Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was a loyal guy, and almost to a fault. He couldn't quit players and coaches who bought into his culture, and that included offensive lineman Stone Forsythe. Forsythe is now reported to be landing with a new team, and the head coach will be familiar.
Carroll was still in charge of the Seattle roster when the team chose Forsythe in the sixth round of the 2021 draft. The offensive tackle was projected to be a project, and indeed he was. The issue is that in his third season, he was forced to be a starter for eight games, and he wasn't very good.
By this point, one might have thought Forsythe would be out of the league soon, but that was not to be the case. He was signed by the New York Giants last offseason, released when final roster cuts were made, and signed by, well...you can likely guess that.
Former Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Stone Forsythe finds a new home
He ended up with Carroll in the head coach's new location with the Las Vegas Raiders. The issue was that Carroll brought in too many former Seahawks, including Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett (eventually), and Jamal Adams. None of which fixed a dreadful offensive line, but neither did acquiring Forsythe.
In fact, Forsythe probably made the line worse, and he has never shown himself to be a reliably good player. Still, he started 13 games and allowed 11 sacks. One might have thought after this past season, he would be out of the league for sure, but no.
According to NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, Forsythe has agreed to terms with a new team where the head coach is a former Pete Carroll disciple himself. Dave Canales is in charge of running the on-field product for the Carolina Panthers, and he was with Seattle during Forsythe's first two seasons in the league.
It is logical to think that the Panthers' brain trust asked Canales for his thoughts on whether the team should try to sign Forsythe, and Canales was firmly behind the potential move. The question is why?
The offensive tackle allowed the most sacks in the league last season while only allowing the 16th-most pressures among tackles. That means defenders weren't only beating Forsythe, but doing so quickly enough where they didn't just push the tackle back but beat him quickly and got home on the quarterback.
Ultimately, Stone Forsythe signing with a new Pete Carroll team or a coach who worked under Carroll is not a Seattle Seahawks concern, and thank goodness. Seattle is better off not having Forsythe on the roster anymore.