The Las Vegas Raiders have a clarity problem that runs throughout their organization, and it’s causing all sorts of chaos. The Raiders 2-10 record is the biggest and most obvious problem, but there are also issues with the team’s future directions.
Coach Pete Carroll is still trying to win games, which is understandable given that Carroll is also trying to hang onto his job.But GM John Spytek was hired in large part to build the Raiders via the draft, and Carroll’s insistence on “getting after it” and going for wins is making it hard to evaluate the current draft picks chosen by Spytek.
We already know about the issues facing running back Ashton Jeanty. He’s struggled to find holes playing behind a battered offensive line, and that’s not going to change until the Raiders get healthy and bring in some reinforcements.
Receiver Jack Bech is another player to watch. The wide receiver from TCU is a second-round Spytek pick who should be getting playing time right now, but Carroll is so focused on picking up a few meaningless wins that he’s relying on receiver Tyler Lockett, a receiver he knows from his Seattle time whose best days are clearly behind him.
There are others who should be getting more playing time, and som are. They’re getting battle tested in the worst conditions possible, and that may end up serving them down the road, although it’s hard to see how that’s going to happen without the coaching change that’s all but pro forma right now.
If you spend time on the Raiders fan sites, you’ll get a snapshot that then some from a fan base that’s very unhappy about all this. They want to see the younger players getting wholesale playing time, but that’s not currently happening, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to any time soon, either.
Clearly, it’s time for owner Mark Davis to step in and provide some of that much-needed clarity. Things aren’t getting better under Carroll’s leadership, and that winning culture he talked about being brought in to establish hasn’t materialized, either.
Davis needs to pick a lane here. Hold Carroll’s feet to the fire, and make him provide a coherent explanation of how this winning is going to occur with just cosmetic changes in the coaching staff. Either that or let Spytek’s draft picks get some playing time, especially since the wins aren’t going to come this year regardless of what happens.