A year ago at this time, the Raiders had traded for quarterback Geno Smith, reuniting him with Pete Carroll as his head coach.
But things for Las Vegas did not work out as planned, with the Raiders finishing 3-14 in 2025. Carroll was fired after his one season with the franchise. On Wednesday, Smith was officially traded to the Jets — the team that selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft.
Carroll gave his first interview since being fired to Rich Cimini of ESPN, saying that he loves talking about Smith.
“I think I see him differently than a lot of people see him,” Carroll told Cimini. “I love him and appreciate him differently.”
Carroll said that he and the rest of the coaches didn’t do a good enough job preparing Smith for success.
“He’s a phenomenal quarterback, he really is,” Carroll said. “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,” he 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.”
Carroll also took a bit of a shot at the Raiders’ front office, noting that the club didn’t have good enough personnel along the offensive line to protect Smith, which led to a lot of the quarterback’s issues.
“We got killed, we got killed,” Carroll said. “Our offensive guys up front, from the last couple of years, we got murdered. We needed to upgrade that more than we did. It didn’t happen in the draft, and it didn’t happen in the offseason.
“We didn’t go for it in the offseason. We needed to buy a new line to give the guys a chance to at least be more competitive. The only reason you get sacked that much is because you try to throw it too much. The whole thing didn’t quite work out and what’s why you saw a change and all that.”
Carroll fired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly in November, replacing him with Greg Olson on an interim basis. But the results didn’t improve much, as Smith finished the season having completed 67,4 percent of his passes for 3,025 yards with 19 touchdowns and a league-leading 17 interceptions in 15 games.
Carroll noted that Smith “didn’t get to reap the benefits of our relationship” with the Raiders. But the former head coach feels like Smith can bounce back with the Jets.
“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,” Carroll said. “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.”
Yes, quarterback Kyler Murray will visit the Vikings on Thursday — his agent, Erik Burkhardt, has confirmed that to NFL Media.
But here’s the interesting twist, via Tom Pelissero of NFL Media: Burkhardt told him that Murray plans to meet by Zoom on Wednesday night and Thursday with executives from three to five teams that potentially have a quarterback need in 2027.
Possibilities (as we see it) include the Jets, the Steelers, the Browns, the Falcons, and the Rams.
It gives Murray an opportunity to get a head start on free agency next year, which underscores the likelihood he’ll sign a one-year, $1.3 million deal for 2026.
That makes a no-tag clause critical. He needs to be able to hit the market next year, if for whatever reason he plays well and doesn’t get a solid offer to stick around with the Vikings, or whoever he signs with.
The Vikings continue to be the clear favorite. There’s really no one else. And, as of last season near the trade deadline, the Vikings were one of the teams in which Murray was interested.
The Colts have added defensive lineman Micheal Clemons, who agreed to a three-year, $17.5 million deal, according to Jordan Schultz of The Schultz Report. The deal includes another $1 million of incentives.
Clemons joins Derrick Nnadi as a defensive lineman headed to Indianapolis after the Colts lost Kwity Paye to the Raiders.
Clemons, 28, joined the Jets as a fourth-round pick in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons in New York. He played 65 games, with 24 starts.
Clemons made only six starts last season, while playing behind Will McDonald and Jermaine Johnson, but he played a higher percentage of the snaps (55 percent) than he did in 2024 (54 percent) when he started all 17 games.
In his career, Clemons has totaled 119 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hits, two forced fumbles and two passes defensed. He also has 10 penalties for 97 yards.
The Panthers are adding one of quarterback Bryce Young’s former college teammates.
Receiver John Metchie is signing a one-year deal with the club, via Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Metchie, 25, was traded twice in 2025 — first from Houston to Philadelphia in August, then from the Eagles to the Jets in late October. He made much more of an impact with the Jets, catching 29 passes for 256 yards with two touchdowns in nine games. He had just four receptions for 18 yards with Philadelphia.
In all, Metchie has caught 73 passes for 686 yards with three touchdowns in his career. He’s appeared in 45 games with 10 starts since being selected in the second round out of Alabama.
The Jets agreed to terms with offensive guard Dylan Parham on a two-year deal worth up to $20 million, NFL Media reports.
Parham, 26, ranks 95th on PFT’s list of top-100 free agents.
The Raiders drafted Parham in the third round in 2022, and he spent his first four seasons with the team.
He appeared in 64 games, with 63 starts, seeing time at left guard, right guard and center.
Parham played 15 games in 2025, seeing action on 842 snaps.
He has played 3,803 offensive snaps in his NFL career.
