Pete Carroll is back in the National Football League. The Las Vegas Raiders hired the Super Bowl-winning head coach to be their next head coach after dumping Antonio Pierce earlier this offseason.
His former quarterback acknowledged Carroll’s return to the NFL this weekend. Russell Wilson, who Carroll and the Seahawks drafted in 2012, became an integral piece to the puzzle. The duo of Carroll and Wilson helped lead the Seattle Seahawks to their first-ever Super Bowl title in the 2013-14 season. Their time together defined an era of football in Seattle that Seahawks fans will remember forever.
Wilson’s Pittsburgh Steelers and Carroll’s Raiders are longtime AFC rivals. Wilson might have acknowledged Carroll’s presence, but the quarterback kept it to a minimum.
“Pete’s going to be a great coach, obviously,” Wilson said via the Associated Press. “He’s great at what he does. But I’m focused on the Steelers.”
With the Steelers’ quarterback situation in flux, some have begun to wonder if Wilson would return under Carroll in Las Vegas this time. For now, Wilson will remain in the Steel City, where his focus will continue to reside.
The Raiders’ hiring of Carroll came as a surprise to many. Carroll decided to double down on that shock after he hired Chip Kelly, the former Oregon head coach and Ohio State offensive coordinator this season, to be his new OC in Vegas. Kelly had a stint in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles that was memorable for all the wrong reasons.
If you’re an old Pac-10 fan, that news might really throw you off your game. It’s nonetheless true.
So too, for now, is that Russell Wilson will be in Pittsburgh and won’t play for Pete Carroll.
