Former NFL coaching legend Bill Parcells once famously said, “you are what your record says you are.”
93 wins, 149 losses.
Since taking over the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders following the passing of his father Al in 2011, Mark Davis has overseen a disaster through terrible hiring decisions, an ill-advised move to Las Vegas that greatly enhanced the valuation of the franchise – and his own bank account – but has stripped the organization of its identity amid “home games” that are more populated by visiting fans than supporters of the Silver & Black.
Sure, this 2025 disaster has others to blame, Pete Carroll was the wrong man for the job and has been horrible, Chip Kelly earned $6 million bucks and was a disaster, calling Geno Smith a major disappointment is the understatement of the year and while first-year GM John Spytek gets a one-year pass (more on that later), Spytek has clearly not been on the same page as the 74-year old Carroll, who came to Vegas looking for a quick rebuild for a team with a roster that needed a complete overhaul.
Behind all of the moves is Davis since he is the guy making the hires while he sits in his luxury suite with his posse watching his team get soundly beaten on a weekly basis in front of supporters of the Raider opponents, something Davis should have seen coming when he announced he would move the team to the Nevada desert.
The Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL were an expansion team that the locals quickly adopted as their own, and they were since it wasn’t a franchise from another team.
The Raiders have not gotten solid footing in Vegas for one, they haven’t been very good outside of one season and two, season-ticket buyers seen dollar signs when they can sell tickets to out of town fans waving buckets of cash to spend a weekend in Vegas and watch some football.
Perhaps Davis thought if he could put a winner on the field, the Raiders would attract some fans, maybe he overstated the number that would travel from Southern and Northern California but either way, it has to embarrass him each and every Sunday at Allegiant Stadium.
To his credit, Davis seems to stay out of the football operations but his hiring has been terrible.
General Managers Reggie McKenzie, Mike Mayock, Dave Ziegler, Champ Kelly, Tom Telesco have all come and gone as has the coaching carousel of Hue Jackson, Dennis Allen, Tony Sparano, Jack Del Rio, Jon Gruden 2.0, Rich Bisaccia, Josh McDaniels, Antonio Pierce and now Carroll who needs to be gone after the season, if not sooner.
Mark Davis Owns the Mess That Has Become the Raiders
The overall theme here is instability and franchises with this history simply don’t win games, which is a bad sign for the Raiders since Mark Davis will never sell the team since he seems to enjoy being “the cool kid in school” with the shiny stadium and leather seats.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk echoed the same sentiment earlier this week.
For this season, an epic disaster that is 2-12 with a road game at Houston and home games against the equally inept Giants and Kansas City to finish up.
Carroll has lost the benefit of the doubt of staying on next year as once the 2025 season spiraled down the drain, his refusal to dress, much less play, a number of rookies in favor of veterans who were underperforming is unforgivable.
Ben Johnson took the Chicago job last offseason because he would rather work with Caleb Williams than, at the time, Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell.
Carroll and Spytek were hired at the same time and brought in Smith from Seattle as Carroll knew him and had success in the past.
Whether it was Kelly’s play calling which lacked any sort of logic most of the time, unsubstantiated reports have indicated he wasn’t allowed to use his own system, or any other reason, Smith was awful much of the season that featured turnover after turnover and pouting on the sidelines and bird-flipping at hometown fans on the way off the field after a Raider loss.
The offensive line has been perhaps the worst in Raider history, and that was before injuries took mainstay Kolton Miller and second-year guy Jackson Powers-Johnson off the field.
Despite looking like a future Pro Bowler at center during his rookie season, Carroll insisted on moving JPJ to guard in the preseason and the move never felt right.
In a season where Carroll fired Kelly, senior offensive assistant Bob Bicknell and special teams coordinator, Tom McMahon, offensive line coach Brennan Carroll (Pete’s son) and assistant quarterbacks coach Nate Carroll (Pete’s son) have managed to stay employed despite their positions being the two biggest issues on the team.
Accountability matters in all walks of life and in a profession where perception is more important than reality, this is a bad look for Papa Carroll.
As for Spytek, he gets a pass since Carroll refused to play the draft picks outside of Jeanty for meaningful minutes so the jury is out on the rookie class.
Bright spots?
Maxx Crosby continues to play with maxx – pun intended – effort while rookie Ashton Jeanty has flashed potential despite being hit on first contact behind the line of scrimmage more times than not and second-year tight end Brock Bowers is still a force despite being injured early in the season.
The Fix?
Not a quick one as that method has failed the Raiders since the 2002 season with just two playoff appearances in 23 years (2016 and 2021).
The team needs a young quarterback that a young offensive minded coach would be willing to work with as the head coach while patching together an offensive line for 2026 with the intent of fortifying in the next few years.
The Raiders have plenty of cap space to bring in free agents and have to use it wisely.
Trading Crosby for multiple picks, a common theme in the media lately, is not wise.
Trading a perennial pro bowler for a few draft picks with hopes that maybe one of them hits and becomes a perennial pro bowler is insane as long as Crosby is on board with another rebuild and continues to be the locker room leader.
Oh, and that new owner who is supposedly the loudest voice in the football ops room?
It would be nice if he could show up on Sunday game days instead of being out of town in a broadcast booth working his part-time job.
Main Image: Jay Biggerstaff – Imagn Images
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