Sports
Getting to the core of why NFL players love Pilates
Dexter Lawrence’s ability to make an entrance on opposing offenses often grants the New York Giants defensive lineman the final say.
Just go back to when he effectively ended the Giants’ wild-card win over the Minnesota Vikings by hitting quarterback Kirk Cousins on New York’s final defensive play of the game. Feeling the pressure of an onrushing lineman, Cousins threw the ball well short of a first down. Lawrence’s seven pressures, four QB hits, three hurries and six tackles (one for loss) helped the Giants to their first playoff win since 2012. But it was one of Lawrence’s numerous midgame quips that pointed to what was aiding the monstrous season and upcoming payday for the now two-time Pro Bowler.
“That Pilates be getting me right,” shouted Lawrence to teammate Leonard Williams.
“For real?” Wiliams responded in high-pitched disbelief.
Is the 6-foot-4, 340-pound All-Pro QB hunter seriously contorting his body in classes that evolved into a workout favored by New York City ballerinas?
“A lot of core work so that helps with my lower back,” Lawrence says. “Just flexibility and strengthening different areas.”
You may laugh, but NFL players of all shapes and sizes will do whatever it takes to be the best. The NFL has a long history of players using ballet and other forms of dance to differentiate their workouts from what goes on in the weight room and on the football field.
Pilates, which players have utilized for years now, is gaining devoted practitioners in part because of an explosion of social media video posts featuring their sweating and shaking workouts.
“I voluntarily go to go shake like a leaf and hold myself in these extremely challenging tough positions,” Dolphins linebacker Jaelan Phillips says. “It makes your body stronger but also makes your mind and soul and spirit stronger. I really leave Pilates with a glow.”
The Dolphins’ Jaelan Phillips touts the mind-body connection of Pilates training. (Charlotte Carroll / The Athletic)
One of those glowing days comes during a June one-on-one session at Fuerza Pilates in Studio City, Calif. For mere seconds, Phillips lies on his back. Those clock ticks aren’t a respite. Instead, they’re the in-between for Phillips’ next action.
Arms extended above his shoulders, Phillips grips one of the bars of the Cadillac — a trapeze table and to some a medieval torture-like bench overflowing with springs and straps hanging from a steel canopy. But for those in Pilates, it’s just another piece of equipment that can offer teachers, like Fuerza’s founder Nicky Lal, more variety.
As Phillips bends his knees into a tabletop position, Lal directs the 6-foot-5, 263-pounder to roll himself up and extend his legs out. Phillips then performs the task backward, slowly inching his lower back toward the table until his head briefly touches.
Again.
Phillips rolls up with Lal once more offering support for his feet as she directs him to sink his waist and pull his chest higher. All through the movements, Phillips maintains a steady inhale and exhale necessary for the practice.
“If you take that to the field, if you take that to really anything, (such as) anxiety, breathing can alleviate that,” Phillips says. “So Pilates is just like a microcosm of a lot of things that you can apply to real life that are beneficial for your health and wellness.”
Phillips suffered a groin injury in his first NFL training camp and hip flexor injuries throughout his 2021 rookie season. But his confidence in Pilates has blossomed since he started incorporating it into his workout regimen. The Dolphins bring in Jackie Bachor, who offers in-house Pilates sessions on Tuesdays during the season (player off days). Looking for ways to optimize his performance, Phillips started going weekly and he estimates about 10 of his teammates participate as well.
“As a football player, we’re so used to being big and strong and dominating in what we do,” Phillips says. “So … stepping out of your comfort zone to do something you’re not good at can be kind of daunting. And so doing Pilates the first time, it’s kind of embarrassing, right? You’re sitting there shaking, you’re trying to hold yourself.”
Phillips hasn’t dealt with hip flexor or groin issues since his rookie season, and he credits the deep core muscle work of Pilates for injury prevention. It has also given him a competitive edge — not only by productively utilizing his Tuesdays, but also by exposing his physical deficiencies.
