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By Cole Sullivan
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The Las Vegas Raiders put the 2025–26 season behind them, and with that came some harsh decisions.
They fired head coach Pete Carroll, who was with the team for just one season, and trade quarterback Geno Smith early in the offseason. Smith had signed a two-year, $75 million extension last offseason, with $66.5 million of it fully guaranteed.
Smith was traded to the New York Jets this week and, like Carroll, he spent just one season in Las Vegas. The year certainly didn't go as planned, as the Raiders finished 4–13 overall and secured the No. 1 overall pick. In games that Smith started, they went 2–13.
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Yet now he gets a fresh start back in the place that drafted him years ago, and Carroll, who broke his silence for the first time since being fired, fully supports him.
"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."
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He also spoke about what went wrong in Las Vegas and even assigned blame for Smith's struggles, fully putting it on the coaches.
"He's a phenomenal quarterback, he really is," Carroll added. "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."
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