There was plenty of drama during Pete Carroll’s lone season with the Las Vegas Raiders, but the first sign that things were weird was how the team was treating Jackson Powers-Johnson. The 2024 second-round pick showed major potential as a rookie at center, but instead of playing him there, the team moved him to guard.
That wasn’t too controversial, as many believed he was better at guard. However, what raised a lot of eyebrows was how the Raiders had him competing with Alex Cappa for snaps.
Cappa was borderline unplayable when he was on the field, so it didn’t make any sense that Powers-Johnson was losing snaps to him. What made it more perplexing was that nobody else on the offensive line seemed to be getting treated as harshly by the coaching staff, despite all of them struggling.
ESPN’s Ryan McFadden and Kalyn Kahler dropped a lengthy report about Carroll’s season with the Raiders, and they had an interesting nugget about Powers-Johnson.
“An executive for another NFL club said his team was interested in trading for Powers-Johnson, a second-year player who was drafted by the previous regime,” Kahler and McFadden wrote. “He wondered why the Raiders coaching staff wasn’t playing the young player with potential at center and had moved him to guard. When his club’s trade efforts were rejected, the executive said it was clear to him that Vegas’ coaching staff and front office were on different pages.”
“Spytek knows that he has a pretty young, talented interior lineman,” the executive told ESPN. “They are not where they want to be in that position group, but they didn’t come close to maximizing it. They actually have some good young players, and they should have been more functional.”
Why Did Raiders Pick on Powers-Johnson?
While this report sheds light on the Raiders coaching staff and front office being out of sync on Powers-Johnson, it doesn’t explain exactly why. On the surface, he’s everything a coach like Carroll would want from an interior offensive lineman.
He’s physical, he’s mean and plays with a ton of passion. He’s an old-school type of player. Perhaps Carroll didn’t like that Powers-Johnson anointed himself the starting center without earning the job. If a 74-year-old coach is resorting to that kind of petty mindset, then the Raiders certainly made the right decision to fire him.
It also could’ve been that offensive line coach Brennan Carroll, who is Pete Carroll’s son, didn’t like him. Regardless, there’s no reason he shouldn’t have been a consistent starter from Week 1 before he got hurt.
Agent Suggests Brennan Carroll Wasn’t Teaching Players
Brennan Carroll was the target of much ire from the fan base this season. The Raiders’ offensive line wasn’t great last season, but they somehow got worse in 2025. One agent suggested that Carroll wasn’t paying attention to the details.
“The agent also said his client said that Brennan Carroll rushed players through individual drills at practice and didn’t teach them what they were trying to achieve in specific drills,” Kahler and McFadden wrote.
Pete Carroll made a lot of mistakes this year, but relying on his son to coach the offensive line and then not holding him accountable might have been the biggest one.
Revealing Jackson Powers-Johnson Rumor Leaks After Pete Carroll Firing