If history is any predictor, Geno Smith will lead the Seahawks to the playoffs in Mike Macdonald’s first season – and then be replaced shortly thereafter.
John Schneider has been involved in a new Seattle coach’s transition period with a lame-duck quarterback twice before and been instrumental in finding the franchise quarterback both times.
Continue reading History says Geno will lead the Hawks to the playoffs in 2024, then be replaced
New Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald knows he is not walking into a locker room bereft of talent.
In his first presser Thursday, Macdonald said, “There (are) a lot of great players on this team. We’ve done a great job of drafting. It’s a young core. We’ve got a great opportunity to build a really competitive team sooner than later.”
That jibes with what John Schneider said in his presser after Pete Carroll was fired: “I think it’s a young, talented team that feels like it’s right on the cusp. … I think it’s a great core. I think we’re a very attractive job because of that. I think there’s young talent all over the place.”
Continue reading Cap situation, roster breakdown as Macdonald takes over
“We’re gonna be here for a long time, and we’re gonna win a lot of football games.” — Mike Macdonald to execs and staff welcoming him at VMAC
When it came down to conference title game weekend, John Schneider was pretty much guaranteed of getting one of his top two options to become the Seahawks’ next coach.
When Ben Johnson decided to stay in Detroit, Baltimore defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald immediately became the favorite – even though he had yet to speak with Schneider. It happened fast: Two interviews in two days yielded a six-year contract to become the eighth full-time coach in Seahawks history.
Continue reading Mike Macdonald: ‘We’re gonna win a lot of football games’
The Seahawks are now one of just two teams left without coaches for 2024, and some fans and analysts are wondering what is taking so long.
First, they need to understand the NFL rules around hiring a coach: Conference title game coaches could not interview this week, and teams have to interview at least two minority candidates in person as part of their process.
The Hawks have two minority candidates remaining. Las Vegas DC Patrick Graham reportedly met with John Schneider on Tuesday, and Carolina DC Ejiro Evero was set to interview with Schneider today.
Meanwhile, it seems pretty clear that Schneider still wants to talk to at least one coach from the four remaining playoff teams. Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is the obvious one, and Baltimore DC Mike Macdonald could be on Seattle’s radar as well.
Continue reading Schneider’s top choice for coach is probably still in the playoffsKudos to Jody Allen for doing what she needed to do and moving on from Pete Carroll.
As hard as it surely was to do, Allen clearly saw what needed to be done and actually had the guts to do it despite Carroll’s self-described attempts to change her mind (“I didn’t back off for an instant”). That is great leadership by Allen to make a needed change.
This move does not take away from the fact that Carroll is the best coach in Seahawks history — the only one to win a Super Bowl, the one with the most wins, the one with the longest tenure. It was a great run, especially the 2012-16 seasons when the Legion of Boom was in its prime.
It does not take away from the fact that he is a great person, well respected by nearly all of his former players and coaches.
But all things end — always. That is life. And, for the Seahawks to return to contention, it was time for this move to happen, as we wrote yesterday.
Continue reading Jody Allen makes the right call; now it’s Schneider’s turnThe Seahawks never seemed like a Super Bowl contender throughout the first half of the season – they never even put together a complete game in a 5-2 start — and their 37-3 blowout loss to Baltimore in Week 9 proved it. There’s no Super Bowl in this team, even if John Schneider’s big deadline trade seemed to say the Hawks thought they had a chance.
The Baltimore debacle was a total team failure, from coaching to QB play to OL play to a million missed tackles on defense. As Jordyn Brooks said, they just did not come ready to play.
The Hawks are neither as good as their 5-2 record made some think nor as bad as this nightmare 34-point defeat would seem to indicate. They are still what we thought they were: a borderline one-and-done playoff team.
Continue reading Blowout didn’t change anything: Hawks still a borderline one-and-out playoff team
Upon completion of a draft that added 10 players to Seattle’s cap-strapped roster, John Schneider was asked whether he needed to make any contract-related moves to sign the rookies.
Schneider’s answer: “We’re OK right now.”
“Right now” is the operative phrase, as the Seahawks definitely will need to create about $4 million in space to sign the rookies before training camp. By the time the season starts, they also will need about $6 million for practice squad and injury moves. And they probably are budgeting about $2.5 million for Al Woods or another veteran D-lineman – which they need very much.
All told, the Hawks need about $12.5 million in added cap space.
So where do they get it?
Continue reading How will Hawks make cap room for rookies and the rest?
After ignoring their lines on the first two days, the Seahawks hit both with a vengeance on Day 3. In Rounds 4 and 5 they added two guys on each side of the ball.
So what are the odds any of these guys turn into more than emergency starters?
John Schneider had picked 40 players in Rounds 4-5 over his first 13 drafts in Seattle. Eight of them turned into full-time starters, and five have been top backups/part-time starters. So that gives these four new guys a historic 20% chance individually of becoming permanent starters –collectively, one of them is likely to become a regular starter.
Continue reading Big boys finally come in Rounds 4-5
The Seahawks entered this draft with four big needs – and they didn’t address any of them in the first two days:
❌ Nose tackle
❌ Defensive end
❌ Inside linebacker
❌ Center
After going for star power in Round 1, with cornerback Devon Witherspoon and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the Hawks really needed to hit some of those big needs on Day 2.
Instead, they reached to add yet another rush linebacker and used a second-round pick on a running back for the second straight year. Maybe their best move was bailing from the third round and picking up an early fourth and a 2024 third from Denver (more on the Broncos below).
Continue reading Hawks whiff on needs on Day 2At Seattle’s pre-draft presser on April 19, John Schneider was asked whether the top of the 2023 draft was pretty predictable by now.
“You would think so, right?” he said before giving the reality. “It doesn’t feel like it, no. … You’re constantly trying to paint pictures and scenarios of what you think will happen and what other teams will do.
“There’s just a ton of different variables up there. A lot of different scenarios. A lot of different ways we can go.’’
Continue reading Draft day: ‘A lot of different scenarios’
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 