The play-by-play radio announcer for a top NFC team views former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll as “a natural fit” for their coaching staff.
In a surprise move, the Seahawks reassigned Carroll to an advisory role and removed him from his head coaching duties. Though it wasn’t officially announced as a firing, Carroll told reporters that it wasn’t his decision to step away from coaching.
Speaking on “The Rich Eisen Show” (h/t Joaquin Ruiz of NBC Sports Bay Area), San Francisco 49ers radio play-by-play voice Greg Papa sounded off on speculation about the team potentially hiring Bill Belichick as their defensive coordinator.
Papa suggested that Carroll would be a better fit as Kyle Shanahan’s DC than the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach:
“I think Pete Carroll would be more of a natural fit. Because with Belichick, he likes to vary his fronts — it would be a very different defense. What’s the best defense to run for Fred [Warner], Dre [Greenlaw], Nick [Bosa], Charvarius Ward, Deommodore Lenoir and Talanoa Hufanga? That’s who you’re trying to serve…
The defense that the 49ers are running since Kyle [Shanahan] has been the head coach is [the] Seattle’s defense. [Carroll’s] the guy who did it…
He’s from the Bay Area. He used to be the defensive coordinator of the 49ers. Pete’s from here. He’s from Marin, Greenbrae. Does Pete want to do that, though? He’s been at the head coach level for 20 years. He hasn’t run a defense since he was with the 49ers in the mid-90s.”
Few coaches know Carroll better than Shanahan, who clashed twice a year inside the NFC West from 2018 to 2023. On top of that, Shanahan was the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator when they eliminated Carroll’s Seahawks in the 2016 NFC Divisional Round.
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Shanahan fired defensive coordinator Steve Wilks following the 49ers’ heartbreaking Super Bowl 58 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The move came as a surprise to many, since the 49ers fielded the league’s third-best scoring defense in 2023.
