Pete Carroll Puts Raiders Players on Notice After Christian Wilkins Release

In one of the most surprising moves of the offseason, the Las Vegas Raiders decided to outright cut defensive tackle Christian Wilkins a year after giving him a four-year, $110 million contract. To make matters even more surprising, the team voided the rest of his guaranteed money.

Wilkins has appealed to the NFLPA, and now the Raiders are going to have to deal with a prolonged legal battle. On the field, the decision has been made; Wilkins is not playing for the Raiders this season.

Las Vegas clearly wasn’t happy with how he approached his rehab process, and the team put out a statement saying they had no path forward with Wilkins. Head coach Pete Carroll had a chance to speak to the media for the first time since the release and suggested the same thing.

“It took a long time to make our decision,” Carroll told reporters. “I think there was no clear path to his return. So, we just had to move on.”

If the Raiders are able to avoid paying the guaranteed money that Wilkins is owed, then it’s hard to fault them for making this move, but it would be a tough pill to swallow if the team is essentially paying a top defensive tackle to play for another team.

Raiders Sent a Message

With this Wilkins move, Carroll has made it clear that no player is safe if they aren’t fitting in with the culture he is setting. While there’s no word on any other players causing issues, Carroll is hoping that a message has been sent to the team.

“I hope so, yeah,” Carroll said when asked if he thinks the team sent a message. “We have extremely high expectations. I don’t even know any other way to think. … You’re either going for it or you’re not, and we’re going for it. Whatever that means at the end of it, we’ll find out. But, in the meantime, there is no standard that we can set high enough that we can’t challenge for. …

“These guys are onboard. They get it.”

Carroll has adapted to the new game, but he’s an old-school coach deep down and can be cutthroat when he needs to.

Wilkins Didn’t Want Second Surgery

Wilkins’ foot injury from last season shouldn’t have kept him out this long. However, there was some kind of setback, and the Raiders wanted him to get another surgery this offseason.

According to The Athletic’s Tashan Reed, Wilkins refused, and that’s how we got here.

“Before the start of OTAs, however, the Raiders determined that Wilkins’ foot would need a second procedure to heal correctly,” Reed wrote. “That was disappointing news, but there would still be plenty of time for him to recover and play in 2025.

“There was just one issue: Wilkins didn’t want to get the surgery, according to league sources.”

Wilkins didn’t have an extensive injury history before coming to the Raiders, so it would’ve been difficult to see this coming. That said, the contract they gave him last year looks very bad in hindsight.