about where we're trying to go and togetherness that we're feeling about that. I'd like a couple of weeks to check in.
How involved is Tom Brady? Day to day, or occasionally?
He's available every day. He's available every day, yet he's got a whole other world he's working on. He consults with us and he's really tuned in to what's happening. Johnny keeps track of him every step of the way. I feel free and comfortable to call him or text him at any time. We're responding regularly. It's been great. It's really hard to imagine. It's hard for anybody to imagine the mentality of Tom when he lives with us on a daily basis. He's as competitive as anybody I've ever been around. Obviously, he's competitive. None of us have ever played any game. He's really clear in his vision that he has for how he would hope to see this go and how he would like to influence it wherever he can. There is no mistake in that at all. I'm proud to represent him the way he sees it, the way he feels about it, and I'm looking forward to making him feel real proud of what he's all about.
On putting the staff together.
I really wanted to see if I could bring some people that have been with me that I could have background with that could help me share the ideas and the concepts that we were going to present. I wanted to get guys that had never been with me before so they had to learn it with us for a couple of reasons. One, I wanted the guys that had been with me to have to teach those guys and to share with them. The third element of it was to get some guys that had been in the program so that they could give us an advantage, a leg up on the continuity that's necessary, knowing the players, knowing the system, knowing the division, all of that. There was really three elements that put it together. Patrick and Robert Leonard were right at the top of the list to get that done. It's working out quite well. Yeah, we're going to be collaborative. We're going to do this thing together. It hasn't been any different in the last 20 years that I've been doing this. To me, I'm using everybody that's around me. They're using me in every way that we possibly can. We're going to work out our decisions. That's to draw the best that we have to offer. That means sometimes you've got to discuss hard and long to get to the point, but you've got to know when to and when not to. I'm excited to be here. John, in his first time doing this job in particular, he doesn't come across like he's never done this before. He comes across like he's been around, he gets it, he has a mentality, he has an approach, an idea of what he's all about. I'm going to make that come to life. I'm going to try to help him in every way I possibly can to be just as fully prepared and ready and balanced when he makes the choices and the decisions that he makes that we share. It's going to be a really good deal.
You're known for your legacy, but a lot of people don't know your commitment to the run game. Why is that so important to you?
Yeah, to me, we get misled by star power in so many different ways and the flashy stuff. In reality, this game has to be played from some fundamental approaches and aspects of it. Whereas the quarterback position gains all of the attention and all of that, the quarterback position needs to be supported in every way possible so that they can be as effective as they're able to be. And that takes a combination of elements that make up the support of the QB. The running game is an element of that, not just so that you can run the football. If anything, like three yards to the cloud of dust, what do you use to do that? You have to be able to run the football so that you can control your aspect of the game and take care of the ball so that the quarterback isn't under duress, he isn't in issues, he's not behind the sticks, he's not behind the game, he's not behind the score because of the way the defense plays, the way the special teams play. And we try to build a team around the quarterback position because, as Coach Walsh said a long time ago, it's the hardest position in professional sports to play. We need to do everything we can to facilitate and make it as easy as possible for that guy. So that's where the running game is so fundamental to it. But if you don't take care of the ball, none of that matters. So it's really the basics and the foundation of this game that comes to life, regardless of what level you're playing at. And that's what I'm saying. I watched all the way through this year. It was so obvious about how the game fits together. And hopefully we'll be able to do everything.
Pete, what did your 15 years in Seattle mean?
They were great years. It's still home to me.
You're keeping your place?
Yeah, still home. I never would have known, had I not been hanging around the area this year, how much of a connection we have made with the community and the people. The fans and the people that I've met running through the airports and in the streets, wherever we're going, have been so gracious. And it's had such an obvious effect on me of how we did relate through the time we were together. And I'm really grateful for that. I'm really grateful for that. I didn't have the idea that there was that much of an exchange. Like I said, even in coming here to the Raiders, my job isn't just the team. It extends beyond that. It extends to our fans. It extends to the people that support us and fill our stadium up and make it hard to play because we're filling every seat and all of that. They're helping us win. So we're all in this thing together. And taking that effort to Seattle, we were rewarded so extraordinarily because of the Twelves and the way that they love their teams. So it was an unforgettable relationship. And I'm never going to lose connection with them. I just don't want to. So I'm going to do everything I can to stay connected as much as possible. Where are they at? You brought a lot of guys from the college level.
How important it is to have coaches on staff with recent college experience?
It's a really good point that you're observing. The guys coming out of college football have a connection with the players, and not just the ones on their own teams, but the players that they've been playing against, the guys they've seen through recruiting. They've known these kids that are playing for years. And so in this draft in particular, it affected us when we started in Seattle. We really hit it in the middle to lower round picks because I think we had better intel than maybe guys that hadn't had that opportunity to connect to college. It's important to me to try to mix that. We've been able to do that. It was going to be a benefit. We work really, really hard, and our guys are talented, and that's what we play.
On the quarterback position.
The quarterback position is going to be highly competitive. If you look back at when we started in Seattle and how we built the competition to find the proper guy that would take over in that job, that was a very intricate, elaborate process. When we saw Russell Wilson run the competition, it was because it was a wide-open competition. It was very well designed and organized, and it worked out fine. However this goes, our guys are all going to take a shot at it. We've got guys on the roster right now that are fighting their tails off to see if they can win that position. They're going to give every chance to you.
Dave Canales is speaking at another podium. When you see guys that you've been with and coaches having success with, how does that feel?
Watching David do it and Danny (Quinn) do it and the guys all over the league doing it. So many guys coaching in so many different settings. It was all part of what was so full of spirit and observation throughout the whole thing.
You got [son] Brennan back with you [as an assistant]. What did he learn at UW last year and then getting him back with you?
They turned that program around and refueled and tooled that one up. They came right in after an extraordinary year that UW had the year before. But they lost everybody. They almost lost the team. To come back as well as they did this time around. Steve Belichick there too, which was really fun to watch. I watched him very carefully. I watched him throughout the year just to keep track of the whole different outlet of ball and all that. It was a very beneficial year. To get BC back in action with us, it's important. The loyalty that is necessary in this job, you've got to have people that will tell you the truth. They'll tell you straight up when you're screwing up. He is going to be that. He's one of those guys. You can't replace that kind of connection. I'm thrilled to have him.
Pete, in your experience, when do trade talks about number one pick or high picks really start to have some credence in this process?
When do they start? When they start to have some meaning. We've got to get closer. We've got to get a lot closer. We're not there yet.
Speaking of a connection like that, Bobby Wagner had a great year in Washington. What do you think of the level of play he's still in?
I thought it was remarkable. In many ways. I know he was a great asset to Danny, putting together the system, the approach, and the principles and stuff. We all kind of grew up in the same ways. The message and the voice that Bobby had on that club, particularly with the quarterback, the relationship that he established, we were very blessed for that. Bobby is a great agent.
Pete, we're at the combine. We measure all these things about players. If there was a combine for head coaches, what would you want to measure to see a great head coach?
A combine for head coaches? I'd probably kick butt at that. That would be interesting. You could take them to all kinds of things. You could find out where they are and if they answer the questions, which they do. Compare the questions about how they're outlooking stuff and the trends and situations that are happening and the situation with football. It'd be fun to have that. If we could make a little competition of it, that'd be great.
Another one of your former players, Russell Wilson, a free agent. How much have you kept up with him since part of Seattle?
You might be surprised how much we all communicate. All the guys from back in the day, we still communicate and watch each other and share stories and the whole thing. It's been really fun to watch our guys. Did you see Marshawn in our press conference? Only 25 minutes. He's getting old.
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