Pete Carroll went out the wrong way. The Seattle Seahawks legend won a Super Bowl in the Emerald City and made it to another that the team should have won. But he was relieved of his coaching duties after the 2023 season, and eventually found a new home with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2025.
He spent one season with Vegas and failed miserably. His team, which had several former Seahawks on the roster, finished 3-14 and will have the first pick in the 2026 NFL draft. Carroll lost his job after the season.
For a coach of Carroll's history to be basically fired by one team (he had a guaranteed year left on his Seattle contract when he was removed as coach), find a new team only to be terminated after one season, is a brutal way to end his career. The coach getting another head coaching gig in the NFL is extremely unlikely.
Seattle Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak might have to clean up Pete Carroll's Las Vegas Raiders mess
However, a current Seattle coach may need to address the issues Carroll left behind. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has been linked to many teams in their head coaching searches, and one of those is the Las Vegas Raiders. Kubiak will need to be smart in which team he leaves the Seahawks for, of course, if he does indeed leave Seattle.
Kubiak won't want to go to a team that is in a dire situation where no matter how good a coaching job Kubiak does, the team is terrible. That won't make him look good. Vegas might not be the team Kubiak chooses if he is offered the job.
Currently, Geno Smith would likely be projected as Las Vegas's starter again in 2026, as the team does not have a backup capable of taking over long-term. Smith hasn't been good for two seasons, and the team should probably release him. Plus, he flipped off his own fans this season, and that is no way to have a team still like a player.
The Raiders do have the top choice in the draft, and will almost certainly take a quarterback, such as Indiana's Fernando Mendoza or Oregon's Dante Moore. Kubiak would at least have the opportunity to mold the rookie into a good NFL quarterback. But the offensive line is terrible, so the rookie's growth might be stunted from that.
The hope, of course, is that Klint Kubiak stays with the Seattle Seahawks, as he has shown to be a great fit on head coach Mike Macdonald's team. If he does leave, 12s will likely wish him future success. That might not come with the Las Vegas Raiders.