John Spytek was hired before Pete Carroll, who has since been fired. This year’s Raiders HC search — their fourth in the past five offseasons — will be the GM’s first with true involvement. Spytek was not involved in the Carroll hire last year, ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler and Ryan McFadden indicate in an expansive look at the Raiders’ present state of affairs.
The team hired Spytek two days before hiring Carroll last year. This is not uncommon for teams seeking to fill HC and GM positions in one offseason. Ryan Poles technically arrived before Matt Eberflus in 2022, but he was not a key player in that search. Spytek, though, is the point man for the Raiders in-house, as he is running things locally while Tom Brady — who has been involved from afar since being approved as a minority owner in fall 2024 — made “five or six” appearances at the team facility in 2025, Raiders left tackle Kolton Miller estimated.
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Brady did play the lead role in the Raiders firing Tom Telesco and hiring Spytek, his former college teammate who later ended up in the Buccaneers’ front office during the QB legend’s Tampa stopover. Brady later led the Raiders’ pursuit of Ben Johnson and then played the central role in a failed Matthew Stafford recruitment. The 47-year-old QB retiree-turned-FOX analyst was believed to be against a Sam Darnold free agent signing, and he was a key figure in the trade for Geno Smith, per an agent of a Raiders player (via Kahler and McFadden). That certainly appeased Carroll, but the Carroll-Smith reunion backfired quickly.
Brady will continue to carry plenty of say with the Raiders, who are believed to be pursuing an offense-oriented HC to pair with expected No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza. But Spytek will be the one running things from inside, as Brady will continue with his FOX role for a third season in 2026.
“My preparation is very much centered around what I have to do in broadcasting,” Brady said of his Raiders role, via The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. “I love, obviously, having a chance to be involved with the Raiders. To be a former player and have a minority ownership is like a dream come true.
“I couldn’t afford to pay to be a general partner. I did very well in my career. It’s awesome to kind of help shape and strategize and be a visionary for a team. I love being involved in football.”
The Raiders will be expected to move on from Smith, who appears destined to follow Jimmy Garoppolo and Gardner Minshew as Vegas QB acquisitions to last one season. Although Smith signed a two-year, $75MM extension, it will cost the Raiders just $18.5MM in dead money to drop him. That amount would be lessened in the post-June 1 scenario.
Mendoza is the latest QB to rocket to the top sector of the draft with a dominant college season. The Raiders secured the No. 1 overall pick, shelving Brock Bowers and, more controversially, Maxx Crosby (who has since undergone knee surgery for an injury he believed he could play through), for the season’s final two games. One of Mendoza’s Indiana coaches, co-OC/QBs coach Chandler Whitmer is a name to monitor regarding a Raiders role, the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore tweets.
Whitmer, 34, was on all three Brandon Staley Chargers staffs before landing with the Falcons in 2024. He joined the Hoosiers last year, and his role in Mendoza’s Heisman-winning season and the team’s 16-0 national championship season certainly brought a stock boost.
The Raiders, though, still have a head coach to hire before turning their attention to assistants. Brady heavily influenced Chip Kelly‘s move from the college ranks back to the NFL; that would make another college-to-NFL hire draw some scrutiny. The Raiders gave their one-and-done OC a $6MM-per-year deal only to fire him in-season. Kelly is now Northwestern’s OC.