While there is a lot of disappointment in New York Jets country over whether Geno Smith will be their starting quarterback next season, their former head coach Gang Green is trying to give fans hope about his potential in 2026.
"We should have prepared him better for things that happened, and that wouldn't have happened," Pete Carroll told ESPN's Rich Cimini about Smith's disappointing performance with the Las Vegas Raiders last season. "I take a lot of responsibility for that. We didn't prepare him well in the offseason, even though he looked great and we thought we had everything ready. It was very, very disappointing for both of us."
Carroll has seen the best of the 12-year veteran and was the head coach during Smith's two Pro Bowl seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. That's why, when he took over as the Raiders head coach last season, they asked the front office to make the 35-year-old their QB1 in 2025.
Pete Carroll blames terrible line play for Geno Smith's performance in 2025
However, Smith had a difficult season as he threw for 19 touchdowns to 17 interceptions and was sacked a league-worst 55 times. Carroll claims that the lack of improvement on the offensive line played a huge role in Smith's performance last year.
"Our aggressors have been killing us for the last few years," Carroll said. 'We needed to upgrade much more than that. It didn't happen in the draft, and it didn't happen in the offseason. We needed to buy a new line to at least give people a chance to be more competitive.
"The only reason you get sacked so many times is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn't work out right, and that's why you saw the changeup and all that."
There are definitely doubts about how much better the NY Jets O-line is than the Raiders. But if they give Smith better blocking in 2026, the former Jets head coach believes Gang Green has a very good player at the QB1 spot next season.
"He's a phenomenal quarterback, he really is," Carroll said.
