Here’s why Seahawks players love Pete Carroll
The most successful partnership in Seahawks’ history started nowhere near Seattle.
It began 2,700 miles away from Seahawks headquarters, on Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
It was at the 2012 Senior Bowl, in Mobile. Russell Wilson was entering the NFL draft after three years at North Carolina State and one, Rose Bowl season for Wisconsin.
“Going back to the Senior Bowl, the Seattle Seahawks were actually the first team that I met with,” Wilson said Thursday, three days before the regular-season finale against Arizona that is a tune-up for Seattle’s return to the NFC playoffs next week.
“You get a little yellow card, and it had meetings. As soon as I got there, that night I had my first big meeting. And (the card) doesn’t tell you what team it is yet; it just tells you ‘come to this room.’ And I remember knocking at the door — ‘OK, who is this going to be?’ And Coach Carroll and ‘Tater’ (quarterbacks) coach Carl Smith answer the door. (General manager) John Schneider was in there. Bunch of guys. Coach (offensive coordinator Darrell) Bevell was in there. Everyone was in there. Packed room.”
Wilson remembers one moment in particular about that meeting in Mobile with what became his NFL future, the men who would turn him into a Super Bowl champion and $88-million franchise quarterback.
“They really asked me about my preparation,” Wilson said, “because they had heard about my preparation, how I think, how I visualize on the field, at Camp Randall (Stadium at Wisconsin), how I would walk through plays kind of me, on my own.
“You know, whenever you go into a room you want to ‘feel the room,’ kind of. And it just felt right, from the get-go. It felt real. I always felt when I left that room, ‘That’s the place I want to play, hopefully. I believe that team is going to pick me.’...
“It’s kind of crazy.”
Crazy good. As in, the best seven years in Seahawks’ franchise history.
Wilson will quarterback Carroll’s team in the playoffs next week for the sixth time in the seven years since he met Carroll in Mobile.
And Carroll will be coaching the Seahawks for the foreseeable future. Team chair Jody Allen, the heir to her late brother Paul Allen, on Monday announced a two-year extension for Carroll through the 2021 season. It’s believed to be worth $11 million annually, just behind Bill Belichick of New England as the NFL’s highest-paid coach.
The new deal ties Carroll to Seattle past his 70th birthday. Every Seahawk who has a voice says he loves that.
Those that wouldn’t—or didn’t—aren’t Seahawks anymore. Or did you forget Richard Sherman said Carroll’s messages and ways had gotten stale, the same spring Seattle waived him this offseason? Or that Michael Bennett reportedly brought books to read in Carroll’s meetings last season—before Carroll traded him to Philadelphia in March?
Wilson especially appreciates Carroll.
Yes, every quarterback and head coach share a relationship closer and more vital than any other player on any roster. They are the faces of the franchise, usually the highest-paid. They most directly influence winning and losing.
Want a thread reason to why Seattle has been so successful this decade? The Seahawks have had the same two men in the two most important positions in the sport for seven consecutive years, and counting.
But Wilson’s appreciation for Carroll runs even deeper.
Even though he and Schneider had just signed veteran Matt Flynn from Green Bay to be Seattle’s starter the same spring of 2012 they drafted Wilson, Carroll made Wilson his starting quarterback from August of his first preseason. Wilson hasn’t missed a game in that job yet.
Backed by Carroll’s unwavering belief, Wilson has the most QB wins in NFL history over the first seven years of a career. He has those six playoff appearances. He played in four Pro Bowls. Started two Super Bowls. Won Seattle’s only NFL championship.
Wilson thinks Carroll should end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Wilson’s contract ends after the 2019 season. This time next year he will have signed an extension or will be seeking one worth at least $30 million per year, given what Aaron Rodgers signed for with Green Bay and Matt Ryan got from Atlanta this summer.
Next week, both Rodgers and Ryan will be watching from home as Wilson starts again in the playoffs.
“Coach Carroll has been one of the most consistent people in the building. Every day,” Wilson said. “He has a great culture. Knows how to win. He’s just a great coach. Cares about his players.
“He’s taught me so much, taught me more about the game, obviously, just being able to be around him. He has a great mind. He’s sees things that others don’t see, usually. He’s continued to feed into my thought process on just staying positive. How to believe. How to see things. Looking for the best things, at all times. I think his optimistic approach, his thought process on that.
