Re-Pete after me: This will be fun

I am surprised that the Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll for two primary reasons:

1. Tom Brady is now part of that ownership group. It seems like he’s an influential part of that ownership group, and as an announcer, I thought Brady leaned into the idea that he was a demanding and occasionally prickly competitor. Brady went out of his way to take exception to what were fairly benign comment from Baker Mayfield about Bucs players being stressed out by Brady’s expectations. He sounded more like the coach he played for (Bill Belichick) than the one his team just hired.

2. I thought Carroll’s best chance at a head-coaching gig would come with a team that felt it had assembled enough talent to be a successful team, but needed a guy to get everyone rowing the same direction. Chicago made more sense to me. I don’t know if Caleb Williams can be a winning quarterback in the NFL, but he’s got a shot which is not something you can say for anyone on Las Vegas’s roster. When the Bears went with big-brained Ben Johnson, I thought Pete’s chance of returning to the NFL this season went with it. Nope.

I am very excited to see what Carroll does in Las Vegas, and given what he’s done for the last two teams that hired him, I believe it would be foolish of anyone to dismiss the possibility that he will be thunderously successful.

I’ve got a couple of more thoughts on what Carroll’s hiring means – including the reason I don’t see him reuniting with Russell Wilson – but first a word from our Huskies podcast:

Do you remember Isaiah Stewart? It’s OK if you don’t. 

He was a Husky for about 5 mintues back in the 2019-20 season. He wasn’t bad in his one and only season in college basketball. Not at all. He averaged 15 points and seven rebounds. It’s just that the team was awful despite the presence of Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, both of whom were highly regarded recruits. Washington went 5-13 in conference play in what was a sign of things to come under Mike Hopkins.

Well, Stewart went on to be chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft by Detroit where he has established himself as something the NBA has largely legislated out of the game: physical enforcer. Stewart’s really wanted to fight Lebron James after getting elbowed a few years back and he also punched Drew Eubanks after a morning shootaround. The latter incident actually resulted in Stewart getting arrested.

Well, Stewart mixed it up in a more humorous manner earlier this month. After things got testy between the Indiana Pacers and Stewart’s Pistons, he pointed at a finger at Indiana’s Myles Turner to say, “You play with Legos.”

Fact check: true.

Three things I think regarding Pete Carroll’s return to the NFL.

1. I do not expect Russell Wilson to follow Pete Carroll to Las Vegas.

 When Carroll was hired to Seattle, everyone expected/wondered if he would be bringing all his former USC players with him. Except that didn’t really happen. Seattle didn’t draft Taylor Mays, the safety Carroll had talked into staying with the Trojans. They didn’t trade for Carson Palmer. They did bring in LenDale White, trading for him on the third day of Carroll’s first draft as coach, but he was released 30-some days later. Lofa Tatupu was let go before the 2011 season.

That’s not to say he never does it. The Seahawks brought back Marshawn Lynch in 2019, and Carroll was the driving force behind re-signing Bobby Wagner in 2023.

Here was the clear trend: Pete is more than willing to give his former players a chance to play their way back onto his team. He has never shown an inclination to give his former players a soft landing spot either in terms of playing time or paycheck.

The Raiders do not currently have a quarterback who is better than Wilson. For that reason, I certainly believe that if Russ wants to come to Las Vegas, he could. If Russ wants to be paid and/or treated like a franchise quarterback, though, I don’t see that happening.

2. I do not expect the Raiders to trade for Geno Smith, either.

I’m less certain about this one. In fact, I think Smith has a greater chance of landing in Las Vegas than Wilson. But I think if that happens it will be because Seattle fails to negotiate an extension with Smith and instead of asking Smith to play out the final year of his contract, decides to go in an entirely different direction at quarterback.

If Smith were to hit the open market, I could absolutely see him winding up in Las Vegas. 

But for Smith to wind up getting traded to Las Vegas (or anywhere else for that matter), three things would need to happen: 

1. Smith would need to insist on an extension that Seattle decides it isn’t comfortable offering;

2. Smith would need to then find a team willing to meet this price that the Seahawks blanched at;

3.  This third team would need to be willing to offer some sort of compensation to Seattle so it could pay Smith the contract that Seattle wouldn’t.

I just don’t see that happening, and definitely not in Las Vegas where the Raiders will be putting a premium on their draft picks.

3. I have no clue who Pete is going to hire as offensive coordinator.

None. While Carroll’s background is as a defensive head coach, he’s not someone who outsources his offense and essentially gives his coordinator carte blanche on that side of the ball. The offensive coordinators he has hired don’t come from any one specific scheme or even coaching tree. Additionally, working as Carroll’s offensive coordinator in Seattle did not serve as a springboard to bigger and better things. I don’t have any idea which direction he’s going to go, but I’m very interested to see what happens.