By OLIVER SALT, US ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Published: 12:40 EDT, 12 March 2026 | Updated: 12:41 EDT, 12 March 2026
Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll has taken a swipe at the team two months after being fired on the back of their dismal season.
Carroll paid the price for the Raiders going 3-14 in his first year in charge, with Tom Brady and his fellow owners making the decision to drop the axe as part of a major revamp in Sin City.
As well as firing the 74-year-old, and replacing him with Klint Kubiak, Las Vegas chiefs traded struggling quarterback Geno Smith to the New York Jets this week amid their likely plan to take Indiana star Fernando Mendoza with the No. 1 pick in next month's NFL Draft.
Following Smith's move to New York, Carroll has spoken out on his Raiders dismissal for the very first time in an interview with ESPN.
And he expressed his frustration with the team's recruitment last year, hitting out at Brady and Co. for not strengthening the offensive line.
'Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered,' the Super Bowl-winning coach said. 'We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn't happen in the Draft, and it didn't happen in the offseason.'
Former Raiders coach Pete Carroll has taken a swipe at the team two months after his firing
Tom Brady and his fellow owners made the decision to part company with Carroll in Las Vegas
The Raiders reunited Carroll and Smith in Vegas last year, taking both of them from the Seahawks in the hope that they'd recreate their previous success in Seattle.
Two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Smith enjoyed his best years with the Seahawks, amassing a 28-24 record while registering 12,961 passing yards and 76 touchdowns in 54 appearances across five seasons.
In Vegas, however, he went 2-13 as starter while throwing a career-worst 17 interceptions in one of the worst years of his NFL career.
But Carroll is taking the blame for Smith's disastrous form in 2025.
'He's a phenomenal quarterback, he really is,' he said about the 35-year-old. '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,' Carroll 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 hit the ground running with an impressive performance in Week 1, throwing for 362 yards and a touchdown in a 20-13 victory over eventual Super Bowl runners-up the New England Patriots.
Yet a four-game losing streak then followed as his interceptions mounted, which Carroll puts down to the entire offense not gelling.
Carroll claims the Raiders should have provided greater protection for quarterback Geno Smith
'He got off to such a miserable start, and it wasn't just him,' the fired coach insisted. 'It was the whole thing. We just didn't function well early on, and he got behind the eight ball right from the beginning.'
Carroll said he 'fell in love' with Smith, who has returned to the Jets over a decade since they drafted him No. 39 overall, during his three years as backup to Russell Wilson in Seattle.
Following his Raiders exit, he added about his beloved signal caller: '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.
'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.'