“When you do something like Pilates, you can’t hide,” Phillips says.
But this offseason was different. Phillips suffered a torn Achilles tendon in late November. It’s the first lower-body injury that’s kept him out an extended period of time. After surgery, he couldn’t walk for three months. He calls rehab a “learning experience.”
Part of that process, before rejoining the Dolphins on the Physically Unable to Perform list to start training camp, included spending a month this summer in Los Angeles. He underwent physical therapy, chiropractic work, soft-tissue massage along with his usual workouts. He also incorporated Pilates for the first time during an offseason and connected with Lal through former UCLA teammates.
On the June afternoon that Phillips walked into Lal’s studio, Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark had just finished a session. Clark, entering his ninth NFL season, would sign his third Packers contract valued at $64 million this summer. The three-time Pro Bowler has missed just one game over the past three seasons.
“You don’t really see a lot of men or bigger guys doing Pilates,” says Clark, who was initially skeptical of the exercise after being introduced by former Titans and Raiders linebacker Jayon Brown. “It was one of those things, like ‘I ain’t going to do it.’
“And then here I am.”
Clark has been working with Lal — who trains between 50-65 athlete clients, including NBA players — for three years. The Packers have had a reformer machine available to players for a number of years, and Lal works with Clark on his in-season off-days. There’s a mix of virtual sessions and a packed schedule during offseasons as her new studio (with high ceilings and longer reformers for taller, broader bodies) fills with visiting clients. Each session is customized, and often starts with a series of questions: Did a player just get off a plane? What workout are they on? How are they feeling?
Longtime NFL linebacker Anthony Barr works with Pilates instructor Nicky Lal. (Charlotte Carroll / The Athletic)
The morning Phillips arrives, he’s already completed physical therapy and conditioning, so their session is focused on active stretching. Phillips spends most of the class on the Cadillac apparatus, receiving hands-on instruction and frequent check-ins from Lal.
“I’m not trying to make my clients shake,” Lal says. “I’m not trying to push them to a limit that they’re going to break. My goal is to make them feel better and rejuvenated once they leave.
“I try to create a lot of different movements that they don’t get in the gym and in their workouts with their teams.”
As Phillips’ class winds down, he’s stretching out over a barrel — another piece of equipment — when the studio door opens and Chicago Bears center Coleman Shelton walks in.
While Lal specializes in athlete clients, she’s not the only instructor who’s taken on professional football players.
One of the first players Kristen Wolf trained at her Chicago studio was former Bears and Jets running back Matt Forte. Wolf has since moved her Superior Pilates studio up to Lake Forest, Ill., just a quick drive from Bears headquarters. Word of mouth did the rest.
“When they do it, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need this,’” Wolf says.
Sessions are tailored to each person and she currently trains around 10 to 15 players, including current Bears like offensive lineman Teven Jenkins, running back Khalil Herbert, defensive back Josh Blackwell and defensive back Elijah Hicks.
“Because they’re athletes, they really get it, the importance of it and yet they have the best attitudes and discipline and sense of humor,” Wolf says. “It’s great for recovery, mobility, prevention, and obviously, the core. A lot of them think they have strong core muscles but in Pilates, it teaches you to work those muscles around your spine, so it strengthens their backs, and then it helps them to be stronger all over.”
Players across the league, from San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, who trains with Lal, to the Giants’ stalwart left tackle Andrew Thomas, have tried it. The 6-foot-5, 315-pound Thomas did Pilates for the first time this offseason. “A lot of times we get put in compromised positions just because of the nature of going backwards (as an offensive lineman),” he says. “So I think Pilates just helps with your flexibility and your core strength and it helps you sit down rushers and be athletic on the field.”
Even Thomas’ coach, Brian Daboll, has discovered the benefits. Daboll started this summer because of a conversation over dinner with a friend who owns a Pilates studio in Wyckoff, N.J. Twenty sessions later, Daboll says, “I’m more flexible. I am stronger and I just generally feel better.”
