There’s a lot that’s been said about Pete Carroll and Geno Smith since the head coach and quarterback reunited in Las Vegas, and with all that we know about their relationship going back to their time together with the Seahawks, are we still underselling the bond between the Raiders head coach and his quarterback?
The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar was one of those covering Carroll in Seattle and he shared a couple of interesting insights in April about Carroll’s affinity for Geno Smith.
“Pete knows Geno and probably believes in Geno more than anyone outside of Geno’s immediate family. The way Pete talks about Geno is the way I talk about my daughter. Pete really loves this dude,” Dugar said on the Just Win podcast. “At some point last year, he was like, ‘Geno is one of my favorite stories. He’s one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached.’ Pete has been coaching since the 70s. For Geno to rank that high, that means a lot.”
Considering those comments, it shouldn’t come as a surprise what Carroll said about Smith on Wednesday.
“I mean, it’s really, it’s been a natural transition. From the time we first contacted him and let him know that we were in on this deal and we were trying to see if we could make some sense of it, we were both excited about it,” Carroll told members of the media after Wednesday’s voluntary workouts.
“I feel really like we’re connected at the hip, you know, and we have so much background,” Carroll continued.
“It’s not just the couple seasons that he played, it’s all of the years that he was there. Because to me, coaching the next quarterback up is really, really crucial. We spent a lot of time, you know, in communicating and setting our priorities straight, staying on course, and he’s just been a champion at that. And now he comes out the other end of that time frame, and he’s an elite quarterback in the league.”
Carroll is on record saying he wanted Smith to come to Las Vegas from the time he was hired, and based on reports around the Matthew Stafford trade situation that almost played out in February, we know the Raiders weren’t willing to give up any more draft capital for Stafford than they ultimately gave up for Smith.
Another huge vote of confidence Smith received from the Raiders happened during the draft in April.
Carroll and the Raiders didn’t draft a quarterback until the sixth round, and it was a little bit of a surprise that they didn’t take Ohio State quarterback Will Howard.
It was rumored that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who was Howard’s offensive coordinator at Ohio State, really wanted the Raiders to draft Howard. Additionally, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter said the Raiders had Howard a little higher on their draft board than North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller, who they ended up drafting.
If that was the case, is there a chance Carroll understood the relationship between Kelly and Howard and wanted to avoid a potential situation where his offensive coordinator might not be quite as ‘all-in’ on Smith?
It’s only a theory, but it makes sense.
What isn’t a theory, though, is the fact that Carroll is ‘all-in’ on Smith and there’s no obvious ‘Plan B’ on the roster going into the 2025 season.
“Geno was a backup for all those years… so there was a lot of times where we had to do stuff together to keep him going and he was keeping me going, but I was keeping him going,” Carroll said earlier this week. “What he demonstrated to me [was] this remarkable connection in spirit to be ready knowing that the very next play he may be in the game. He never forgot that…”
x: @raidersbeat
They should have took Howard and then Cam Miller came along and now in the offseason they signed Melrose to a contract, I have no clue what they are up to, we will see who is the starter and who is gone come start of the season or back to the draft in 26
You don’t have a clue? It’s pretty **** clear, Geno Smith, barring injury, will be the starting QB for The Las Vegas Raiders, period.
Their actions pretty much say that they just weren’t thrilled with any of the QB’s available in this year’s draft. They drafted a project QB late in the draft, but the best we can hope for is that he’ll make the practice squad. The team will be searching for their future QB in next year’s draft.