After the 2019 season ended, Pete Carroll said he wanted to keep his offensive line together.
“It is important,’’ Carroll said. “I hope we can keep our guys connected. I don’t want to see a big change there.’’
Well, that plan obviously changed: The Seahawks will have three, perhaps four, new starters in 2020. Only three other teams in the NFL apparently will undergo that much change up front. It’s a tough year to do that, too — with a pandemic impacting preparation time.
The Seahawks have long claimed they look for rookies with “grit” who have overcome early life challenges. They think it gives those guys an edge and makes them better competitors.
“All come in with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove,” Pete Carroll said, repeating what he and John Schneider say every year.
They got “grit” guys again on Day 2 of this draft, moving up to take pass rusher Darrell Taylor and then moving down and picking guard Damien Lewis. Both overcame rough childhoods that included their dads being imprisoned (and Taylor’s mom died of breast cancer when he was a high school sophomore).
Carroll and Schneider think those hurdles — plus years of big-college experience — prepared these guys to play in the NFL as rookies, especially in a year when there will be no rookie minicamp and prep time likely will be minimal.
Continue reading Will grit and chips help rookies play big roles?
Ahead of the draft, we pointed out that the Seahawks seemed to be approaching this unusual offseason with the idea of using a veteran team and not relying on rookies given the limited prep time.
We said this class would largely be a redshirt bunch, except for positions such as running back and defensive tackle that are not as complicated and make it easier for youngsters to contribute.
Well, the Hawks apparently think they can pick a bunch of rookies who can step in right away — an odd thought considering they held back Marquise Blair last year and have rarely gotten much out of their rookies in recent years.
After picking four-year Texas Tech starter Jordyn Brooks, John Schneider said, “Our philosophy was trying to get players that, in the environment that we’re in, can come in and act like pros right away. And this is one of them.”
Continue reading On Day 2, Hawks are targeting savvy rookies
The Seahawks did it again: Drafted a Day 2 guy on Day 1. What else is new?
We figured they would take a linebacker, but thought they would trade down first and go for Wisconsin’s Zack Baun in Round 2.
They did indeed try to move down, John Schneider said, but Green Bay backed out of a deal. And Schneider had no one else on the line, so he stayed put for the first time since 2011 — and drafted a different linebacker, Jordyn Brooks of Texas Tech.
Continue reading Move down fails and Hawks make another surprise Day 1 pick
Most fans have been underwhelmed by Seattle’s offseason, which has been highlighted by the signing of an aging tight end, a bunch of middling offensive linemen and a couple of familiar second-tier pass rushers.
But there might be a method to the mediocrity of John Schneider and Pete Carroll. They seem to be trying to plan around the pandemic, realizing this is a year to have a veteran club and preparing for a draft class that might redshirt.
Continue reading Seahawks preparing for a redshirt draft amid pandemic offseason?
The Seahawks are caught between a rock and a hard spot — not that they would recognize or admit it, of course.
They are terrible drafters in the late first round, which is why it is always good when they move down from the 20s. If they do that this week, they figure to have a good shot at five picks on Day 2. The problem: They messed it up the last two times they had the power on Day 2.
Continue reading Looking at a big Day 2, will Hawks get it right this time?
“We’re trying to figure out how to whip the other guys, get better information, more intel and all that.” — Pete Carroll on preparation for the virtual draft
As the NFL gets ready for what Pete Carroll called “a one-time-only situation” and “really unique” virtual draft, this is an opportunity for the Seahawks to show they are still one of the league’s most tech-savvy franchises by taking advantage of less-prepared franchises.
The Seahawks have been a pretty bad drafting team since 2013, but John Schneider has an experienced personnel crew, established connections around football and a franchise that became cutting edge under the late Paul Allen. That all should help the Hawks where other teams might fail in this virtual format.
“It’s the wild, wild West a little bit,” Carroll recently told SiriusXM NFL Radio. “We’ve all got guidelines and rules and everything, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t ways in there that you can’t figure out how you can get what you need to get. Johnny is prepared knowing that he’s not going to have as much as normal and they won’t have the normal process that he would have. But we’re going to try and max that out in every way we can.”
Continue reading How Hawks are handling ‘wild, wild West’ draft
John Schneider had around $35 million in 2020 salary cap space to spend on free agents when the league year began, and everyone expected a chunk of that to go toward a pass rusher on a long-term deal.
That has not happened, and it would be a surprise now if it did — because Schneider has spent about $34 million on 13 veterans (including four RFAs). And he has followed his SOP of not giving out long-term deals to outside players — just three of his signings (Jarran Reed, B.J. Finney, Brandon Shell) have been for two years. Even his reported offers to Jadeveon Clowney have been for just one or two years.
Other than guys on rookie deals, the Seahawks have just three players signed for the next three seasons: Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and shaky kicker Jason Myers.
Basically, this team is built — you might say patched together — through only 2021. And that includes Schneider and Pete Carroll, whose contracts expire after that season as well.
Why are they being so shortsighted? Because they generally give long-term deals only to players who have proven themselves in Carroll’s system — and few of their recent draft picks have earned the right to be considered part of the core.
Continue reading Waiting for new core to emerge, Schneider won’t invest beyond two years
The NFL didn’t postpone free agency, so it makes sense that the league is not going to put off the draft either. It’s still on for April 23-25, three weeks from now.
Well, for John Schneider’s Seahawks, it probably will be April 24-25 – the usual two-day affair after a move out of the first round.
Just about every non-trade mock draft has the Seahawks taking a pass rusher with the 27th overall pick. Two problems with that: Seattle won’t stay at 27, and pass rusher probably won’t be Seattle’s first pick.
Continue reading Draft countdown: Skill players over pass rusher?
Everyone knows Pete Carroll loves competition. And John Schneider loves COMPetition — working free agency so he ends up with compensatory draft picks the next year.
He has done it in four of the past six years — and he got three extra selections today when 2020 picks were announced. But is it really a game worth playing? Has Schneider found any diamonds in the rough with these extra picks?
Continue reading Will Schneider keep playing the comp game, despite little return?
