One of the great rivalries in recent NFL history could soon be rekindled in the AFC West, and we would all have Tom Brady to thank. The old NFC West rivalry between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers could soon be back in the NFL thanks to Tom Brady, who has a minority ownership stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders are in the midst of a head coaching search and one of the candidates for the job to repalce Antonio Pierce is longtime Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll. Carroll was one of the best head coaches in the NFL for a very long time before stepping down at the end of the 2023 season and some of the best chess matches he ever had was back when Jim Harbaugh roamed the sidelines as the San Francisco 49ers head coach.
The duels between Carroll and Harbaugh were outstanding and they have a 6-6 record against each other as head coaches in the NFL, but I don't think anyone thought we'd ever see them coaching against each other again.
But Carroll is getting an official interview with the Raiders next week.
Raiders, Tom Brady might be eyeing Pete Carroll as their next head coach
Pete Carroll returning to the NFL would be one of the great storylines of the 2025 offseason. The AFC West is absolutely loaded in the coaching department with Andy Reid at the helm of the Chiefs, Harbaugh at the helm of the Los Angeles Chargers, and Sean Payton at the helm of the Denver Broncos.
All three of those teams, unsurprisingly, made it to the playoffs this season and are set up extremely well for the future.
The Raiders need a splash move like Pete Carroll, and while there are a number of reasons to believe they could seal the deal and hire him, one particular reason stands out among the rest.
The Raiders not only fired head coach Antonio Pierce, but they fired general manager Tom Telesco as well. Considering how strong the Raiders' 2024 NFL Draft class was, the firing of Telesco came as a slight shock to some. And it could be indicative that the conversations Tom Brady and Mark Davis are having with candidates behind closed doors involve some candidates wanting complete roster control.
There are only a few candidates out there with that kind of clout. And while most head coaches do work with a GM, not many coaches in the NFL get de facto GM status. Pete Carroll would likely be one of those guys, or he would at least prefer to bring his own general manager on board.
You can argue that the Raiders would be putting the cart before the horse, but the news about this stuff comes out slower than things are happening behind the scenes.
And if Carroll joins the Raiders in the AFC West, we would have some outstanding coaching matchups all around but to see the duo of Harbaugh and Carroll on opposite sidelines again? Well, that would be cathartic for many NFL fans.