Pete Carroll might retire, and now is the perfect time for that

Pete Carroll might walk away from the Seattle Seahawks, but now is the perfect time for that to happen.

Head coaching jobs opening up on the first day of the New Year is an NFL tradition unlike any other. What gets glossed over in the talk about bad teams firing their head coaches are the more lowkey moves that we don’t see coming.

A few years ago, Gary Kubiak walked away from a successful Broncos team and surrendered his head coaching duties. In 2002, Tampa Bay fired Tony Dungy following multiple trips to the postseason. This year Bruce Arians is preparing to mutually part ways with the Arizona Cardinals without the usual checklist of things that need to happen for a coach to wear out his welcome.

Pete Carroll, who turned the Seattle Seahawks into a force, could add his name to the list of coaching moves we didn’t totally see coming.

FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer reported on Sunday that there’s a chance Carroll walks away at the end of the year.

This has been speculated in recent weeks, but nothing has been hot enough to really grab onto. Unlike the rumors about Arians, the Carroll rumblings are absolutely stunning given that Seattle is playing Week 17 with a chance to sneak into the NFC playoffs.

While on the surface it seems like a stunning move, digging deeper suggests that it’s not that insane (even though it’s pretty wild). There has been a lot made about the potential turnover on the Seahawks defensive depth chart this offseason, with pillars of the franchise like Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas potentially moving on. Russell Wilson is still there, but the fingerprints of Carroll are smeared at best, and the team is changing.

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With all of the possible moves that could be made, now might be as good a time as any to hand the keys over to Darrell Bevell or Kris Richard. Both coordinators are expected to get head coaching interviews, and both would serve as a smooth transition for the Seahawks from the Carroll ‘Legion of Boom’ era to whatever the future holds.