Tag Archives: John Schneider

March 28, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks got four comp picks for the first time, giving them 11 picks in the draft.

The Seahawks added three defensive coaches — including former Seattle assistant Dwaine Board and one of Pete Carroll’s former USC defensive backs.

John Schneider talked about Russell Wilson, Michael Bennett and Brandon Mebane at the owners meetings.

Carroll said he is “fueled” by the Super Bowl loss and doesn’t want to let it go because he wants to learn from it.

He also said, “I’m confident that this team is going to come back and fricking roar. We are going to roar back into this offseason. These guys are working hard for it.’’

Carroll said all reports on Wilson’s contract so far were incorrect, and he talked about many of the players along the defensive line.

Carroll also said the Hawks are working on re-signing several of their remaining free agents.

Schneider said the Seahawks chose Michael Bennett over Golden Tate last year because the draft had a better class of receivers than pass rushers. (The Hawks ended up drafting receivers Paul Richardson and Kevin Norwood.)

The NFL is going to change the PAT in some fashion. Here’s Carroll’s idea:

Our idea for the extra point: -Automatic 7pts for a TD -Mandatory try from the 2 for 1pt -Defense can score 1pt by returning a fumble or INT

— Pete Carroll (@PeteCarroll) March 25, 2015

The Saints reportedly talked to the Dolphins about Jimmy Graham, too.

The Kingdome was imploded 15 years ago this week. And the debt for that structure was finally paid off this week as well.

Carroll helped Mike Williams, former USC star and one-time Seahawk, get a gig coaching high school football in Los Angeles.

Marshawn Lynch will appear in a Ludacris video for the rapper’s riff called — what else? — “Beast Mode.” (Did he have to pay Lynch royalties for using that title?)

Lynch has a strain of pot named after him, but he doesn’t smoke, according to Snoop Dogg, who said, “My homeboy got a career to play. He’s still in the NFL. He’s got a commissioner to deal with.”

Clare Farnsworth, who had covered the Seahawks for nearly their entire existence, retired this week.

Contracts

Carroll: No reports on Wilson deal are correct

March 26, 2015 cc Leave a comment

If Pete Carroll is to be taken at his absolute word, we can infer three things about Russell Wilson’s contract extension:

1 — It is not close to being finished.

2 — Wilson will not play out his rookie contract.

3 — His deal will not be fully guaranteed.

At the owners meetings on Wednesday, Carroll basically shot down all reports about Wilson talks, saying, “There are no big claims about what we are doing that have been made that are accurate.’’

That clearly was directed at ESPN, which reported last week that the sides were close to a deal, and at CBS, which reported this week that talks “have gone nowhere” and Wilson probably would play out the final year of his rookie contract. It also might have been a refutation of speculation that the Hawks will guarantee all of Wilson’s contract.

Continue reading Carroll: No reports on Wilson deal are correct →

Contracts, Free agency, NFL draft, The roster

Schneider talks Wilson, Mebane & more

March 24, 2015 cc Leave a comment

At the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix on Monday, John Schneider shed some light on a few Seahawk mysteries, courtesy of Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. A quick review:

With Phase 2 of free agency nearly complete, the Hawks will pick up negotiations with Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner soon.

“Things are calming down a little bit, if you will, on the unrestricted front,” Schneider said, “so we are hoping to get with those guys and their representatives fairly soon.”

That basically shoots down the ESPN radio report from Friday that the Hawks are close to a deal with Wilson and is more in line with the report by Jason La Canfora of CBS that “talks between Wilson and the Seahawks have gone nowhere.”

According to La Canfora, “no real progress” has been made and sources say the quarterback is preparing as if he might have to play out his rookie contract, which will pay him $1.54 million in 2015.

La Canfora has suggested that Wilson might play out his rookie deal and potentially end up getting the franchise tag in 2016. That seems highly doubtful. Much more likely is the Hawks aim for a draft-week deadline, as they did with Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman last year.

Continue reading Schneider talks Wilson, Mebane & more →

Contracts, State of the team, The roster

How serious is Bennett?

March 24, 2015 cc Leave a comment

A year ago, before he re-signed with the Seahawks, Michael Bennett was asked whether he would give the Super Bowl champs a Dynasty Discount — i.e., take a little less money to stay on the NFL’s best defense and the new perennial Super Bowl favorite.

His reply: “There’s no such thing as a discount. This is not Costco. This is not Walmart. This is real life. There’s no discount, really, because you don’t go out there and give a discount effort. You go out there and give the best effort every day, you fight for your teammates, and you want to be compensated for the way you perform and the kind of teammate you are.”

But he did in fact give the Hawks a bit of a break, accepting a little less in a four-year deal worth $28.5 million, including $16 million guaranteed.

“I don’t think there’s any better situation, no matter how much money is involved,” he told 710 ESPN after signing.

But, after being paid $10 million in 2014, Bennett apparently has decided he wants to head back to Costco and trade the deal in for a new one.

That will not happen. Seattle general manager John Schneider made that clear with his stance against Marshawn Lynch last year.

The question then is this: How much of a stink does Bennett plan to make about his contract? Will he push for the rumored trade to Atlanta? And when he doesn’t get it, will he hold out like Lynch did last year? Or for longer? Or, is he just seeing what he can get and willing to go back to work for the deal he signed just one year ago?

Continue reading How serious is Bennett? →

NFL draft

It’s official: Seahawks get four comp picks for the first time

March 23, 2015 cc Leave a comment

It’s official. The Seahawks received four compensatory draft picks when they were announced today and will have 11, as expected.