“I think also, too, is consistency. ...I know one thing about Coach Carroll, through all the good times, through all the amazing wins we’ve had, through some of the tough ones, too, tough losses, he’s been the same way, every day, in terms of his approach. That’s one of the things that makes him, in my opinion, a Hall-of-Fame football coach, and a coach that makes a big difference.”
Has Wilson ever thought what his career would have been like had he played for another NFL coach other than Carroll?
“That’s an interesting question,” Wilson said.
“No. I’ve never thought about that.”
Then he added, chuckling: “Thinking about playing for another coach? No, I’ve never thought about that before. I don’t try to think that way.
“But I do think Coach Carroll has been a big part of just my love for the game, my continual love for the game. He’s just great in how he approaches the day. And it’s not just for me. I mean, this is for the whole, entire building. How he approaches you guys; I think he does a great job with the media. He does a great job with the cooking staff. I mean, from the equipment guys. He just has a very positive personality, in that way.
“He makes you love to come to work. I think that’s what he does best. That’s what I enjoy the most. It’s professional football, you know, things change. But he has been a blessing in my life, for sure. As a coach. And as a friend.”
Duane Brown says Carroll has revitalized his 11-year career.
Before he arrived in October 2017 in a midseason trade from Houston, Brown had heard stories of what a players’ coach Carroll is. But the 33-year-old who has seen plenty in the NFL had never seen Carroll’s free-throw shooting contests between offensive and defensive players before every team meeting. Or Carroll having surprise guests to practices such as rapper Kendrick Lamar. Hall-of-Fame basketball legend Bill Russell, a resident of Mercer Island across Lake Washington from team headquarters, has been a frequent visitor and talked to Carroll’s Seahawks. So has Macklemore.
The Kenyan Boys Choir was at one practice and in the team huddle in October 2015. Will Ferrell was with the Seahawks at Super Bowl 49 in Phoenix in February 2015.
Brown quickly signed a three-year contract $34.5 million including $16 million in guarantees months after he arrived in Seattle.
“It’s amazing, man. I thank God all the time for being in this position,” Brown said Thursday. “This is a great city, a great organization, a great locker room, a great fan base. And it’s just been kind of rejuvenating. I think I’m playing some of the best football I’ve played in my career and I’m having fun.
“We’re all having fun. This team is one of the most fun teams I’ve been a part of. We all support each other. We all cheer each other on. I think you can see examples of that week in and week out during the games, offense, defense, special teams. And it’s exciting. I think we can do some really special thing, and it’s even better because a lot of people haven’t given us a chance this year.
“So it’s been a fun ride for sure.”
What did Brown think of Carroll before he got traded to the Seahawks?
“From the outside looking in, you knew it was a fun group and he really let guys be themselves, let the players be leaders and kind of run the locker room,” Brown said.
“And it’s been that—and been more.
“Like I said, it’s been fun here. They really break up the monotony of the grind of the football season with certain things we do as a team. I’m really appreciative of that. And I’m really glad he got an extension to be here in the future.”
He’s not the only one.
Bobby Wagner, like Wilson, re-signed in the summer of 2015 in a deal that also expires after 2019.
Carroll’s extension makes him want to stay with the Seahawks even more than he already did.
‘He earned it,” Wagner said. “It’s crazy, everybody was kind of doubting him at one time and you know how he is: He loves doubters and he loves proving people wrong. It was great to see him get extended. I think it’s well deserved.
“He’s an amazing coach. He’s an even better person. He’s a coach that I honestly feel cares about football but cares about the person, too. He wants to see you do good whenever you decide to hang your cleats up. Personally, I haven’t had any other coaches, but just from stories, it’s not like that anywhere else—a person who actually cares about making sure you are just as successful off the field as you are on the field and wanting you to learn and get as much from the game as you possibly can.
“I think he deserves everything he’s getting.”
The most appreciated man in the Seahawks’ locker room is happy, too.
“I’m in great shape,” Carroll said, grinning, on Monday about 45 minutes after he signed his extension. “I’m counting on a five-year plan. That doesn’t have any statement on my contract. But it’s just kind of the way somebody taught me to look forward. And it helps.
“The organization has been exceedingly good to me, throughout the whole time we’ve been here. And they’ve continued to take that position.
“And I couldn’t be happier.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2018 at 6:00 PM.
