Will Former Seahawks HC Pete Carroll Attempt QB Reunion in Las Vegas?

Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll will be the oldest head coach in NFL history next season after agreeing to a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday.

Carroll, who will be 74 on Sept. 15, spent just one season off an NFL sideline before emerging as a candidate for multiple teams. The Raiders homed in on Carroll after firing Antonio Pierce after just one full season as the team’s coach, awarding him a three-year deal with a fourth-year team option, per ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez.

Obviously, after spending 14 seasons as Seattle’s head coach from 2010–23, Carroll’s ties with the Seahawks run deep.

It’s worth wondering whether Carroll will try and pull some familiar faces to Las Vegas while he tries to rebuild the struggling franchise that has enjoyed just two winning seasons since 2003 and won four games this season.

Two of Carroll’s former quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Geno Smith, will be under a microscope as the offseason progresses.

The Raiders have a quarterback problem. Aidan O’Connell, Gardner Minshew and Desmond Ridder all started games for the team in 2024 — the second consecutive season with three different starting quarterbacks.

Carroll has never shied away from developing a quarterback, but Smith and Wilson are in unique situations.

Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said keeping Smith in Seattle “is the best for the team right now” after the season ended, but the 34-year-old passer is entering the final year of his contract in 2025. If the team doesn’t extend him this offseason, Carroll and Las Vegas could make Smith a trade target.

Seattle’s 2025 cap space is $27.52 million in the red, while the Raiders have the second-most money available of any team in the league ($92.52 million), per Over The Cap. Carroll, who coached Smith from 2019–23 and made him the Seahawks’ starter beginning in 2022, could make the trade and dish out the contract.

Carroll called Smith “one of my all-time favorite guys” in December 2023, and the bond between them has been well-documented. After being a backup for seven seasons, Carroll gave Smith his first chance to be a full-time starter again.

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) participates in early pregame warmups against the Chicago Bears. — Aug 18, 2022; Seattle, Washington, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith (7) participates in early pregame warmups against the Chicago Bears while head coach Pete Carroll (background) watches at Lumen Field. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

“I love his story. He’s taught me so much, and I admire him for the way he’s handled the competitive part of this thing,” Carroll said at the time. “He’s taught us about belief in yourself and how powerful that is. As clear as an illustration of anybody that I can ever remember. Forget this year or last year — he was the same guy every time out and just kept hanging. I probably didn’t give him enough credit, because I probably didn’t believe it. Maybe he was kind of faking it; he was saying the right stuff. [But] he meant it, man. He was on it, and he proved it. That’s what last year was all about. He proved that his confidence in himself and belief and conviction was real.”

When Carroll emerged as a head coaching candidate for other teams near the end of the 2024 season, Smith also discussed his affinity for his former head coach.

“Coach Carroll, man, is a special human being,” Smith said in December 2024. “He’s a believer. He’s a guy [who is] always going to be upbeat. He’s always going to fight, and he has one way about him. That’s what I love about him. I think we’re very much the same in that way. We just go. There is no stop. There is no nothing like that. Just believe in us and just go. Coach Carroll can help out any team and anybody. I’m a big advocate of his, and I know he is of mine. I love that guy.”

Smith is coming off his worst statistical season as Seattle’s starter, but he was behind arguably the worst offensive line in the NFL. He set franchise records in completion percentage (70.4), completions (407) and passing yards (4,320) but threw 21 touchdowns to 15 interceptions — second most in the league.

Carroll and Wilson have an even richer history, reaching consecutive Super Bowls in the 2013 and 2014 seasons and bringing the first-ever Lombardi Trophy back to Seattle in the first appearance.

Seattle made the playoffs in eight of the 10 seasons Carroll and Wilson were together with the Seahawks, going 9-7 overall in the postseason. Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos following the 2021 season and was given a five-year, $245 million contract. He played just 30 games for Denver before releasing him before the 2024 season.

Wilson, who will be 37 in November, enjoyed somewhat of a career revival with the Pittsburgh Steelers this season — an arrangement requiring the Steelers to pay him just over $1 million of his $39 million salary in 2024, while Denver paid the rest.

Feb 2, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3), center, celebrates with the Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium. At left is Fox Sports' Michael Strahan and at right are Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and Seahawks General Manager John Schneider. | Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY

In just 11 regular season starts, Wilson totaled 2,482 passing yards on 63.7 percent completion and tossed 16 touchdowns to five interceptions. Wilson completed 20 of 29 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns in Pittsburgh’s 28-14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.

Wilson, now an unrestricted free agent, has reportedly begun contract talks to return to the Steelers. But the lines are being drawn about a potential reunion with Carroll now that he’s in Las Vegas, with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reporting Wilson wanted to go to the Raiders this past season before Carroll was even in the picture.

Carroll could have an entirely different plan in mind, but the Raiders have the resources to acquire either quarterback if they choose to. There could be a reunion coming in Las Vegas with one of the two now that Carroll is helming an NFL team once again.

Surely Seahawks fans who are a proponent of Smith as the team’s quarterback would rather see Wilson in a Raiders jersey, and that’s the more likely of the two scenarios. Smith, however, is younger and could be a long-term, more appealing option.

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