The Las Vegas Raiders brought in Pete Carroll to serve as their new head coach, and he already has his imprint on the organization.
Carroll spent the 2024 season away from the NFL, but returns for the 2025 campaign, where he hopes to lead Las Vegas back to the postseason. He and general manager John Spytek represent the franchise’s new regime, and the two have already looked to reimagine the roster in their image.
The Raiders have added numerous new faces via free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft and have been busy over the past few weeks integrating players back onto the field during OTAs. This is a valuable time for Carroll and his staff as they get familiar with their team ahead of training camp in July.
When breaking down his evaluations from training camp, Carroll named Laki Tasi as his favorite player to watch via Levi Dombro of Athlon Sports:
“My favorite guy out there to watch is Laki Tasi,” Carroll admitted. “He knows nothing about football when he walks in the door, and he’s made tremendous progress. He’s enormous, he’s the biggest guy you ever saw, and I think he weighed in at weigh-ins the other day (at) 369 (pounds).”
Carroll added that Las Vegas knows he’s a project and they’re focused on getting him up to speed at a rate that makes sense for him:
“He’s learning, we got to keep an eye on him, it’s an exciting process,” Carroll said. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but he’s starting from ground zero and he’s made a lot of progress so far.”
Tasi joined the Raiders as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway program, so he won’t count toward the final roster number. This allows Tasi to learn the professional game behind the scenes, and he has a lot to work through as he is originally a rugby player.
IPP is a fantastic way for the NFL to grow the game of football overseas, and players like Tasi could ultimately become valuable contributors. Las Vegas has already moved him from defensive line to offensive guard, so it’ll be worth monitoring his progress this upcoming year.
Maxx Crosby says Pete Carroll is making Raiders practices fun
Maxx Crosby has experienced a lot of losing during his time in Las Vegas, but this offseason, the star pass rusher noted that Pete Carroll has brought a different energy to practices and is making them fun in the process.