When it comes to the perception of Pilates and the evolution of its birth as an exercise for men created by Joseph Pilates, Wolf and Kansas City area instructor Kahley Schiller are excited to see it back to including men.
“It has that perception, that it’s a girl thing or that it’s (for) dancers,” Schiller says. But players that she trains, like Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton and defensive ends George Karlaftis and Charles Omenihu, are embracing it and changing perceptions, she says.
And Phillips is more than happy to spread the gospel.
“I feel like … people are starting to understand that it’s like a hard workout,” Phillips says. “It’s more normalized for NFL guys and guys in general to be doing it. But a lot of people would rather just lift and stretch than do Pilates. I try to put everyone on Pilates if I can.”
Five-time Pro Bowl guard Trai Turner is one of those people who listened. After trying Pilates with the Dolphins linebacker just the week prior, Turner is back for his third class, a private session with Lal. Since Turner is working his way back from a torn quad suffered last training camp and is new to the exercise, there’s careful attention to how his 6-foot-3, 320-pound body responds. In one sequence on the Cadillac, Turner started with both feet in straps but he took one foot out to ease the strain. But Lal said that will change over time as he acclimates to the movements. In these early sessions, it’s about making clients comfortable.
Trai Turner is new to Pilates, but he’s quickly becoming a convert. (Charlotte Carroll / The Athletic)
Like those that have come before him, Turner expected a good stretching session, but: “It’s like, damn, I didn’t lift 1,000 pounds. I didn’t run a million sprints, but she put me on this table and made me hold this pose for three seconds, and I’m feeling it three days later.”
For the 31-year-old, the sessions have been a “good introduction back into (his) body being nimble and able to take the beating that comes with football.” It’s also something he wished he’d discovered earlier in his career.
“I’m doing this to help aid me in football, but I’m also doing this to help aid me in life in general,” Turner says. “So that when I wake up in the morning, my knees don’t hurt. ’Cause now if my knees hurt, that messes with my physical. My physical bothering me in turn messes with my mental. Now my emotions are messed up. It can turn into a downward spiral.
“I’m just an advocate for myself, older guys and younger guys that even though we are taking care of the physical, make sure you take care of the mental. And this is part of taking care of the mental.”
The mental. The physical. Injury rehab. Core strengthening. There are lots of reasons players are drawn to Pilates … and then keep coming back for more.
And sure enough, just before Turner heads out the door and strides into the Los Angeles sunshine, he schedules another session.
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic. Photos: Charlotte Carroll / The Athletic)
Sports
Those who never doubted Cameron Skattebo share validation: ‘No one understood what we were looking at’
Arizona State was picked to finish last in the 16-team Big 12. The Sun Devils are now meeting Texas in the Peach Bowl in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals. The player who sparked that incredible run also epitomizes it.
Cameron Skattebo — 1,568 rushing yards, 19 rushing touchdowns, 506 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns — went from high school graduate with no FBS offers to fifth-place finisher in the 2024 Heisman Trophy voting. The running back has gone from cult hero to folk hero, displaying an uncanny knack for breaking tackles and for blowing people’s minds.
Leo Skattebo III (Cam’s father): Before he turned 3, we got him a bike for Christmas.
Becky Skattebo (Cam’s mother): He (Cam) argued with my dad (Cam’s grandfather) to take the training wheels off. “I don’t want em! I don’t want em!” wouldn’t take no for an answer. My dad popped them off. “Welp, he’ll eat dirt a couple of times and then he’ll figure it out.”
Leo Skattebo IV (older brother): They took him out on the bike. He goes down the street, and within two minutes, he’s full speed pedaling back and goes, “Watch this!” And he stands up on the seat of the bike coming down the street.