It’s the first time since comp picks were introduced in 1994 — the year after salary-cap free agency was introduced in the NFL — that Seattle has netted the maximum four. Teams receive comp picks if they suffer a net loss of qualifying free agents in the previous offseason.

The Hawks are one of three teams with the maximum four comp picks this year (also Denver and Kansas City). They figure to get four more in 2016, based on their free-agent losses this year. And they could end up with a few more in 2017.

Continue reading It’s official: Seahawks get four comp picks for the first time →

Contracts

Wilson deal is coming: What will it look like?

March 20, 2015 cc Leave a comment

If scuttlebutt is to be believed, the Seahawks are closing in on their much-anticipated contract extension for Russell Wilson.

The Hawks are almost sure to have it nailed down in the next month. Last year, they finished up big extensions for Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman the week before the draft.

Both of those deals were market-setting, and Wilson figures to get a very lucrative deal as well. The question everyone wants answered: What might it look like?

General manager John Schneider has given some clues over the past month or so.

Continue reading Wilson deal is coming: What will it look like? →

It's bigger than football, NFL draft, State of the team

Hawks already try to identify Borlands

March 17, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Chris Borland’s sudden retirement has caused a big stir among NFL observers, with some declaring this is a harbinger of the end of the game as we know it, forecasting a future mass exodus by players.

Others say Borland is an outlier who does not represent the future of the league. Many have supported his decision; some have criticized it.

In the end, it’s his decision — neither right nor wrong, just a personal choice he is entitled to make. (Although, if he always planned to play just one season and did not tell the 49ers or anyone else, that clearly was a selfish move and the 49ers certainly should make him repay the rest of his signing bonus.)

But the league is not ending any time soon. There will be no rush to the doors by all of the league’s current and future players. One man’s decision — certainly not the first or last such premature retirement — won’t change the game in some major way.

But it might change how teams evaluate players.

The Seahawks are already ahead of the curve on that one. They have made a point to focus as much on the psychological profiles of players as on talent.

Continue reading Hawks already try to identify Borlands →

Contracts, Free agency, Injury report, NFL draft, State of the team

Carroll discusses his roster & Hawks watch comp picks add up

March 13, 2015 cc Leave a comment

As the New Orleans Saints continued to revamp their roster Friday with yet another trade, the Seahawks — still basking in the glow of the deal that brought tight end Jimmy Graham from the Saints — simply looked within.

The news that impacted them was of players signing elsewhere, but they don’t care. No one will miss Bryan “Wave It Off” Walters, who signed with Jacksonville, and the Hawks didn’t need Shelley Smith, who got $5.65 million over two years from Denver or Stefen Wisniewski, who is a possibility but not a pressing need.

Pete Carroll has said several times this week, including on KJR Radio on Friday, that the Seahawks feel comfortable with some of their young linemen (Alvin Bailey, Patrick Lewis, Garry Gilliam, Keavon Milton, et al.) and think the draft is full of good linemen. Expect the Hawks to use at least two of their 11 picks on big guys.

They can only hope to come up with another J.R. Sweezy, the 2012 seventh-rounder who has played so much that he received $260,000 in performance bonuses from 2014 and got a CBA-mandated bump to a $1.54 million salary this year (as did Russell Wilson).

Continue reading Carroll discusses his roster & Hawks watch comp picks add up →

CHAWK LINES, Trades

March 13, 2015 cc Leave a comment

Lots of reaction from the principals in the Jimmy
Graham-Max Unger deal:

Graham said he will follow Russell Wilson anywhere to make sure they establish the same kind of rapport he had with Drew Brees. He also said he will help open up more running lanes for Marshawn Lynch, making safeties play honest — or else make big plays against Cover Zero.

As excited as Graham is to be coming to Seattle, Unger is understandably as sad to be leaving.

Pete Carroll and John Schneider talked about the trade the day it happened. Said Carroll: “Your best players always help your other guys play well and be productive. That’s what we’re hoping for.”

Schneider elaborated on the deal the next day, telling 710 ESPN that the Saints asked about Unger, which led to Schneider asking about Graham.

Carroll talked about Graham’s toughness, how the Hawks will use him and how the tight end clearly fits the mold of a Seahawk in so many ways.

Bob Condotta gives a nice look at the Seahawks’ thinking along the offensive line in the wake of Unger and James Carpenter leaving.

Contracts, Free agency, The roster

D-line market grows; will Hawks check out Starks and Johnson?

March 11, 2015 cc Leave a comment

The Seahawks have always loved veteran defensive linemen. Just look at their starting four last season: Three free agents and Brandon Mebane, who was drafted by the previous regime.

It has been suggested that the 30-year-old Mebane, coming off a torn hamstring and due $5.5 million this year, could be a cap casualty.

The Hawks’ defensive line accounts for the biggest percentage of the salary cap of any part of the team — the $33 million slated to be paid to that unit this year is 23 percent of the cap. Only the Rams’, Bills’ and Dolphins’ defensive lines account for more among NFL D-lines (per OverTheCap.com).

That, along with the uncertainty around free agent Kevin Williams, explains why the Hawks have been snooping around veteran defensive tackles.

The Hawks reportedly talked to defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois before he signed with Washington and were said to be interested in former Arizona defensive tackle Darnell Dockett before he signed with the 49ers.

Now you can add a few more names to that list after Miami cut Randy Starks, Tampa Bay cut Michael Johnson and word is the Hawks are among the interested parties in Denver UFA Terrance “Pot Roast” Knighton. Also out there is longtime Patriot Vince Wilfork.

Continue reading D-line market grows; will Hawks check out Starks and Johnson? →