PALM BEACH, Fla. — As he took another bite of a large stone crab claw, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis looked at the Atlantic Ocean to his right and smiled.
“I say it every year, this is my favorite time — we are undefeated,” he said Monday.
It is not lost on Davis that, at the NFL’s annual league meeting at The Breakers resort, the Raiders are trotting out their third coach and general manager pairing in three years.
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“I just didn’t get it right,” he said. “That’s all there is to it.”
This time around, Davis thinks he did. He is relying on new right-hand man Tom Brady, the famed quarterback, broadcaster and new minority owner who is calling a lot of the shots from afar. New coach Pete Carroll has a Super Bowl ring of his own and is the wise, friendly face of the franchise while general manager John Spytek is the middle man who will make plenty of calls of his own.
Davis is excited about the triumvirate. The first thing the owner jokingly asked Carroll was if he is going to teach Raiders cornerbacks to hold like the defensive backs did in Seattle.
“I became a fan when the Seahawks started to bully the 49ers,” Davis said. “I loved the Legion of Boom.”
It won’t be an overnight turnaround for the Raiders, and Carroll, Spytek, Brady and Davis are all on the same page right now: Be relevant after a 4-13 season.
The Raiders made a big trade for quarterback Geno Smith, Carroll’s old quarterback with the Seahawks, and were relatively quiet during free agency. They will add a veteran receiver soon, and there is still a draft in three weeks, but the Raiders’ roster still has a lot of holes.
Carroll and Spytek stress competing this season but also acknowledge Year 2 will be a bigger jump. Especially in a loaded AFC West, which had three playoff teams last season and saw one of them — the Denver Broncos — clearly improve in the past month. Davis just wants to see improvement. And a long-term plan.
“You always want to compete, but you have to be honest,” Davis said. “Are we going to win the Super Bowl this year? I don’t know … it’s possible.”
Carroll and Spytek talked up the team’s free-agent pickups on Monday, even though they lost some productive starters in linebacker Robert Spillane, safety Tre’von Moehrig and cornerback Nate Hobbs.
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Many NFL executives and agents at the league meeting questioned the Raiders’ somewhat passive approach after trading a third-round pick for a 34-year-old quarterback. But Carroll said the players the Raiders signed all have an edge.
“We’ve got guys that have the mentality coming in here that they have something to prove,” Carroll said. “I’m always looking for guys who have got a chip on their shoulder, and (safety) Jeremy Chinn is excited about coming to the program. … El-Rob (linebacker Elandon Roberts) is going to be a fantastic addition calling the defenses, and we just locked in (linebacker) Devin White — what a story he’s going to be.
“(Cornerback) Eric Stokes, holy shoot, that guy is exactly the kind of guy I’m looking for in that spot. Signing Isaiah (Pola-Mao) was a really big deal, too. Our safeties are long and fast, our corners are faster. It’s going to be a competitive group. … Can’t wait.”
Besides Pola-Mao, the team also extended defensive end Maxx Crosby’s deal and brought back pass rusher Malcolm Koonce and defensive tackle Adam Butler.
“Getting Maxx signed (and then) getting Geno was a step to make it clear we’re not sitting around and waiting to see what happens and hope things will turn out,” Carroll said. “We’re gonna proactively go after it. … And that is what creates your culture: Making statements of who you are on a regular basis, what you stand for on a regular basis.”
Adding a top-15 quarterback like Smith is a huge move considering how bad Jimmy Garoppolo and Gardner Minshew were the last two seasons, respectively. But even Spytek acknowledged Monday that while other bad teams like the New England Patriots went for it during free agency, the Raiders at some point pivoted to picking up compensatory draft picks for the players that they lost. Spytek said the Raiders think they will either get a third-, fourth- and fifth-round pick for the free agents they lost, or possibly two fourths and a fifth. (The formula is based on salary, playing time and postseason honors.)
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“We just try to be intelligently aggressive, and I know we’re not gonna make everybody happy with that approach,” Spytek said. “We lost some good players — when you get to free agency, you’re always gonna lose good players.”
While the Raiders need a running back, a receiver or two, a tackle, a linebacker, a slot cornerback, another cornerback and a safety, they do have some very good players. There’s Crosby, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins (assuming he gets through the final stages of his rehab from foot surgery), left tackle Kolton Miller and receiver Jakobi Meyers. And, of course, there is record-setting tight end Brock Bowers, who answers the question of who is the Raiders’ No. 1 receiver.
“Brock kind of functions to me like a legit number one,” Spytek said. “I mean, he’s just different. And I know he’s not the speed guy down the field and all that, but he’s a problem.”
Tom Brady might not be with the Raiders day-to-day, but he’ll be in the draft room and is always a phone call away. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)
And we can’t forget the Raiders’ biggest acquisition in Davis’ mind — Brady. Davis thinks he is the missing piece the team has lacked since Jon Gruden resigned in 2021. Brady is not currently as actively involved as he was when the Raiders picked a GM, coach and quarterback (he was unable to land Matthew Stafford and was not a Sam Darnold guy), but he is expected to be in the draft room on April 24 and is reachable until then.
“There’s very few resources I can come up with in my mind that’s better than having Tom Brady around a phone call away,” Spytek said. “The way that he manages and leads is something I’ve always had immense respect for, going back to Michigan.”
They were college teammates then and are teammates again.
Davis said he is enjoying watching them work together, along with Carroll, and plans to remain in the back seat on this latest trip that’s mapped out towards respectability.
“For me, it’s giving them the ability to do what they want to do,” Davis said. “I’ll grill them and everything, play devil’s advocate the whole time, and just make sure.”
(Top photo of John Spytek, Mark Davis and Pete Carroll: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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