Becky: He’s going, “I don’t have to hold the handlebars!” The neighbors just stood outside hysterically laughing.
Leo III: I think that’s when I knew he was gonna be different.
Becky: At about 18 months, we were sitting at the dinner table and a neighbor knocked on the door. She’s standing there with Cam in a diaper. He had climbed over the fence and dropped over the other side to play with her kids.
The scariest thing he ever did was when he was 2. We were watching his dad play softball. He had been standing next to me and we were watching his dad at bat. It seemed like a split-second but when I turned and looked. He was gone. I started to panic. Everybody was yelling his name. His brother ran to the bathroom and was calling his name. People are looking under the bleachers. Then, the umpire says, “Well, there, he is!”
We looked straight up above us. He had crawled all the way up the chain-link backstop and was looking down on his dad that was at bat. It was like 14 or 16 feet up on those rounded backstops. One of the guys started to climb the fence and Cameron turned around but instead of backing down like a normal person, he came down head first, like a little Spiderman. He’s been doing things that are inexplainable from pretty much Day 1.
Leo III: Yeah, he did a lot of weird things.
Leo IV: All he ever cared about was winning. It didn’t matter if we were playing a video game, or wrestling on the trampoline. He wanted to beat me.
Becky: We had many holes in the sheetrock from the boys wrestling, slinging each other around the house. They never took it easy on him. They tossed him around pretty good, and he’s just always been able to handle it.
Leo IV: I was six years older than him and he wanted to beat me in everything. I didn’t take it easy on him.
Becky: He’d always competed with older kids, whether that was wrestling in the front yard or on the field. When he says he can do something, it’s real hard not to believe that he can do it.
Jack Garceau (Rio Linda (Calif.) High School coach, Skattebo’s coach from 2017-19): I’ve known Cam since he was a little boy, because I coached his older brother, so we’ve always heard about Cam coming up in our youth program. We’d go watch him. He was just a little ball of muscle. He had that little mohawk and it just always fit his image.
I became the head coach when he was a sophomore. It was the first day of spring ball. It was a blocking drill. No pads and he just was not going to lose. If he got beat in any one-on-one drill, he was going again. I came home and told my wife, “This guy is way different than anybody we’ve ever had.”
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In 2018, Rio Linda won its first section title in 14 years, led by Skattebo. The junior running back scored seven touchdowns and ran for 313 yards in a 63-12 win over Casa Roble.
Chris Horner (Casa Roble (CA) High School head coach): After that game, I saw him by the bus. I remember dapping him up. I said, “Bro, you were so fun to watch. I’ve never seen anything like that. Good luck. I’m a huge Rio Linda Knights fan from here on out.”
Skattebo had a prolific high school season but struggled to gain traction with major FBS programs. (Photo: Aaron M. Sprecher / Getty Images)
A few weeks later, on Rio Linda’s opening series of the CIF State Division 5-AA Title Game against San Gorgonio, Skattebo had a 67-yard touchdown run where he broke 11 tackles. He finished with 396 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries in a 38-35 win. He was doing it all through his parents’ divorce.
Leo IV: My mom and dad had been together for about 20 years. That was hard. It was hard on Cameron. I was away at college. I lived in Ohio, had a son. I wasn’t there to be the big brother for him. And at the most formative moment for him — he’s 16 and everything around him is falling apart. Somehow on Friday nights, he was able to tune out all that emotional distress, when he was falling apart on the inside, and still be the best player in the state. A lot of kids can’t handle that. That showed me this kid has something different than other kids have mentally.
It’s very easy to let that affect you, and start lashing out at other people around you. He just didn’t do that. He continued to be a leader.
Becky: When we split up, his coach was really instrumental in keeping him focused and letting him vent, giving him room when he needed. I don’t think we’ll ever really know if it fueled him or if it almost derailed him.
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That same year, Skattebo led the Knights to the California 5-A state title by rushing for 3,550 yards and 42 touchdowns. He averaged almost 12 yards per carry but he was still a zero-star recruit who had no scholarship offers.
