Seattle Seahawks: Pete Carroll extension more than deserved

The Seattle Seahawks signed head coach Pete Carroll to a contract extension after the team secured a Wild Card spot with a win in Week 16.

Merry Christmas to Pete Carroll. The 67-year old head coach received a contract extension from the Seattle Seahawks after the team upset the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football in Week 16.

The win secured a spot in the playoffs for the Seahawks who currently hold the fifth seed in the NFC with just one week left in the regular season. Carroll will now be with the team through the 2021 season. His previous contract was set to end after the 2019 season.

Carroll has accomplished a lot while in Seattle. He’s the winningest head coach in team history with a record of 88-54-1. This is his ninth season with the team and will be the seventh time he’s led them to the postseason.

He’s even gotten the Seahawks to the Super Bowl twice and won the organization it’s first Lombardi Trophy in the 2013-14 season. He guided the team back to the big game the following season, but they lost on a questionable goal line call by Carroll.

There was some rumbling about a potential end to Carroll’s reign in Seattle this offseason when the team said goodbye to some of its key players: Cliff Avril, Jimmy Graham, Michael Bennett and Richard Sherman. Star safety Kam Chancellor was forced to retire with a neck injury and his counterpart, Earl Thomas, held out late into the preseason before going on IR in just the fourth week of the season.

The franchise had never fully recovered from losing Marshawn Lynch a few years prior either. Amidst the chaos, Carroll was building a new locker room mentality with younger, impressionable players who yearned for the success past Seahawks team had.

Things seem to have gone according to plan. A new Seahawks defense has formed around veteran middle linebacker Bobby Wagner and emerging pass rusher Frank Clark. In a season where linebacker K.J. Wright missed a lot of time, safety Bradley McDougald and defensive tackle Jarran Reed have stepped up as well.

On the offense, Pro Bowl wide receiver Doug Baldwin missed significant time and was hampered by injuries all season, but Tyler Lockett and David Moore stepped in to fill his production. And then there’s the backfield. The Seahawks discovered they had a triple threat attack in the backfield with Chris Carson as the workhorse and Mike Davis and rookie Rashaad Penny as contributors. Thanks to those three, the Seahawks are leading the league in rushing yards per game.

Carroll went from losing one of the most dominant teams in NFL history, anchored by Lynch and the Legion of Boom defense, to building up a whole new playoff team in a flash. He’s more than deserving of this contract extension. Now we’ve just got to see what Seattle does in Week 17 and if they can make a splash in the playoffs.