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The Seattle Seahawks are adding a few familiar faces to the coaching staff including former quarterbacks coach Carl “Tater” Smith, per The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar. Smith is one of three new additions the Seahawks have yet to announce and goes with an already busy offseason where the entire offensive staff received an overhaul.
Former Seahawks corner DeShawn Shead is rejoining the team as an assistant coach who will work with the secondary. Shead played six seasons (2012 to 2017) with the Seahawks including the team’s 2014 Super Bowl run before his final NFL year in Detroit in 2018. The former Seattle corner started 15 games for the Seahawks in 2016.
Smith’s son Tracy Smith is also joining the staff. Dugar reported that the moves were made prior to the Super Bowl and unrelated to multiple reports of Russell Wilson’s unhappiness with the franchise.
Smith was the Seahawks quarterbacks coach from 2011 to 2017 before becoming the associate head coach in 2018. He spent the last two seasons as the Texans quarterback coach in 2019 and most recently as an offensive consultant. During his end-of-season press conference, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll called Smith one of the people throughout his career who would “tell me anything.”
“Tater would tell me anything,” Carroll said, per The Athletic. “He was awesome. I demanded it of him because he knew the truth and he needed to speak to me.”
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Smith Will be in a Different Role Than QB Coach in 2021
ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported that Smith is expected to be involved in deciding what plays are challenged but his official title has not been revealed. The Seahawks already have a quarterbacks coach they hired last offseason in Austin Davis. Tracy Smith worked on the Texans special teams coaching staff the last two seasons.
“Unclear what role Carl Smith will have,” Henderson explained on Twitter. “Austin Davis is Seattle’s QB coach, Smith’s role before he became associate HC in ’18 (he was with HOU in ’19 and ’20). Smith was Carroll’s point person in the coaches’ booth on challenges. I’m told that’ll likely be among his duties again. …Tracy Smith was Houston’s special coordinator the past two years. Seahawks need an assistant ST coordinator with Larry Izzo taking over for Brian Schneider as the head coordinator. Shead will work with DBs. I’m told Shead, Carl Smith and Tracy Smith were hired several weeks ago.”
Wilson on New Seahawks O.C.: ‘I Think Shane’s Gonna Be a Great Coach’
The Seahawks already hired former Rams assistant Shane Waldron to be the team’s new offensive coordinator. It is one of the few Seahawks’ moves Wilson praised so far this offseason.
“I think Shane’s gonna be a great coach,” Wilson noted in February, per Pro Football Talk. “I think he’s got great knowledge of the game. You know he’s a good person. He just has that kind of it factor and wants to be great. We can’t talk ball and can’t do all that (right now) really. So that’s the one thing I’m not really able to do as much, just because of the rules and all that stuff. But I think he’s gonna be a great offensive coordinator. He’s got everything that you would want in terms of his knowledge of the game and his experience, especially being with Sean McVay and Sean having so much experience in that (coaching) tree and everything else. He’s got some good stuff to him. But yeah, we can’t can’t really talk ball like that.”
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