Latest news with #Pete Carroll
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Do the Raiders have enough talent next to Adam Butler?
Adam Butler is the Las Vegas Raiders' best defensive tackle. That became indisputable following Christian Wilkins' release. With that settled, new head coach Pete Carroll is sorting through a logjam inside while identifying who should play the majority of snaps next to Butler this season. It's not a straightforward discussion. The current expectation is that Jonah Laulu will be a starter. Laulu appeared in all 17 regular-season games for the Raiders last season after being claimed off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts. He totaled 35 tackles, and his 475 snaps meant he was involved on nearly 43% of all defensive plays. Pro Football Focus assigned him a lackluster overall defensive grade of 47.4. Laulu is also attempting to fend off competition from a slew of players. The Raiders didn't feel settled at the position following Wilkins' release. They claimed Keondre Coburn off waivers from the Tennessee Titans, and then traded for Thomas Booker, sending Jakorian Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles. Coburn is more of an early-down run stopper, but he does project to make the 53-man roster. Booker, like Laulu, is an ascending player with some untapped potential. Elsewhere, Leki Fotu, Tonka Hemingway, and JJ Pegues are also competing for roster spots and playing time. Fotu is a six-year veteran who's appeared in 58 career games, signing a one-year contract with the Raiders earlier this offseason. Hemingway is a fourth-round rookie with some inside-outside versatility, though he's listed as a defensive end on the first unofficial depth chart. Zach Carter is listed as Laulu's backup on that depth chart. Carter appeared in eight games for the Raiders last season. Pegues is a rookie sixth-rounder who impressed at Ole Miss in 2024. The Raiders have a lot to sort through at defensive tackle, and the process will begin against the Seattle Seahawks in Thursday's Week 1 preseason opener. This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Raiders training camp: Is there enough talent next to Adam Butler?
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Raiders optimistic Chip Kelly will revive offense and end rotating door at OC
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The fact so many Raiders offensive players have talked up Chip Kelly as their new coordinator is not surprising. It's training camp, after all, and optimism abounds throughout NFL camps. But when someone from the other side of the ball notices what's going on with the new schemes and game plans, that's more of an attention-grabber. 'We really don't know ever what he's about to throw at us, so it keeps us on our toes," defensive tackle Jonah Laulu said. "Then when we attack them, they come back the next day with something new. It's a great formula for success.' Las Vegas is under its fifth offensive coordinator in four years due to a rotating door at head coach. The last time the Raiders had any semblance of stability at OC was when Greg Olson ran the offense from 2018-21. First-year Raiders coach Pete Carroll hired Olson to be the team's quarterbacks coach right after he made the splashy move to bring in Kelly. The 61-year-old Kelly last year was the offensive coordinator of Ohio State's national championship team. He came to national prominence as the innovative head coach at Oregon from 2009-12, leading the Ducks to a 46-7 record and title-game appearance in the 2010 season. Kelly then had a mixed bag of results in NFL stops at Philadelphia and San Francisco and back in college at UCLA before going back to being a play-caller and guiding the Buckeyes' offense. Now he's doing the same in Las Vegas. 'This is such a good group to coach,' Kelly said. 'They want to be coached. They're thirsty for knowledge. When you go into the meeting room, there's a little buzz and there's an excitement. It's not like, 'Oh, God, we're in camp. What we do here?' It's special when you get an opportunity to be on (an) NFL roster, and I think these guys are really taking advantage of it.' Offensive lineman Thayer Munford said Kelly is willing to make changes if something doesn't work, that he isn't stuck trying to force a system onto the players. 'We're not pointing fingers at each other," Munford said. "We're here to bring each other up and push each other forward. Not every team's like this, either. I've been on a couple teams that you point at them, and they get down in the dumps and the next day they go to crap. This coach is different.' Kelly has the demanding task of improving an offense that was fourth worst last season with 303.2 yards per game and last in rushing with a 79.8-yard average. The Raiders traded for veteran quarterback Geno Smith and drafted running back Ashton Jeanty sixth overall to put some much-needed life into the offense. 'I think Chip has done a great job with implementing his style of play,' Smith said. 'We want to be tough, we want to be physical, we want to attack the line of scrimmage. ... We got a lot of great weapons on offense, so he's putting the guys in positions to make plays.' Will Kelly get it done? There is valid reason to believe Las Vegas' offense will be better, but whether it can take a big enough step to actually compete for a playoff spot in an AFC West in which the Raiders' three rivals made the postseason last year is another matter. But no games have been played, so optimism prevails for the Raiders. 