“It’s like getting Marshawn Lynch”: Raiders HC Pete Carroll gets 100% real on Geno Smith reunion in Las Vegas

Pete Carroll coached Geno Smith with the Seattle Seahawks for five seasons from 2019 to 2023. The two are now reunited with the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2025 campaign.

Carroll compared the reunion to getting legendary running back Marshawn Lynch back at Seattle for one season in 2019.

"Geno, to me, is like getting Marshawn (Lynch)," Carroll said on Friday (35:40), via the "Get Got" podcast.

"It's like that because there's a connection of the impact that the guy can have on everybody else. The years we spent together, the years when he wasn't playing, were the most significant years to me, because he exemplified this mentality that I had never seen anybody else."

Carroll also explained how Smith stayed alert at all times, even when Russell Wilson was the Seahawks' QB1 in his early years with the team.

"He's been through some pain and some hardship and stuff like that, but by the time we got him he came with this mentality," Carroll said. "So anyway, when he finally got a chance, he did great, and a lot of people were surprised. Shoot, he was the Comeback Player of the Year, the first year that he started and all that after Russell Wilson left."

Lynch played just under six seasons in Seattle during his first stint with the team from October 2010 through the 2016 season. He helped the franchise win the Super Bowl in 2014.

Lynch retired briefly after his first spell with the Seahawks. However, he returned to the league with the then-Oakland Raiders, where he played for two seasons. In 2019, Lynch returned to Seattle for his second stint and retired after one season.

Pete Carroll explains reason why he returned to coaching in the NFL with the Raiders

NFL: Las Vegas Raiders HC Pete Carroll - Source: Imagn

The Las Vegas Raiders hired Pete Carroll in January. It's his first coaching job since leaving the Seahawks in January 2024.

On the "Get Got" podcast, Carroll explained why he came out of retirement to coach the Raiders.

"There was a little bit of interest, you know, college too," Carroll said on Friday. "There was some stuff going on back and forth. And the more I got around it, the more I felt the passion growing. The way I would say it, I was in the pursuit of my passion.

"It has never been anything but fun. Fortunately, it worked out. You know, a couple of crazy things happened right around the end of it. But the Raiders thing when Tom (Brady) joined up, that really made a difference to me. That shifted my gears a little bit."

Carroll has coached in the NFL for 18 seasons, including 14 with Seattle, three with the New England Patriots and one with the New York Jets. He has compiled a 170-120-1 record through his time in the pro league.

It will be interesting to see how Carroll fares with the Raiders next season on his return to coaching in the league.