Tag Archives: Pete Carroll

NFL draft, The roster

Carroll explains where McDowell fits

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NFL draftWhen 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.”

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The roster, Trades

Sherman refocused, but Hawks still listening

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Hawks vs Packers Sherman all aloneRichard 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.”

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NFL draft, The roster

Boom! Seahawks make secondary primary focus

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NFL draftThe 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.

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NFL draft, Trades

McDowell’s ‘unique,’ but is he committed?

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NFL draftThe Seahawks got great value on their first-round trades down Thursday and ended up parlaying their top pick into five selections via three trades. But there’s a reason they moved down three times before drafting inside pass rusher Malik McDowell.

McDowell had an underwhelming 2016 season in which some think he mailed it in, and he did not impress some teams during the pre-draft process. But John Schneider and Pete Carroll really wanted him because of his size (6-6, 295), athleticism and versatility.

“He’s too unique,” Schneider said, comparing him to Calais Campbell, the 6-8 lineman who used to terrorize Russell Wilson as an Arizona Cardinal (and will again as a Jaguar next season). “We’ve been looking for a pass-rushing 3-technique since we’ve been here together.”

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NFL draft, The roster

Pocic more evidence of bad O-line strategy

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NFL draftEthan 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.”

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NFL draft

Wheeling & dealing sets up ‘a fun weekend’

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NFL draftAs usual, the Seahawks’ draft will start on Day 2. If it seems like we say that every year, it’s because it has been that way in four of the past five drafts.

It’s not a bad way to do business at the bottom of the draft. Like last year, John Schneider & Co. did very well Thursday. Dropping just eight spots, they added another third-rounder, a high fourth and a seventh.

The Hawks have a league-high six picks today — the most Day 2 selections they have had under Schneider — and they have seven of the next 78 picks overall (counting the fourth pick in the fourth round).

As Schneider said, “It’s going to be a fun weekend.”

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State of the team, The roster, Trades

The search for ‘spark’

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Draft -- Schneider and Carroll“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.”

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Schedule

After Green Bay, schedule is not bad

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2017 skedAside from a rough opener in Green Bay, the Seahawks got as good a schedule as they could have asked for as the NFL slate was announced Thursday.

They have no cold-weather games, only one 10 a.m. game and no back-to-back road games. They also play three of their four prime-time games at home and have a decently placed Week 6 bye.

The Seahawks will start the season with a very familiar foe as they head to Green Bay to play the Packers for the sixth time in six years. This one will bring a new twist as Eddie Lacy faces his old Packers teammates to open the season.

The Seahawks have not fared well in Green Bay, losing seven straight there by an average of 18.9 points, including a 38-10 blowout last December in which Russell Wilson played perhaps the worst game of his career.

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Free agency, The roster

Hawks had an easy decision with Gilliam

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GilliamWhy did the Seahawks let Garry Gilliam go to the 49ers?

It’s a question some fans are asking, but the answer is simple: They didn’t want to guarantee $1.4 million to a guy they probably were going to ask to take a pay cut this summer anyway.

It was a 50-50 proposition that the Seahawks were even going to tender Gilliam back in March, but they gave him the low tender, $1.8 million, because they were short on bodies.

When they were able to add Luke Joeckel and Oday Aboushi in free agency, it gave them the flexibility to bump Germain Ifedi to right tackle. With the 2016 first-round pick expected to win that job, Gilliam, the former undrafted player who struggled in 2016, looked destined for a backup role.

As they have done with many previous restricted free agents, the Hawks then would have asked Gilliam to take a pay reduction from the $1.8 million tender. So, when the 49ers came over the top with a $2.2 million deal that guaranteed almost the entire amount of the RFA tender, it was a pretty simple decision for the Hawks.

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Franchise history, State of the team, X's & O's

Are Hawks capable of building a talented, consistent O-line?

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Pete Carroll has said he wants to create continuity on Seattle’s offensive line.

He said he thinks Seattle’s young guys are going to improve and he hopes Luke Joeckel becomes part of the core. As he said after Joeckel signed, “Now that we have a good young bunch of guys, we’re going to try to keep this thing together.”

It’s debatable whether they have enough good guys yet, but the bigger question as pertains to Carroll’s stated goal: Will they ever be able to keep a quintet together in Tom Cable’s zone blocking system using their scattershot approach?

Whether it’s bad drafting, a bad scheme or just bad luck, Carroll’s Seahawks have had terrible fortune on the offensive line — typically fielding one of the weaker units in the NFL and annually needing to overcome its deficiencies just to get to the playoffs.

Why has it been so terrible? John Schneider and the coaches have consistently pointed to the disconnect between college and NFL offenses and the CBA-mandated lack of practice time.

But every team faces those issues. For Seattle, it has been more than that. It has been a complete inability to field a healthy, consistent line — and a total failure to set up a line of succession.

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