'I played (Ohio State) my last college game in the first round of playoffs, and they beat us bad,' said rookie wide receiver Dont'e Thornton, a fourth-round pick from Tennessee. "So being able to play in this offense, I see why they did that.' Smith shines in mock game Smith threw touchdown passes on all four drives he quarterbacked in Saturday's mock game at Allegiant Stadium that the Raiders said drew about 18,000 fans. He completed TD passes of 8 and 11 yards to tight end Brock Bowers, 19 yards to Thornton and 50 to Phillip Dorsett in leading the Raiders' starting offense against their backup defense. Smith also ran for a two-point conversion. Maxx Crosby returned a strip sack of Aidan O'Connell 70 yards for a touchdown. Tom Brady, who owns a minority stake in the Raiders, watched from the sideline. He also attended Friday's practice at the team's Henderson, Nevada, facility. Raiders lose safety to 'significant' injury Safety Lonnie Johnson was carted off with an injury to his lower right leg. 'I don't know all the details, but it's significant,' Carroll said. Johnson has worked mostly with the second team this training camp, but was in the with starters in the mock game as part of a three-safety look. ___ AP NFL:
Associated Press
02-08-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Raiders optimistic Chip Kelly will revive offense and end rotating door at OC
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The fact so many Raiders offensive players have talked up Chip Kelly as their new coordinator is not surprising. It's training camp, after all, and optimism abounds throughout NFL camps. But when someone from the other side of the ball notices what's going on with the new schemes and game plans, that's more of an attention-grabber. 'We really don't know ever what he's about to throw at us, so it keeps us on our toes,' defensive tackle Jonah Laulu said. 'Then when we attack them, they come back the next day with something new. It's a great formula for success.' Las Vegas is under its fifth offensive coordinator in four years due to a rotating door at head coach. The last time the Raiders had any semblance of stability at OC was when Greg Olson ran the offense from 2018-21. First-year Raiders coach Pete Carroll hired Olson to be the team's quarterbacks coach right after he made the splashy move to bring in Kelly. The 61-year-old Kelly last year was the offensive coordinator of Ohio State's national championship team. He came to national prominence as the innovative head coach at Oregon from 2009-12, leading the Ducks to a 46-7 record and title-game appearance in the 2010 season. Kelly then had a mixed bag of results in NFL stops at Philadelphia and San Francisco and back in college at UCLA before going back to being a play-caller and guiding the Buckeyes' offense. Now he's doing the same in Las Vegas. 'This is such a good group to coach,' Kelly said. 'They want to be coached. They're thirsty for knowledge. When you go into the meeting room, there's a little buzz and there's an excitement. It's not like, 'Oh, God, we're in camp. What we do here?' It's special when you get an opportunity to be on (an) NFL roster, and I think these guys are really taking advantage of it.' Offensive lineman Thayer Munford said Kelly is willing to make changes if something doesn't work, that he isn't stuck trying to force a system onto the players. 'We're not pointing fingers at each other,' Munford said. 'We're here to bring each other up and push each other forward. Not every team's like this, either. I've been on a couple teams that you point at them, and they get down in the dumps and the next day they go to crap. This coach is different.' Kelly has the demanding task of improving an offense that was fourth worst last season with 303.2 yards per game and last in rushing with a 79.8-yard average. The Raiders traded for veteran quarterback Geno Smith and drafted running back Ashton Jeanty sixth overall to put some much-needed life into the offense. 'I think Chip has done a great job with implementing his style of play,' Smith said. 'We want to be tough, we want to be physical, we want to attack the line of scrimmage. ... We got a lot of great weapons on offense, so he's putting the guys in positions to make plays.' Will Kelly get it done? There is valid reason to believe Las Vegas' offense will be better, but whether it can take a big enough step to actually compete for a playoff spot in an AFC West in which the Raiders' three rivals made the postseason last year is another matter. But no games have been played, so optimism prevails for the Raiders. 'I played (Ohio State) my last college game in the first round of playoffs, and they beat us bad,' said rookie wide receiver Dont'e Thornton, a fourth-round pick from Tennessee. 'So being able to play in this offense, I see why they did that.' Smith shines in mock game Smith threw touchdown passes on all four drives he quarterbacked in Saturday's mock game at Allegiant Stadium that the Raiders said drew about 18,000 fans. He completed TD passes of 8 and 11 yards to tight end Brock Bowers, 19 yards to Thornton and 50 to Phillip Dorsett in leading the Raiders' starting offense against their backup defense. Smith also ran for a two-point conversion. Maxx Crosby returned a strip sack of Aidan O'Connell 70 yards for a touchdown. Tom Brady, who owns a minority stake in the Raiders, watched from the sideline. He also attended Friday's practice at the team's Henderson, Nevada, facility. Raiders lose safety to 'significant' injury Safety Lonnie Johnson was carted off with an injury to his lower right leg. 'I don't know all the details, but it's significant,' Carroll said. Johnson has worked mostly with the second team this training camp, but was in the with starters in the mock game as part of a three-safety look. ___ AP NFL:
Associated Press
01-08-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Raiders defensive line looks to prove itself after release of Christian Wilkins
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Christian Wilkins' expected impact on the Raiders' defensive line was in question long before he was shockingly released last week, which if nothing else provided clarity on what kind of front Las Vegas can take into the season. Jonah Laulu has showed some promise he could take over Wilkins' spot at tackle next to Adam Butler, who comes off a career season. Maxx Crosby is an elite edge rusher, and Malcolm Koonce on the other side has shown the ability to disrupt opposing passing games. Not that replacing one of the game's top interior linemen will be simple, but the Raiders might be able to absorb such a change reasonably well. 'We're not necessarily the biggest group, but across the board everybody moves really well,' coach Pete Carroll said. 'So we're going to play to that. ... That's a real competitive group, and that's going to take us all camp. It's going to take us through the games and all of that to figure that out. There's no rush. 'But it's a good spot because there's enough guys that have something to show you, so we just got to give them the right opportunities and see if we can draw out the best in them.' Crosby is the group's star, and in practice he has resembled the player who in 2022 and 2023 had 27 sacks and 45 tackles for loss. He played through injury last season in totaling 7 1/2 sacks and 17 tackles for loss over 12 games before finally being shut down to undergo ankle surgery. At the other end, Koonce missed the entire season because of a torn ACL. It was a major setback to a player trying to build on a 2023 season in which had six sacks over the final four games. The Raiders signed him to a one-year, $12 million prove-it contract this season. 'We're counting on Malcolm to be a big factor,' Carroll said. 'He's really athletic and he's really natural player, and he's got good instincts.' Butler and Laulu occupy the two inside spots. The Raiders have a known quantity in Butler, an eight-year veteran coming off back-to-back seasons in which he had five sacks each season. He was especially effective last season, starting a career-high 16 games. Butler didn't start any games in 2023, though he played in all 17. 'You only got one chance to do this,' Butler said. 'I don't get to do my career over again. I changed my attitude, changed my approach to the game, and I just decided that I wasn't going to be just a third down player anymore. I decided that I am a starter. I'm going to prove myself in this league, and anybody that says I'm not, I'm going to do everything in my power to shut them up.' Laulu takes on the burden of being the player expected to step in for Wilkins. The second-year pro played in all 17 games last season, starting seven after Wilkins broke his foot in Week 5. Though Laulu had just three tackles for loss and one sack, he has used the extra snaps in practice this year to make a case for a bigger role, something Carroll said hasn't gone unnoticed. 'Coming in late to training camp, I came here the week before we played Week 1 and was just trying to learn the plays,' Laulu said. 'I was trying to learn our philosophy on the defense, how we operate, and how do we attack offenses. 'Being able to now transition to this year where I'm still under the same coaches on defense and being able to stack on top of last year, I'm very comfortable in the defense, even though we changed some things.' Notes By not holding out, left tackle Kolton Miller doesn't have any catching up to do in training camp after signing a three-year, $66 million extension Wednesday, including $42.5 million guaranteed. 'Each day is an opportunity, and I feel like if you're not in it, you're taking a step back and it's really not helping you,' Miller said. 'So I'm glad this all worked out, and I wouldn't want to do it any other way.' 2024 second-round draft pick Jackson Powers-Johnson came out of minicamp as the expected starting center, but shared the position with third-year pro Jordan Meredith in camp. That is until Thursday when Meredith lined up at center and Powers-Johnson at right guard. ... Jakorian Bennett started seven games at cornerback last season before going out with a shoulder injury, but has mostly been running with the second and third teams. Bennett pointed to not starting in high school until his senior season, going to a junior college and then to Maryland. 'I always feel like the underdog,' Bennett said. 'Not saying I'm an underdog right now, but I always had to get out the mud, and that's nothing I shy away from.' ___ AP NFL:
