The Las Vegas Raiders suffered yet another tough loss on Thursday night, falling to the Denver Broncos 10-7 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. The Raiders didn’t have a great showing on the field, including in the special teams’ area.
Because of this, the Raiders decided to make a move on Friday.
What Move Did Las Vegas Raiders Make On Friday?
Raiders head coach Pete Carroll fired special teams coordinator Tom McMahon.
Las Vegas issued a statement from Carroll on McMahon’s status, which was posted on X on the team’s main account.
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) November 7, 2025
“Earlier today, we made the tough decision to relieve Tom McMahon of his duties as special teams coordinator,” the team’s statement from Carroll read. “I have a great amount of respect for Tom and the work that he has done in this league, but we have decided to move in a different direction.
“Derius Swinton II will assume special teams coordinator duties on an interim basis and we are excited to attack the second half of this season with outstanding intent and purpose,” Carroll wrote. “We are grateful for Tom and his work here with the Raiders and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
For more context behind this move, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport shared some data on Friday. “How different would the #Raiders season be with better special teams play?” Rapoport wrote. “Blocked FG vs the #Bears. Missed PAT against the #Jaguars. Blocked punt and missed FG against the #Broncos.”
Also, Carroll and McMahon had a clash of opinions on the Raiders sidelines on Thursday night. After those on-the-field results on Thursday night and the back-and-forth between both coaches, Carroll must have decided it was time for a change.
Better special teams play might have helped the Raiders offense in some ways. According to the PFSN NFL Offense Impact metrics, the Raiders have a 64.3 Offense Impact Score and grade out to a D. Raiders starting quarterback Geno Smith gutted it out in the loss to Denver, getting knocked around by the Broncos’ defense pretty much all night long.
It didn’t help on Thursday night when kicker Daniel Carlson missed a field goal attempt that went wide right. Las Vegas was trying to get back into the game, but never could attain full control against Denver at all.
With the changes in the special teams’ leadership, Carroll hopes all of these miscues and missteps will come to an end ASAP.