Getty The Seahawks released Carlos Dunlap.
Pete Carroll is going to be the Seattle Seahawks head coach for the foreseeable future after signing a long-term contract extension. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the Seahawks and Carroll agreed to the extension earlier in 2020 but did not announce the details of the deal.
Schefter added that Carroll’s new deal makes him among the highest-paid NFL head coaches and is believes to be through 2025. Carroll described himself as being on a “five-year plan.”
“For a gesture like this from Jody Allen and the organization and all, and then, at a time when everybody’s suffering and struggling and all that,” Carroll noted when asked about the contract extension, per ESPN. “It was something that has been in the works for a long time. I’m talking about way before all the issues that have happened and so it finally came together. Just didn’t feel like it needed to be talked about unless we had to.”
ALL the latest Seahawks news straight to your inbox! Join the Heavy on Seahawks newsletter here!
Carroll Is Among the Highest-Paid NFL Coaches
The Seahawks have not disclosed the contract figures, but Schefter reported Carroll is now among the highest-paid coaches, if not the highest-paid. Carroll implied the team did not make an announcement given the Seahawks policy on contracts along with the ongoing pandemic.
“Pete Carroll’s new contract is believed to be a five-year extension that makes him one of, if not the, highest-paid head coach in the NFL,” Schefter noted on Twitter.
All indications are Carroll would like the Seahawks to be the last team that he coaches in his historic career.
“It’s long seemed like Pete Carroll’s future in Seattle doesn’t depend on how long the Seahawks will want him around but about when he’ll want to step away,” ESPN’s Brady Henderson explained on Twitter. “No time soon, apparently. Details from @AdamSchefter on Carroll’s fifth contract with the Seahawks.”
Carroll Is Likely to Retire as a Member of the Seahawks
The news may just now be breaking, but it appears as though the Seahawks locked-up Carroll over the offseason. The News Tribune’s Gregg Bell reported Carroll likely signed his new deal in the spring.
“Pete Carroll on his contract extension through 2025, says it was day very long time ago, perhaps before spring,” Bell explained on Twitter. “Asked if he’s going to coach past 74: ‘I’m going to keep rollin’. Five-year plan.'”
Schefter reported that the new deal is “all but ensuring” Carroll will retire as a member of the Seahawks. Carroll will go down as one of the best coaches in franchise history and led the team to its first Super Bowl title in 2014. Under Carroll’s leadership, the Seahawks have displayed remarkable consistency and annually are among the teams that have a chance at winning a championship. Carroll has worked with Seahawks general manager John Schneider for a decade.
“We both think it’s cool,” Schneider told ESPN.com in January. “I’ve said it to him and he said it to me the other night on the plane. He’s like, ‘Holy s—, do you know this is like our 10th season?'”
READ NEXT: Seahawks Trade Offer Turned Down by Texans: Report