FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Former NFL coach Pete Carroll, who developed a close relationship with Geno Smith during their six seasons together, was a bit amused when he first heard his former quarterback had been traded to the New York Jets.
“I had to chuckle a little bit because of the history and all,” Carroll told ESPN on Wednesday in his first interview since being fired by the Las Vegas Raiders after the season.
Carroll spoke glowingly of Smith, predicting he will rebound from last season and will surprise people in his second stint with the Jets, who acquired him Tuesday via a late-round pick swap. Carroll took the blame for Smith’s struggles in Las Vegas, saying, “We should’ve coached him better.”
The former Super Bowl champion coach has kept a low profile since his ill-fated season with the Raiders, who went 3-14, but he broke his silence because of his affinity for Smith, he said.
“I love talking about G,” Carroll said. “I think I see him differently than a lot of people see him. I love him and appreciate him differently.”
Carroll, who coached Smith with the Seattle Seahawks from 2019 to 2023, traded for Smith in 2025, hoping to re-create what they had in Seattle. It went sideways, as Smith led the league in interceptions (17) and sacks (55). It was a tumultuous season, as Carroll fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly after 11 games.
“He’s a phenomenal quarterback, he really is,” Carroll said. “He had a fantastic offseason and preseason with us, and he comes out in the first game, has a great first game. It was all fitting. It was exactly the right time for us. Then we just faltered and faltered. We didn’t do well enough, coaching.
“We should’ve had him better prepared for the things that happened, and that wouldn’t have happened,” he continued. “I take a lot of responsibility in that. We didn’t prepare him well enough in the offseason even though he looked great and we felt we had everything lined up. It was very, very disappointing for us both.”
Smith passed for 362 yards in a Week 1 win over the New England Patriots, but his interceptions mounted and the team went on a four-game losing streak.
“He got off to such a miserable start, and it wasn’t just him,” Carroll said. “It was the whole thing. We just didn’t function well early on, and he got behind the eight ball right from the beginning. Everybody wanted to blame him for it, and he took it and took it and took it, and then they captured him — an exchange or whatever. He just didn’t get to reap the benefits of our relationship.”
Carroll was alluding to a late-season incident in which Smith flipped off Raiders fans while leaving the field after a loss. Smith later apologized.
Carroll said he was confident that Smith would be what he was in Seattle, where he passed for more than 4,200 yards in two of his three seasons as the starter. But the Raiders’ pass protection was poor, forcing Smith into bad decisions. Carroll said the offensive line wasn’t good enough. (Ironically, the Jets agreed to a contract Wednesday with one of the Raiders’ former linemen, guard Dylan Parham.)
“We got killed, we got killed,” Carroll said. “Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered. We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn’t happen in the draft, and it didn’t happen in the offseason.
“We didn’t go for it in the offseason. We needed to buy a new line to give the guys a chance to at least be more competitive. The only reason you get sacked that much is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn’t quite work out and what’s why you saw a change and all that.”
The Jets, looking for a new starter, traded a 2026 sixth-round pick for Smith and a 2026 seventh-round pick — a deal that became official at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Smith, 35, has acknowledged that he didn’t play well in Las Vegas. He didn’t offer any excuses. The bright spot, he said, was Carroll.
“That man is special — a Hall of Fame coach and Hall of Fame person, through and through,” Smith told Josina Anderson on Tuesday on the Exhibit News Network. “I wanted to win a Super Bowl for him because that’s how much he means to me. It didn’t work out the way we envisioned.”
Carroll said he “fell in love” with Smith during Smith’s three seasons as the backup to Russell Wilson, citing his work ethic and competitiveness. Now Smith returns to the team that drafted him in 2013. He started 29 games for the Jets in 2013 and 2014 before losing his job to Ryan Fitzpatrick because of a broken jaw, sustained in a locker room dispute with a teammate.
“If he figured out [New York] was a good place for him and he wanted to do it, and he was part of the decision, then I couldn’t support him more,” Carroll said. “If he saw the reasoning and felt the support and the opportunity, I couldn’t be in more favor of it. I love the guy and want the very best for him. He deserves it. He worked really hard to get where he is.”
