Out goes Tom McMahon. And up steps Derius Swinton II to fill his shoes as interim Las Vegas Raiders special teams coordinator.
McMahon’s dismissal last week was, of course, warranted. The Silver & Black special teams group — normally insulated from the disarray besieged upon the offense and defense — joined in the fray of incompetence this season.
As a holdover from the Josh McDaniels staff in 2022, McMahon’s unit has been on the receiving end of lowlights to the opposition’s highlights. From blocked field goals to punts, to whiffed kicks, tackles, and getting torched by return men, special teams is in the “all three phases of the game are awful club”.
“Yeah, I thought we needed a change. And I love Tom,” Las Vegas head coach Pete Carroll said when asked about the former special teams boss this past Monday. “He’s a great dude, and he’s done a great job for us. He’s a career ball coach, but I thought we just needed a change, and part of that is that I want to see what Derius does with it and see how he handles it. I mean, he’s done it before. He’s been in this situation before, he’s been a teams guy before, and he’s very well-versed. But I think it was time for a change there, and that’s why we did that.”
“Yeah, he’s very good communicator, very active on the field, hands on type of coach, really skilled in scheme,” Carroll added regarding Swinton. “There’s not time to change a bunch of our scheme at this point, but it’s to emphasize and focus on things that we think we needed to get better. And so, I’m hoping that the voice change will help us in that regard.”
Kicker Daniel Carlson had a stellar 2022 campaign making first-team All Pro but since, his accuracy has waned going from 91.9 percent, to 86.7, 85.0, and 75 percent his season under McMahon. Punter AJ Cole III has seen two of his punts get swatted by free rushers, matching the 2024 total of two blocked punts. And due to the coverage units inability to tackle properly and lack of lane discipline, the two-time first-team All Pro punter (2021 and 2023) has a career-low net yards per punt average (this includes return and touchback yardage along with blocked punts) of 37.5 yarders per boot.
Thus Swinton’s priorities as the special teams skipper: Help get Carlson out of his funk/slump, improved tackling and lane discipline on kickoff and punt coverage, and focus on fundamentals in field goal and punt protection.
Just For Kicks
Carlson is 12 of 16 on the year and his latest miss — a game-tying 48-yard field goal against the Denver Broncos last Thursday night — highlights a scattershot 2025 campaign which is similar to his 2019 season (19 of 26; 73.1 percent). This isn’t the kind of year the 30-year-old Auburn product wants, especially as he’s in a lame duck year in terms his contract as he hits unrestricted free agency sans a new deal in Las Vegas.
“Well, he’s trying to get right,” Carrol noted about Carlson. “He wants to do right by his team, and he wants to get clear, and he’s well-versed on the mentality of how you do that, the preparation and the practice to get your mind clear so that you can perform like you’re capable. And when they stack up on you after some time, you have to deal with it directly. So, we’re addressing that right now.”
The Raiders hedge their bet on Carlson by inking veteran kicker Greg Joseph to the practice squad. The 31-year-old being added to the roster is a peculiar one in this regard: He’s just as sporadic as Carlson. Joseph has a career 82.3 field goal percent while Carlson sports a 86.7 percent career mark.
To get granular, Joseph is worse from long range than Carlson. Joseph is 27 0f 38 (71 percent) from distances of 40 to 49 yards and 17 of 30 (56.6 percent) from 50-plus yards out. Carlson, in comparison) is 50 of 65 (76.9 percent) on field goals 40 to 49 yards and 35 of 49 (71.4 percent) from 50-plus yards away.
The free agency pool at kicker is very shallow and the Raiders did have John Parker Romo (career 34 of 40, 84.6 percent) in for a tryout, but opted for Joseph.
Stone Cole-d
Cole continues to show off his big and accurate leg — when given ample protection to do so. So Swinton and assistant special teams coordinator Kade Rannings don’t have to mess with the punter. What they do need to do is square up the coverage units. And perhaps, develop a rush that can get to the opposing punter.
Cole’s ability to pin the opposition inside the five-yard line is a boon and if Swinton can get a rusher free, the Raiders could turn the blocked punt tables on the opposition.
“AJ’s game was almost perfect, beautiful game, and under those conditions, with the weather, you saw how it affected their punter, Carrol explained. He came through in a magnificent way, which set up the opportunities for the defense to really take advantage of it. And they did. So, we were really fitting together in real positive ways. Missing a kick and getting a punt blocked, they can make a difference in the game, and look how close this game was. That’s how it was. I think they scored after the punt block, and we missed our three points there. So, huge factors, and hopefully we can get rid of those.”
But ensuring gunners on punt coverage and the entire kickoff group are locked in, disciplined, and exhibiting proper wrap up tackling technique will determine Swinton’s long-term trajectory as a true special teams coordinator or merely an assistant.
The only thing harder than Swinton’s job as interim boss: Finding a picture of the special teams coach for this piece.