Garceau: Bigger schools did come. We had UCLA, USC. Utah, Air Force but they just passed on him. It made us all kind of doubt ourselves.
Cam Skattebo: I went to UCLA right after my junior year. They told me that I wasn’t good enough for this level. I can’t remember who I was sitting with at the time. It was (Bruins running backs coach Deshaun) Foster’s assistant. Bjian (Robinson) was at the facility and that was their focus. They spelled my name wrong on my name tag. It was just an unofficial visit there. I was just sitting in the back, hanging out. Me and my father. It was a humbling experience.
Troy Taylor (Stanford head coach, former Sacramento State head coach 2019-22): We were evaluating players. I couldn’t really find anybody who said we should go on the kid. I put on the tape. You could see the anger when he ran and the determination. I was five or six clips in and I said, “We’re taking this guy!”
I remember specifically that run (where he broke 11 tackles in the state title game). I just couldn’t believe that no one else would go on the kid. I’m not always right but I decided on the spot. We were his only offer. Everybody missed on that one.
Cam Skattebo: I wasn’t too worried because I knew at some point in my life I was gonna take that next step even if I had to go the juco route. I knew I was gonna make it. But I definitely sat around a lot of days hoping for a text from somebody, which never happened. I finally got Sacramento State, and I was the happiest kid in the world.
Taylor: Then he came to our camp and he was kind of a prick when he competed. It was one-on-ones against the linebackers. He would win the rep and then get up and cut in line and take another rep. He just had that attitude that you don’t want to compete against this kid. I just fell in love with him.
Malcolm Agnew (Sacramento State running back coach, 2021-22): In 2021, he was unbelievable in spring ball because of how physical he was, and because of how competitive he is. It was practice No. 6. This kid touched the ball probably around 10 times that practice, and he scored every time. And we had a pretty good defense.
My favorite play was when we ran this middle screen with him. It was a poor throw, but the dude caught it with his left hand like down towards where his knees are — and he played baseball so he’s really good at tracking the ball — and had the ability to make a guy miss as he was turning and catching it. Then, he made another guy miss and scored. I said to our head coach, “That is one of the best plays I’ve ever seen.”
Taylor: His first game, it looked like he was playing with younger people who didn’t belong on the field with him.
Jason Eck (New Mexico head coach; then-Idaho head coach): He killed us (Idaho) in 2022. He reminds me of Jim Brown highlights.
Agnew: I’ve seen this kid hit standing backflips. I’ve seen this kid broad-jump almost 11 feet. He did a 10-7. I’ve seen him throw a baseball 95 miles an hour to the point where the Sac State baseball coach asked him if he wanted to play in the offseason. We didn’t let him.
Skattebo is the heart and soul of Arizona State’s turnaround. (Photo: William Purnell / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In Skattebo’s first season at Sacramento State, he ran for 520 yards, averaging over 9 yards per carry, scoring six touchdowns. In his second year, he had almost 1,900 all-purpose yards and was named Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year, helping the Hornets go 11-0 in the regular season. But after Taylor left to become Stanford’s head coach, Skattebo opted to enter the transfer portal.
Taylor: (Then-Arizona State offensive coordinator) Beau Baldwin called me: “We’re trying to figure out whether to go on Skatt. What do you think?” I said, “Beau, he’s an incredible player. You guys would be crazy not to take him.” Beau pulled the trigger.
The Sun Devils were in the midst of a massive rebuild. They finished 3-9 in 2022 and subsequently hired 32-year-old Kenny Dillingham, an ASU graduate, to lead the program. They were an undermanned team in 2023, but Skattebo emerged as the backbone of the overhaul. He did almost everything for the Sun Devils. He was a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award, given to the nation’s most versatile player. He’d run for 788 yards, but also played some quarterback, completing six passes on 15 attempts for 150 yards and a touchdown. He averaged over 42 yards per punt. He lined up at receiver for another 100-plus snaps.
