#SeahawksDraft jersey numbers have been assigned! pic.twitter.com/mJhHrx2NmP
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) May 11, 2017
Pete Carroll and his staff got to see the 11 draft picks and almost 60 other players Friday as Seattle’s rookie minicamp got under way.
We wrote separately about Carroll’s take on the four draft picks in the secondary. Here are his first impressions of other rookies:
Malik McDowell is everything the coaches thought he was — so far.
“(Ethan Pocic and Germain Ifedi) are going to compete and obviously what you hope is that they prove to us day in and day out that they are two of the best five. And then you’ve got to move one of them somewhere, and that’s a good problem to have.’’ — Tom Cable to KJR
This is so like the Seahawks.
With holes across their offensive line, they draft two guys with high picks in consecutive years — yet are so uncertain where to play them that they decide to pit them against each other at the same position.
In an interview with KJR, relayed by Bob Condotta, Tom Cable confirmed what Pete Carroll has been saying: The Seahawks basically have no clue where their linemen will start.
Cliff Avril said he understands why Marshawn Lynch wants to play in Oakland, is glad the Seahawks did not trade Richard Sherman, and also looks forward to mentoring Malik McDowell.
Those were the top takeaways from a good interview with Avril on NFL Network on Tuesday — as Avril returns from his Haiti work and a side trip to the NFL draft to announce some of Seattle’s picks.
The Seahawks are still a long way from figuring out their starting five linemen for 2017, but Pete Carroll at least has defined the positions where the key players will be competing.
Luke Joeckel and Rees Odhiambo are working both left spots, George Fant is at left tackle, Mark Glowinski has moved over to right guard to battle Oday Aboushi, Germain Ifedi has moved from right guard to right tackle, and rookie Ethan Pocic is starting out on the right side in an apparent reserve role.
“We have all kinds of flexibility,” Carroll told 710 ESPN, “but we’re zeroing in in that fashion.”
When the Seahawks drafted Malik McDowell after three moves down last weekend, both John Schneider and Pete Carroll had some motivational words for him on the phone — signs that concerns about his effort were valid.
But Carroll explained in more detail Thursday why they are not worried about McDowell’s desire and fit with the hypercompetitive Seahawks.
“He had a monster year as a sophomore,” Carroll told 710 ESPN, referring to McDowell’s 4.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss for Michigan State in 2015. “He came into the (2016) season with a high ankle sprain. It almost debilitates you, but he kept playing and kept battling.
“We see the whole body of evaluation … that tells us … we’ve got a great guy here potentially,” Carroll added. “He’s 20 years old. … He’s just getting started.”
Richard Sherman is refocused, and there’s “like zero percent” chance he will be traded at this point, Pete Carroll says, but the Seahawks will continue to listen.
And, once they lower the price next year, he probably will be traded.
“There (are) always opportunities to trade,” Carroll told 710 ESPN. “We would say that everybody’s untouchable, but we always have to listen to the opportunities … to compete to make our team better.”
Continue reading Sherman refocused, but Hawks still listening
Putting aside questions about Malik McDowell’s desire and Ethan Pocic’s position, the Seahawks accomplished all of their major goals in this draft: interior rusher, O-line competition, lots of DB depth.
They also added a couple of big receivers, which could be bad news for Jermaine Kearse, and replaced key role players Kelcie McCray and Tony McDaniel.
Asked if the roster is better than it was after the 2016 draft, Pete Carroll really couldn’t say that. The best he could do was: “I feel strong about it.”
He pointed out the three linebackers Seattle has signed, the O-linemen added via free agency and the draft, the two D-linemen.
“We’ve done some great stuff up front to make it more competitive. We’ve boosted the competition, obviously in the DB room but also at the receiver side of it. … I feel like it’s really going to be a competitive go.”
The Legion of Boom officially has been refreshed — thanks to an explosion of draft picks in Rounds 3-6.
As founding members Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman approach the twilight of their Seattle careers and DeShawn Shead recovers from a major knee injury, one of the big goals of this draft was to add to the secondary.
The Hawks accomplished that in a big way with the selections of cornerback Shaq Griffin and safeties Delano Hill, Tedric Thompson and Mike Tyson. It is the most defensive backs John Schneider has drafted — coming after none in 10 picks last year.
Continue reading Boom! Seahawks make secondary primary focus
Ethan Pocic is the Seahawks’ league-high 16th offensive lineman drafted since Pete Carroll and John Schneider arrived in 2010. He also is a symptom of why Seattle has failed to put together a functional offensive line.
One scouting report calls Pocic a “five-for-one lineman offering roster flexibility.” The Seahawks love that so much they almost traded up for him — even though they have no idea where they are going to play him.
“He was the one guy that, quite frankly, we were really sweating out because we felt like you’re drafting maybe two and a half players with one guy,” Schneider said. “We debated whether to go up and get him or just wait and sweat it out.”
“I think he’d admit that he had a rough year. So he’s looking for maybe a new spark and he’s either going to find that here in Seattle or he would find it somewhere else, but odds are he’s going to find it here.”
— John Schneider on Richard Sherman.
That’s the key quote from Schneider’s interview with 710 ESPN on Thursday night.
Schneider also talked about mutual respect, constant communication and “a great relationship” between the Seahawks’ chiefs and the All-Pro cornerback. But the bottom line is in those words: “He had a rough year” and is “looking for maybe a new spark.”
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 