Pete Carroll Reveals Who’s Winning the Seahawks QB Battle

After the offseason trade of Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos, the Seattle Seahawks have been forced to replace their former Pro Bowl QB.

Neither option for the position is particularly appealing, with the competition currently between Geno Smith and Drew Lock, who had been part of the trade return for Wilson.

Just a few days ago, head coach Pete Carroll was uncertain about who would be the starter, saying the competition was "wide open:"

On Tuesday, he was saying that he would be taking the full two weeks remaining in the practice period to make a choice:

“I’m wide open for whatever happens,” Carroll said ahead of yesterday’s practice. “We’ll just see what happens. There’s two more weeks of practice, too, after this. I had a set thought on what we would do with the timeline but that got disrupted, so we’re going to use all the time we need.”

That timeline appears to have changed in the past 48 hours, as Carroll seemingly announced that Geno Smith would be the starter, and had been leading the competition the entire preseason:

It's a remarkably quick turnaround from a "wide open" competition to saying that one QB has been the "number-one guy" the whole time.

Geno Smith of the Seattle Seahawks walks with head coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks during a time out in the third quarter during the preseason game against the Chicago Bears at Lumen Field on August 18, 2022 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)

Neither of these two quarterbacks are particularly appealing options; Lock threw 16 TD's and lead the league with 15 interceptions in his one (mostly) full season as a starter in 2020.

Smith, meanwhile, has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns over his career.

Both are a far cry from Wilson, who's been one of the league's best QB's since coming into the league in 2012. But the relationship between Wilson and the team soured, and so Carroll had to make an unappealing decision.

While choosing Smith is defensible, the rapid change of public statements leads you to believe that Carroll's been trying to motivate him by saying the decision hadn't yet been made.

The Seahawks open the regular season against Russell Wilson and the Broncos in Seattle, which should make for a fascinating crowd reaction.