This year, the Sun Devils were seeded fourth and got a bye in the first iteration of the 12-team College Football Playoff. They will play 5-seed Texas in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1 for a spot in the Playoff semifinals.
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Marcus Arroyo (ASU offensive coordinator): I think (former USC analyst Kliff) Kingsbury was the first guy who told me about him (Cam). Kliff’s like, “Dude, they got a back down there that is bananas. This little sawed-off White guy.”
Joe Connolly (ASU strength coach): Last season, we saw a lot of flashes of unbelievable balance, unbelievable body awareness. He was our starting quarterback at one point, our starting punter, our starting running back, often playing wide receiver. One of the biggest things we did this offseason was tightening the nutrition, the consistency. He was north of 230 pounds and now he’s around 218. He’s increased his speed and his quickness. All those things really showed this year. He never has to come off the field. He is absolutely relentless.
Cam: I think my top speed was the high 19s (miles per hour on the GPS) last year. Right before training camp this year, I almost hit 21.
Arroyo: The guy can really run. He’s hitting 20 MPH on his GPS in the game. It’s crazy where he doesn’t look like he’s moving that fast sometime. When you see guys go up against real guys, and you’re like, “OK, let’s see what this looks like?” And every time, he takes the torch. God-dang, these guys just can’t even tackle this guy. Against Utah, those guys are really big and fast and talented, and he ran over those guys. He was absolutely insane against Iowa State.
Morgan Scalley (Utah defensive coordinator): For as much punishment as he dishes out, and as much as he takes, he is so durable. His shirt get ripped and all the crap he takes, and he just keeps coming back. He’s like Rocky.
Taylor: I always said he was like a Viking. A couple of hundreds years ago, he’d have been at the front of the boat with horns on his helmet, ready to jump onto the other boat to take it over.
Horner: Our coaches (at Casa Roble) had a text chain while we were watching what he was doing to Iowa State (in the Big 12 title game). It was another level. When we lose to a guy like this doing what he’s doing to a college team, it should make us feel a lot better about that drubbing that he put on us in his junior year of high school. Yeah, we lost to Cameron Skattebo, but so did everybody else!
Taylor: He’s been doubted at every single level, and they’ll doubt him again for the NFL, but watch, he’ll end up being an NFL player — and a good one.
Leo III: Whoever drafts him or wherever he ends up, if he just plays in the preseason, he’ll earn his spot on the team. But if they get him on the field and give him the opportunity, he’s going to make somebody very smart.
Garceau: Now, we all feel validated. We knew exactly what we were looking at and nobody else understood. We would hear everything from he’s too small, he’s too short, he’s not fast enough. There was the stigma of the White running back; the fact that we weren’t a giant school. There was just always that one little thing. I am just glad he got the opportunity to show everybody what he can do. But if you change that, and he maybe he gets a big ride out of high school, maybe we’re not here today.
(Photo: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens was singled out by NFL legend Terrell Owens after the Steelers dropped three straight games, including a lopsided loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Christmas Day.
Returning from a three-game absence after a hamstring injury, Pickens was expected to have an impact against the defending champions.
Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid (20) hits Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens (14) during the second half Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
But after just three receptions for 50 yards, the third-year wideout faced scrutiny for his lack of production. Among those calling him out was Hall of Famer Terrell Owens.
Responding to a social media post about Cam Hayward’s postgame comments in which he said, “When 10 guys do their job and one guy doesn’t, we are screwed,” Owens agreed there was a similar issue on offense.
“Same on offense as well when you got #14 not running his routes causing [interceptions,]” Owens said in a post on X.
