Chargers, Jim Harbaugh won’t worry about Pete Carroll’s Raiders yet for key reason

The Las Vegas Raiders adding head coach Pete Carroll to an AFC West that already includes Andy Reid with the Kansas City Chiefs and Sean Payton with the Denver Broncos is a dominant conversation right now.

But Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers don’t need to worry about Carroll and the Raiders nearly as much as the hype makes it seem.

One key reason sticks out above the rest, too—quarterback.

Yes, Carroll will bring a baseline competency to the Raiders orgnaization that it hasn’t enjoyed since, well...for some time. His teams will play hard and represent a pesky hurdle on the schedule but also struggle to make an overall dent in a stacked AFC, especially when they, too, have to play the rest of the AFC West six times per year.

But that quarterback room in Las Vegas is a disaster. Aidan O’Connell, Gardner Minshew and Desmond Ridder aren’t making an impact.

The most popular idea already? Carroll reuniting with Russell Wilson, the 36-year-old passer who just threw for 16 touchdowns in 11 games with Pittsburgh. He’d be throwing to, besides breakout rookie tight end Brock Bowers…Jakobi Meyers.

Carroll’s Raiders do pick sixth in the upcoming draft and could make quarterback a priority there. But it’s a weak-looking class and sitting just outside the top five is a tricky place to be when hoping to find a new franchise passer.

At the end of the day, Carroll has breathed new life into the head-coaching conversation in the AFC West. But the chances the Raiders catch up to Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert and even Bo Nix aren’t all that great while a 73-year-old coach gives it another go.

Wilder things have happened in the NFL, of course, so this could look terrible in hindsight. But this is a long way of saying that three of the four teams in the AFC West have figured out the most important position in all of sports with proven stars.

The Raiders have not, and until they potentially do, it’s going to be hard for the on-field threat they present to the Chargers and others to actually match the offseason hype.

Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh — Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

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