The return of legendary head coach Peter Carroll has not gone over as well as anyone had hoped. The Las Vegas Raiders are currently 1-4 and Geno Smith leads the league with nine interceptions. Though there is plenty of football left to play, there is a major flaw holding the team back.
Carroll has plenty of confidence in Smith, as the pair worked with one another on the Seattle Seahawks. That could be a big reason why there may not be any movement on letting Kenny Pickett start over Smith.
Smith is a capable quarterback, but he is not playing up to the expectations everyone had for him either. Still, he has shown he can play through adversity.
Smith, having nine interceptions, isn’t even the Raiders’ biggest issue. The issue at hand happens to be the conflicting ideas behind the team waiting to improve the roster through the draft and Carroll acting in a “win-now” type of way.
That flaw was dissected by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano during a report on the state of the league heading into Week 6.
“The Raiders are operating in a weird space between rebuilding and trying to win now, and those two worlds appear in conflict. New general manager John Spytek took over a deficient roster and believes in building through the draft. That takes time. But Carroll, 74, was essentially a win-now hire. He doesn’t have the personnel to do that in Year 1 of this regime. The roster is lacking premier players — save for Bowers and edge rusher Maxx Crosby — particularly on defense,” Fowler said.
It is a bit strange to perceive Carroll as being in a “win now” type of mentality when he signed a three-year deal with the Raiders, which also includes a fourth-year option. It could be his coaching prowess that many believed would lead to instant success, but Las Vegas needs far more skill players.
The biggest concern here would be what to do if Smith continues to turn the ball over.
“What’s interesting to me is that the contract Smith signed with the Raiders after the trade doesn’t really tie them to him beyond this year. He has an $18.5 million salary guarantee for 2026, after making $40 million this year. If the Raiders cut him after this season, they’d have paid him $58.5 million for one (presumably disappointing) year. That’s a lot, but as Jeremy said, this team wants to win soon. If absorbing $18.5 million in dead money next year to move on helps them do that, I doubt it would stand in the Raiders’ way,” Graziano said.
The Raiders might be trying to win now with Smith under center, but they could also choose to move on from him in 2026 to help right the ship under a hopeful franchise quarterback.
Las Vegas is currently sitting at No. 6 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, per Tankathon. That is a prime position to land many of the top quarterback prospects coming out of college next year. Though there may be some conflicting ideologies with the Raiders currently, they simply need to bide their time and hit big in next year’s draft.
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