There’s an excellent chance the two-win Las Vegas Raiders give the boot to head coach Pete Carroll this offseason (if not sooner), given the whirlwind of tumult and inteptitude surrounding the silver and black over the course of 2025.
Should that happen, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh might easily be on the shortlist of preferred Carroll replacements whom owner Mark Davis would target.
Vegas reportedly targeted Saleh last offseason, and as Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr recently reported, the offer was to make Saleh not only a well-compensated defensive coordinator but also an “heir” to Carroll thereafter.
Saleh ultimately declined that opportunity, opting to return to the Bay Area after his three-plus years as the New York Jets head coach.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas has imploded, recently highlighted by the high-profile firing of another former Niners head coach, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, in the middle of the season. Judging by the directionless motion the Raiders have had all year long, it’d seem Carroll is heading toward a similar fate sooner than later.
But, would that entice Saleh to consider Vegas a serious option?
Robert Saleh should think twice about accepting Raiders’ head-coaching gig
Saleh wants to return to the head-coaching ranks, no doubting that. But, after flaming out in the Big Apple despite all signs suggesting he wasn’t the biggest problem the Jets had, the two-time San Francisco coordinator isn’t going to simply jump at the first available opportunity.
Head coaches rarely get a third chance at said job despite the context in which they had previously been dismissed. Case in point, now-New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels likely never rises any higher than his current role after failed head-coaching stints with both the Denver Broncos and Raiders.
Saleh understands this, and he’s also fully aware of the coaching carousel that has plagued the silver and black for decades. Since 2002, Davis’ franchise has had 12 different head coaches, and that doesn’t even include interims after midseason firings.
That averages out to parting ways with a head coach no more than every two years.
The instability out in Vegas is a factor that should weigh heavily on Saleh’s mind, should the Raiders offer him a chance to take the reins. Even with a lofty and lengthy contract, the undeniable prior history points to whatever potential tenure he’d have there as being disastrous.
And that’d likely lead to a failed final opportunity to be a long-tenured head coach anywhere.