What good is a head coach’s initial training camp press conference if he doesn’t speak about how excited he is for the group of guys who all seemingly look great and ready to get to work? Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has done a lot of these press conferences over the years, so he knows how to say a lot without saying too much.
Well, that is, discounting the unintended insult he paid to one of the best position groups he’s ever had in the NFL.
Carroll was asked about which position group he was most excited about in Las Vegas this season, and instead of focusing on one group, he instead chose to say a few things about nearly every group. When he got to the Raiders’ secondary, he may have overshot his praise just a bit.
Pete Carroll raises eyebrows with Raiders secondary praise
“I'm fired up about the back end,” Carroll said Tuesday afternoon. “You know, we're really athletic. We're really fast and we're big, and it's an impressive-looking group. I can't remember ever having a group that looks more impressive than this group. My guys will be pissed at me that I said that up north, the old guys. But it's the truth.”
Is now the best time to point out that the Raiders didn’t have a single player in the defensive backfield who has so much as made a trip to the Pro Bowl before the Raiders signed Jamal Adams? He hasn't made a Pro Bowl since his first season in Seattle back in 2020.
To be fair to Carroll, it is a young, seemingly exciting group. Jeremy Chinn and Eric Stokes were solid, young, veteran additions who played well at their former NFL homes. Safety Isaiah Pola-Maohas great NFL bloodlines, too. He’s the nephew of Hall of Fame Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. But looking through the roster, it’s tough to see anyone who compares to the Legion of Boom.
But again, the Legion of Boom wasn’t a cast of first-rounders outside of Earl Thomas. Still, the unique skillsets of Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and Richard Sherman are difficult to replicate, let alone forget. After all, they had nine Pro Bowl selections, six All-Pro selections, and two Super Bowl runs to back up their unforgettable dominance of the mid-2010s.
But Carroll’s been out of the game for a little bit, and the Legion of Boom basically disbanded in 2018, so maybe some Seahawks fans will find it in their heart to forgive him.