Pete

Carroll

“I don’t know that,” said Carroll, 73, who was given a front office advisory role after the Seahawks booted him as head coach this week. “I’m not holding my breath [on that],” Carroll continued. “If it happens, it happens. We’ll see.” It would be surprising if at least one team with a head coaching vacancy didn’t interview Carroll, who coached the Seahawks for 14 years, making it to two Super Bowls and winning one.

Earlier in the week, Carroll has said he was not worn out and planned on coaching the team in 2024, but that does not appear to be the case. Perhaps, at 73 years old, the team decided Carroll was a better fit in a front office role, but what we do know is that the team will be looking for a new head coach in 2024. Carroll will step aside as the winningest coach in Seattle Seahawks history, and while he will remain involved in the organization, we don’t yet know what responsibilities his new role will officially entail.

Carroll and the Seahawks finished 2023 with a 9-8 record but fell just short of reaching the playoffs. Despite the team’s shortcomings, the Seahawks ranked near the middle of the road offensively but have a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. They allowed the eighth-most points per game and third-most yards per game but closed out the season winning three of their final four contests. Carroll will turn 73 early next season, but said, “I’m not worn out. I’m not tired,” when speaking with the media on Monday. Carroll has finished below .500 just once since 2012 and has missed the playoffs just three times over that span. With limited cap space next offseason, Carroll and company will need to make the most of their available money in free agency and turn in a solid draft if they hope to rebound in 2024.

It’s a bombshell allegation -- one that Wilson quickly denied in a Twitter post following The Athletic’s damning report of his final season in Seattle and his first disastrous year in Denver. Wilson wanted Carroll replaced by Sean Payton, according to The Athletic. Wilson was reportedly “convinced that Carroll and Schneider were inhibiting his quest to win additional Super Bowls and individual awards” and was frustrated by Carroll’s conservative offensive approach. It seems Carroll understood better than anyone that Wilson is more of a game manager than a quarterback who can singlehandedly carry a team to championships. That Wilson wanted Payton to take over in Seattle could be a good sign that Wilson will follow Payton’s lead in 2023 after reportedly being detached from his coaches and teammates in 2022. Rotoworld’s Denny Carter outlined how Payton might get the most out of a declining Wilson this season.

Carroll reportedly spoke about the issue for ten minutes during last week’s NFL owners meetings in Florida. Florio said Carroll’s comments “were sufficiently strong to make people in the room uncomfortable to the point of angry.” He told general managers that “the hiring of minority candidates won’t improve until owners accept that there are candidates out there different than themselves.” Carroll’s impassioned speech comes as the league faces allegations of discrimination in hiring processes -- issues raised by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. “He just went off,” a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. NFL owners were reportedly “not happy” when they got wind of Carroll’s comments. In its ongoing effort to diversify the NFL’s coaching ranks, the league recently adopted a policy that would encourage teams to hire people of color and women who would “work closely with the head coach and the offensive staff, with the goal of increasing minority participation in the pool of offensive coaches that eventually produces the most sought-after candidates for head-coaching positions.” The league’s Rooney Rule -- requiring teams to consider coaches of color in their hiring cycles -- has done little to increase coaching diversity.

ESPN’s Brady Henderson said it’s the latest sign Kaepernick won’t land in Seattle this offseason following workouts with Tyler Lockett near the Seahawks stadium. Blackballed by the NFL after 2016 protests against police violence, it appears Kaepernick, 34, won’t get a chance to play for the QB-needy Seahawks in 2022.

Carroll had long refuted rumors that Seattle was looking to trade Wilson. Even so, ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported last week that the team initiated trade talks with the Broncos. Carroll in a Tuesday interview said he “had no intention of making a move at all’’ and that “I fought for the logic of that for a good while.” He eventually gave up on the cause and the Seahawks received a host of picks and players in exchange for Wilson. A fiery competitor, Carroll, 70, is now looking at a potential years-long rebuild in Seattle.

It appears Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll wasn’t being entirely honest in early March when he said the team had “no intention” of dealing Wilson this offseason, per Florio’s league source. Carroll, of course, has a history of playing fast and loose with the truth. Broncos general manager George Paton said this week he was surprised negotiations between the two teams weren’t made public. “The fact that this did not leak — we had a month of negotiations between [General Manager] John [Schneider] and I and it didn’t leak,” Paton said. “It’s a credit to John and a credit to the Seahawks, the Broncos, and Russ and his team.” The Seahawks ended up acquiring Drew Lock, Noah Fant, Shelby Harris, two first rounders, two second rounders, and a fifth rounder in exchange for Wilson. It appears the Seahawks were ready to turn the page on the Wilson era if they were able to cash in. And they were, even if the transaction left the team with a gaping hole at QB.

Seahawks GM John Schneider will also be retained after surviving a season-ending meeting with owner Jody Allen. Seattle has no plans to rebuild despite missing the playoffs and are expected to keep Russell Wilson, who wants to explore his options this offseason. 70-year-old Carroll returning for another year was expected but not a lock. It’s safe to say both Carroll and Schneider are entering make-or-break seasons.

“Jody Allen doesn’t seem to share her feelings with anyone,” Rapoport lamented. It’s been assumed for a bit that change is coming in Seattle in some shape, but it’s possible that nobody knows what that shape looks like besides Allen. This could be a prelude to bigger news, but Rapoport cautioned that “I’m not sure anything major, major is going to come out of this.”