Tim and Terri Farley ask:

"Pete Carroll is a defensive mastermind. Do you anticipate him mentoring a defensive coordinator?"

It's too early to tell who Pete Carroll truly has in mind to be his defensive coordinator, but he certainly has an impressive track record with his former hires.

Two of his former defensive coordinators with the Seattle Seahawks have gone on to be head coaches in the NFL, including former Raiders defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and current Washington Commanders Head Coach Dan Quinn, who just led his team to its first NFC Championship appearance since 1991.

Robert Saleh, Carroll's former defensive quality control coach, also has NFL head coaching experience and was recently hired as the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator. Ed Orgeron, Carroll's assistant head coach and defensive line coach at USC, won a national championship as LSU's head coach in 2019.

"John [Spytek] and I, we're just getting started at it," Carroll said of putting together his coaching staff. "However, we have been talking to some people and we're trying to put this thing together. I'm really looking for people that have been with me, that understand the philosophy to some extent. I want guys that have never been around me before so they have to learn what we're all about and we can watch the process of them learning what we're all about and what we expect, and then I'm hoping that we can maintain some of the terrific coaches that are on the staff, too, so we can have the benefit of the insights that they bring and the continuity that they can generate for us.

"So, it's a combination of people that we're looking for. But it's all going to fall back into the same thing. We want ball people. We want guys that love the game."

Scott Boe asks:

"With John Spytek being a first time GM, what can you tell us about his tendencies with regards to scouting and drafting?"

Another great question as usual from you Scott, and it's something I've looked into extensively.

In his two seasons as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant general manager, the team invested their early draft picks on linemen who have become starters, including Calijah Kancey, Graham Barton, Cody Mauch and YaYa Diaby. Notably, the Buccaneers totaled 114 quarterback hits in 2024, the third-most in the league. Kancey, the 2023 first-rounder, led the team in sacks with 7.5.

It's also worth noting that the Buccaneers drafted Tristian Wirfs with their first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft while Spytek was their director of player personnel. The team went on to win its second Super Bowl title in franchise history that season while Wirfs is now a two-time First-Team All-Pro swing tackle.

"I would not be here without the players on the teams I've been a part of," Spytek said. "The Tristan Wirfs of the world, the Peyton Mannings of the world, the Demaryius Thomases of the world, I could go on and on, Joe Thomas. I've been around truly some of the great players of the last 20 years, and I've gotten to see what it looks like, what greatness looks like, what competitiveness looks like."

The Raiders already have a few solid linemen on the roster with Maxx Crosby and Christian Wilkins on defense and 2024 draft picks Jackson Powers-Johnson and DJ Glaze to protect the quarterback. However, the Raiders new general manager made it clear he'll be in search of more pieces to add.

"We want guys that are going to lay it on the line for the Raiders," Spytek told Raiders.com. "When they strap it up on Sunday or Monday night, you know they're going to give their best. Yes, we want fast, big, explosive players, and we will find those too. But the competitive urgency, the instincts, the natural football skills – those are the best players I've been around."

Tony Verjan from Missouri asks:

"How big of an impact is this offseason going to be toward the offense all around?"

While people have their eyes on how the Raiders will address the quarterback situation, there's many more moving parts than just that.

Going back to the previous question of how Spytek will construct the roster, offensive line play will mean a lot. No matter who the Raiders' signal-caller is in 2025, Spytek and Caroll will have to put together a sound plan to protect him.

Additionally, finding skill position players in free agency and the draft will be vital in creating a complementary offense, especially considering Brock Bowers and Jakobi Meyers accounted for a whooping 43 percent of the team's offensive yardage total for the season.

Needless to say, Carroll knows that it will take a village to improve the offense.

"[T]he quarterback position is one of the positions on the team, and we've got to make it all fit together well," he said during his introductory press conference. "I've had pretty good success with my quarterbacks in the past. You can go all the way back to college days and they've all turned out to be really extraordinary members of our club. There's a way to embrace the challenge that the quarterback has from the rest of the football team, as well. We need to support our guy, and we need to do what we can to make that work. It's really about making a great football team around the quarterback position."