Just my opinion ...
Pete Carroll isn't going to the NFL.
Ever.
And this is the reason:
He's a shitty NFL head coach.
The reason SC wins, is because they recruit like crazy. I'll leave it to you to decide for yourselves if they're on the level or not. But, one way or the other, the talent level they recruit is way, way up there.
And, so they win like 80 percent of their games or something like that -- probably more, though I'm too lazy to look it up exactly. But they've got the better talent in 98% of their games.
In the NFL, there is a salary cap and a draft. You can't just out recruit the other guy. And even if Carroll had good NFL talent, he is not the kind of guy who is going to out-coach anyone on the NFL level. I mean, he's known for coaching the Tampa Two defense or whatever it's called. The same defense that Tampa Bay DC Monte Kiffin and Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy play. (Dewayne Walker too.) Tampa and Indy each have a Super Bowl win, but I wouldn't call either of those guys great coaches ... they are very good, but not great ... and in the NFL Carroll isn't even them. The Jets and the Patriots didn't do anything great when Carroll was their head coach.
This isn't meant to be a sour grapes observation. SC is winning and winning big (and if they aren't on the up and up, they're getting away with it).
Scoreboard.
Carroll is recruiting on an incredible level and they are winning. But there is no recruiting in the NFL, so his greatest skill is nullified or neutralized.
So, I don't think he's going. All those phone calls are about getting SC to sweeten his deal.