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens (14) makes a catch against Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Joshua Williams (2) during the second half Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
STEELERS’ GEORGE PICKENS RAISES EYEBROWS OVER POSTGAME HANDSHAKES WITH CHIEFS STARS
Owens seemed to be referencing a play at the end of the first quarter. With the Chiefs leading 13-0, veteran quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception in the end zone. While taking ownership for the mistake, Wilson acknowledged Pickens was supposed to run another route.
“Yeah, you know, I think he was going to go vertical. But, at the end of the day, it can’t happen. It’s on me,” Wilson said, via FOX 8. “I was trying to give Pat [Freiermuth] a chance. He’s done a good job for us down in the red zone, and they made a good play.”
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson (3) runs into the end zone for a touchdown against Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal (54) during the first half Wednesday, Dec. 25, 2024, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Matt Freed)
The Steelers have lost three games in 11 days.
“The bottom line is the junior varsity is not good enough. We’ve got to own that,” head coach Mike Tomlin said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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It certainly seems calculated. Pete Carroll, scheduled to begin teaching at USC this spring, has reportedly expressed interest in the Chicago Bears’ head coaching job.
Likely of no coincidence is that the Seattle Seahawks — the team Carroll coached for 14 seasons — visit the Bears on “Thursday Night Football.” The broadcasters are spoon-fed a talking point while noting that the Bears have lost nine games in a row, including all three under interim coach Thomas Brown.
A delicious detail is the shared USC history of Carroll and Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. Carroll coached the Trojans from 2001-2009, posting a 97-19 record and winning national championships in 2003 and 2004. Williams was an appendage to new Trojans coach Lincoln Riley, transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022 and winning the Heisman Trophy. Although 2023 didn’t go as well, Williams was the first pick in the NFL draft.
Chicago needs an impact coach. Carroll is one, or at least was for a long time, leading the Seahawks to nine consecutive winning records, 10 playoff berths and a Super Bowl title. He is one of four head coaches — Barry Switzer, Jimmy Johnson and Jim Harbaugh are the others — to have led teams to a college national championship and a Super Bowl appearance.
But Carroll is 73 and appeared done when he was nudged out the door by the Seahawks after the 2023 season.
In August, he seemed lukewarm, replying to a question about his coaching future on a Seattle radio station by saying, “I could coach tomorrow. I’m physically in the best shape I’ve been in a long time. I’m ready to do all the activities I’m doing and feeling really good about it. I could, but I’m not desiring it at this point.”
Yet sitting at home watching 17 weeks of football apparently rekindled the fire. Carroll initiated this story. He wants it known. He’s interested in coaching the Bears, according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Remember that in his final days in Seattle he repeatedly said he wanted to continue coaching, putting an exclamation point on his intentions shortly after his last game by saying those comments were “true to the bone.”
NFL head coaches have been skewing younger. If Carroll were hired, he’d be seven years older than the current oldest NFL head coach, Andy Reid, although it bears mention that Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs are 15-1 and defending Super Bowl champions. Carroll has always appeared younger than he is, exhibiting boundless energy and enthusiasm in a profession that can jade men.
The Bears are one of at least three teams — the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets are the others — that will be shopping for a head coach when the season ends. Chicago fired Matt Eberflus on Nov. 29, one day after a 23-20 loss to the Detroit Lions that concluded with perplexing clock mismanagement by the coach and his quarterback.
Williams has had a roller-coaster season, mixing brilliant plays with poor decisions. He’s been sacked a league-leading 60 times yet hasn’t thrown an interception in nine games. Working under Carroll, who developed Russell Wilson even though the pair had their share of differences, could accelerate Williams’ improvement.
All of a sudden, the USC class Carroll is scheduled to co-teach this spring is in jeopardy. The Marshall School of Business offering is called “The Game Is Life: a new course designed to help students develop their personal game plan for life after graduation, while using their USC education to conquer challenges along the way.”
Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit can unpack it all Thursday night while the Bears try to win for the first time since Oct. 13 against the Seahawks, whose sideline still seems strange without Carroll bounding, grimacing and grinning.
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