Seahawks Fans: Grab A Seat, This Is Getting Good
By Rob Shumate
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Consider yourself lucky. No, not ‘I just found a winning lottery ticket in my pocket’ kind of lucky. But Seattle fans have front row seats to the mind-meld that is John Schneider and Pete Carroll. Our journey over the last three years has been exciting. Granted, what we were witnessing was not so apparent in year one (2010) as there was a dearth of talent that occluded the majesty of what was being done to make this team better. During this time there were so many needs that any good player was swallowed up in the absence of talent on the field and the Seahawks hardly looked improved.
However, lets put all of this into some perspective by looking at the three drafts prior to Schneider and Carroll joining forces. The drafts of 2007-2009 produced a total of three players that were still on our 2013/14 roster. Since Carroll and Schneider have taken over we have drafted 39 total players, 15 of those being in the 6th or 7th round. Of those 39 total players we had 26 on our roster as of last year. Currently we have less than the 26 players because a few were good enough to move on to greener pastures (this is different that losing players because they didn’t have talent). That surely paints a telling picture doesn’t it?
What do we take from this? I personally feel that this buys Schneider/Carroll latitude to draft, trade, tinker, dink and dunk as much as they want to and I shouldn’t question what they do (until proven otherwise). Have all of their drafts been big successes? Nope. They have missed on a few players that were expected to step up and contribute. But these have been few and far between, not to mention so many low rounds have hit that we tend to forget those mistakes.
Behind this machinery of ‘free will’ is Paul Allen. Allen is a man with loads of money, but is somebody that prefers to take a hands-off approach. He is an owner that would rather monitor from the shadows, occasionally raising the 12th man flag during Conference Championship games. To this I say, “Thank you, Mr Allen, for understanding your role with the Seahawks and letting those who have a certain skill and craft use it”.
So why did I drag you through the previous four paragraphs talking about Pete, John and Paul (sounds like a music group doesn’t it)? They have made a few curious moves…curious at least to those unfamiliar with our resident geniuses (Carroll/Schneider). The signing of Chris Matthews, an injured wide receiver of the Canadian Football League, but somebody who has star potential. Jorgen Hus, a Canadian (I see a trend here) best known for his long-snapping trick shots, as evidenced by looking him up on YouTube. Who knows, if he doesn’t fill the role of long snapper he could be the half time show. Re-signing Sidney Rice, an unproven commodity to this point, but being able to save 6 million dollars and get him back with the team is a win. And, by trading the very last pick of the draft this year they were able to acquire Terrelle Pryor, a big body, speedy athlete. He is somebody who hasn’t found his footing as quarterback but is most certainly more valuable than the 247th overall selection. So why not take a flier on a proven athlete…Pete just has to figure out how to use his talents.
And folks, this is just the precursor. The draft hasn’t even started yet. I seriously can’t wait to see what magic Pete and John conjure up on May 8-10. Will the Seahawks keep all of their draft choices? Will the Seahawks negotiate a swap of draft positions? Will they find the next diamond in the rough? Nobody knows. But we will have a front row seat to the action…so grab a seat, pop some popcorn and see what happens. Go Hawks!