The Las Vegas Raiders made a splash this offseason when they hired Pete Carroll as their new head coach.
Carroll, 73, became the third Super Bowl-winning coach in the AFC West, joining Andy Reid, 66, of the Kansas City Chiefs and Sean Payton, 61, of the Denver Broncos. Jim Harbaugh, 61, of the Los Angeles Chargers has not yet won a title in the NFL, but he did win a national championship at the college level while coaching at Michigan.
Payton had a funny response at the NFL combine when he was asked about Carroll joining the division.
“I’m the youngest,” Payton said. “Thanks, Pete. No, we’ve had so many good games and battles when he was in Seattle. Andy and Jim, sometimes it is a coincidence, but without a doubt, you know your division opponent is going to be extremely well coached. That is just proof in the pudding with all three of those guys.”
The AFC West’s four coaches have reached 20 conference title games and have nine combined Super Bowl appearances. It is perhaps the most impressive division of coaches in the NFL.
“If you went back to the NFC East — and we are just talking about coaches within divisions — but [Joe] Gibbs and [Bill] Parcells and [Tom] Landry — I don’t know who was in Philadelphia at that time and St. Louis because the division was bigger then,” Payton said when asked if the NFL has ever had a division with coaches this successful.
“Certainly, my first year in New Orleans, a couple of my closest coaching friends that I had worked with, we had to find a way to get past [Jon] Gruden in Tampa, [John] Fox was in Carolina and Jim Mora Jr. was in Atlanta. When it comes to your division and you are playing those teams twice, I would rather be looking at someone else rather than Pete right now, but that is a credit to what he has accomplished and a good hire, obviously.”
Payton’s squad went 2-0 against the Raiders last fall, but 3-3 in the division overall. Denver will look to improve on that .500 division record in 2025, but the Raiders adding an accomplished coach in Carroll won’t make the task any easier.
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