Trading a head coach? That's insane, right? But really, it's not. In fact, while the Seattle Seahawks have never pulled off a trade like this, a head coach being traded in the NFL has happened eight times, including in 2019 and in 2022.
In fact, our friends at FanSided's New England Patriots site, Musket Fire, have thrown out the idea of the Patriots even trading Bill Belichick this coming offseason. Belichick is both the head and general manager of the Patriots. If the Patriots can trade Belichick, the Seahawks could trade Carroll, too. I like Pete Carroll, but he has one Super Bowl win to Belichick's six.
Carroll is also the Vice President of Football Operations. If Seattle decides to make a move at their head coaching position this offseason, Seattle chairperson Jody Allen might suggest to Carroll to step down from coaching but keep his VP job. If Carroll wants to keep coaching, though, the team could try to trade him. But to where and for what? Here are some ideas.
Seattle Seahawks change their franchise by trading head coach Pete Carroll this offseason
On Friday, the Los Angeles Chargers not only fired head coach Brandon Staley but general manager Tom Telesco. That is what happens after a team with a good young quarterback, such as Justin Herbert, underachieves for a full season and then gets crushed by a now-6-8 Las Vegas Raiders team 63-21 in Week 15. To be fair, Herbert missed the game after suffering a season-ending finger injury in Week 14, but that does not explain the rest of the Chargers season.
Los Angeles still has a bunch of talent, such as edge rusher Khalil Mack and safety Derwin James, Jr., as well as Herbert, and with the right coach, they should succeed in 2024. Pete Carroll is not a bad coach, of course, but his message in Seattle might have just gotten stale. With a different roster in Los Angeles, Carroll's message should get across better. The Chargers also don't have to grab a franchise-changing quarterback as they already have Herbert so their loss of the first-round pick might be a bit more palatable.
Carroll could also be added as the Chargers' general manager as well. There is no doubt that Carroll knows football - his VP duties with the Seahawks are not in name only; he knows how to build a roster - and he could be the GM for LA longer than being head coach. Plus, he is a California guy and Los Angeles is in California, of course.
Before I go any further, I should point out that while Pete Carroll is the NFL's oldest coach at 72, he certainly doesn't behave on the football field like however one would assume a 72 would act. Carroll is as active as any player on the sidelines, throws the ball with players on the field before the games, and runs around like a 25 year old. I point all this out because if a team wants to take a chance of getting a very good coach, Pete Carroll's age is likely not going to scare them off from trying to trade for him.
Also, half the times teams have traded for a head coach the team wanting the coach has given up a first-round choice. The three times that has happened since 1997, including when the Denver Broncos traded for Sean Payton last year, the team has given up multiple picks, not just one first-round pick. I think Seattle would be OK with one first-round choice, though, as long as the pick is high in the draft.
The Bears, who will still need to terminate Matt Eberflus, are going to have two very high picks in the 2024 NFL Draft as things stand. They will have the first pick, which they got from the Carolina Panthers during a trade in the 2023 NFL Draft and Carolina has been awful this year, and will probably have a second choice between picks 6 and 10. The Seahawks should ask for the second of those two selections.
The Bears would be getting a proven coach who knows how to get young quarterbacks to be better. No one expected Russell Wilson to turn out to be Russell Wilson, and while Carroll doesn't coach the offense, he knows how to pick offensive coordinaotrs who work well with quarterbacks. Except for 2023, quarterback play since Carroll arrived in 2010 has been mostly very good. Should Chicago either draft a QB or keep Justin Fields, Carroll is probably going to find a way to maximize their abilities.
Washington is a mess. They were excellent defensively in 2022, but have been atrocious on that side of the ball in 2023. Offensively, the Commanders have been surprisingly better than expected. Washington got rid of a couple of good defensive players at the trade deadline, too, dooming any hopes they had of winning many games. Washington is now 4-9 but has lost four straight games.
Carroll would be a wise choice for the Commanders to trade for because the Commanders already have a built-in good offensive coordinator in Eric Bieniemy and Carroll would just have to focus on fixing the defense, which is really his passion anyway. The Commanders have one first-round pick, but have two second-round choices and could probably trade back into the first round after giving up their current choice for Carroll.
There is also the option for Seattle to ask for both the Commanders second-round choices instead of the first-round selection, but that would happen only if Seattle is really just going to trade Carroll or fire him. Carroll would also have to want to be traded, though the team holds his rights just as they do any player under contract, but if there is a chance of Carroll proving himself again somewhere else, he might take it.
The biggest question for the Seahawks would be what to do with any first-round pick they get. Choose a quarterback? Get a potentially great edge rusher? Or maybe go kicker. Anything is possible with Seattle.