Tom Brady has appointed Pete Carroll as the head coach of Las Vegas Raiders.
The 73-year-old has signed a three-year deal with an option for a fourth season, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Brady was reportedly eager to appoint former Detroit Lions head coach Ben Johnson to the role, but Johnson eventually chose to take over at the Chicago Bears instead.
Carroll has had a year out of coaching in the NFL after departing his role at the Seattle Seahawks but had been working as an advisor at the franchise.
Carroll won the 2013 Super Bowl with the Seahawks – they beat the Denver Broncos 43-8 at MetLife Stadium. It remains the only Super Bowl in their history.
He inherits a team that endured an awful season under his predecessor Antonio Pierce, who was fired by Brady after a 4-13 season in Vegas.
Pete Carroll, a Super Bowl winner with the Seahawks, is back in the NFL with Las Vegas Raiders
Tom Brady has overseen the appointment – he is a minority owner in the AFC West franchise
Carroll and his new team have the sixth pick in the NFL Draft and a lot of work to do to rebuild the roster – with immediate questions over who his quarterback will be.
Carroll will help decide who the Raiders take with that pick with John Spytek, who left his role as assistant general manager at Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be the new Raiders GM this week.
Spytek, 44, replaces Tom Telesco, who was fired after just one year along with coach Antonio Pierce.
Brady, a Raiders minority owner, finished his playing career as the Bucs quarterback and is said to have overseen that appointment as well. He and Spytek were college teammates at Michigan.
The sixth draft pick is a tricky position for the Raiders to plug their quarterback gap, with top two QBs on the board being Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward. Barring a trade up, the Raiders will almost definitely miss out on those two.
Brady’s role as a minority owner in Vegas has been a source of extensive controversy given he also holds a $375million deal to be an NFL analyst for Fox.
Last Saturday, he was calling the Lions game against Washington Commanders having spent the week interviewing the then Lions OC Johnson about leaving for the Raiders.
NBC analyst Mike Florio said Brady’s situation and perceived conflict of interests would not be allowed by his employer.
‘I’ve been with NBC for 15 years now. There is no way in hell NBC would give Tom Brady a microphone when he owns a piece of a team,’ Florio said.
‘They would never do it. They would say, ‘Tom you’ve gotta pick a lane. You cannot do this.’ Fox should have done that.
‘Which explains why, if they’re willing to do it, then they’ll just brush it under the rug, do a word salad, check the box handling of it.’
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