On Day Two of the NFL Draft, the Seahawks picked edge rusher Boye Mafe, running back Kenneth Walker, and Abraham Lucas. Picks that many draft analysts are calling system and solid picks. Here is what Carrol and Schneider had to say about picks.
(On day two of the NFL Draft)
Schneider: “Obviously we are really excited, it seemed like a long day today. We are just really excited about the three guys we added with Boye (Mafe), Kenny Walker III, and Abraham (Lucas), some real pivotal parts of what we have moving forward here. Boye has upside as a pass rusher, no question, and had an incredible Senior Bowl. Kenny, one of the most exciting players in college football last season and Abe started 42 of 42 games at right tackle, right tackle that can come in and compete there. He’s from right down the street, a local guy, he went to Archbishop High School which has a phenomenal football program.”
(On how special it is to draft a local guy like Abraham Lucas)
Schneider: “It’s really special for Josh Graff, our West Coast scout who went to Archbishop High School. He was really excited, he had a lot of conviction all throughout the Fall and then especially in the Spring, not just because they went to the same high school and everything. He just had a lot of passion for the player and person. The conviction really rang true with all of us as we built our board. We know he’s a competitor, he’s going to come in here, he was excited to get the call, and we messed with him a little bit, but he seemed excited and ready to get rolling.”
Carroll: “It was such a natural opportunity for a kid to play at home and he expressed that right off of the bat, with his family being close and all of that. It’s a good deal, so he will be as motivated as you can get to make this work.”
(On drafting two tackles over the first three rounds of the draft that combine to weigh over 600lbs)
Carroll: “I think that three of the four picks really make a statement about the emphasis of what we would like to get done and we are going to sure things up on the edge and with Kenneth (Walker III) coming in, Kenneth is an explosive, exciting running back to add to what we have. It rings true, we want to run the football, we want to be good at it, and we want it to complement the football with the way we approach it. This was an opportunity to do it and it just felt right, so these guys will come in blazing, and I think that it sets the tone for camp coming up.”
(On what they see out of Boye Mafe and where he can fit in)
Carroll: “He’s a very versatile football player, he’s a fantastic athlete with the speed and size that he brings, he can work on the edge as a pass rusher, which is the first thing we would like to see him excel at, but he’s been a guy that has been in coverage and dropped too. He has versatility in that regard. I like him, particularly, coming forward and getting after the quarterback, which we would like to emphasize as we get started, but he’ll be an outside backer in the system and an outside rusher in the 4-3 stuff, so he will get a really good chance to see where he fits in with that. I think it gives us a logical opportunity to create a rotation that we would like to create, and we want a lot of guys playing at those spots, so they can play with really high intensity. Boye gives us that shot, so I really like the versatility.”
(On what stood out about Boye Mafe’s Senior Bowl performance)
Schneider: “Learning different techniques and then obviously when you are at the Senior Bowl, the level of competition. Just his effort every practice, you could see him take to the coaching and the teaching, and he’s a really smart individual, highly intelligent, and a great worker. The Senior Bowl was really impressive for him. He’s another guy that is very similar to (Charles) Cross where you could see him improving the whole season and then the Senior Bowl kind of made him, I think you guys refer to it as ‘fly up people’s boards’ or whatever.”
(On if they will play Boye Mafe on the tight end side or the weak side)
Schneider “Both.”
Carroll “Yeah, he will play both sides.”
(On if they will start Boye Mafe at one side or if it will be a 50/50 split between both sides)
Carroll: “We’re not necessarily playing like that all of the time, we are playing left to right a lot of the time.”
(On the idea of starting to rookies at the tackle spots)
Carroll: “It’s going to be a challenge, it’s a race to get these guys ready to go. Fortunately, both guys have done a lot of playing, they have a lot of football in their background, and have played a lot of snaps for their teams. It’s certainly going to call for everybody to fit it together just right. We really hope that they can stay healthy, stay on the field, not miss time, and be in really good shape when they get here. That is going to be crucial for these guys so that they can sustain the learning process and if they do that, then can give themselves a chance to compete for playing time. It’s going to be a really competitive camp and this will be a great spot to watch and see how this develops. We have some new rushers and we have some new tackles on the edge, so those battles should be really big time in camp.”
Schneider: “They will be able to speak the same language too, they were coached by the same guy, (Charles) Cross and Abe (Lucas).”
(On how Boye Mafe will develop as a three down player compared to being a situation pass rusher)
Schneider: “Kirk Parrish, Trent Kirchner, and myself, Kirk went in there several times and I was in there early, so he was kind of just getting going. When you go back and look at the whole picture with different situations like pass rush situations and critical 3rd downs, you can really see his motor and energy. He’s one of those guys that is going to do everything right and so you can kind of see as you went through the season that, alright, he’s getting more comfortable and was kind of letting it loose. You could just really see him improve, it was exciting to see a player early in the season when you go in early like that, you’re watching a lot of junior film too. Talking to coach (P.J.) Fleck, he really spoke highly of the work ethic, the intelligence, how important the game was to him, and how important it was to succeed. He proved it.”
(On how Michigan State’s pro-style offense played into drafting Kenneth Walker III)
Carroll: “It helps to see him run all of the variety of the plays. There is a lot of shotgun runs that is happening in college football, it’s pretty zone oriented and straight forward. They had an NFL style running game and they did a little bit of everything, so you are able to see him run zone schemes, run gap scheme principles, and he’s really effective in the counter game. It was a really good illustration of a guy being able to blossom with a variety of the run game, so it makes sense to us how he really could fit in.”
(On how Chris Carson’s health impacted the decision to draft Kenneth Walker III)
Carroll: “I would say this, we picked him because, on the board, he was up there for us and we couldn’t pass him up. We don’t have updates yet on Chris, we won’t know for some time here, and we can’t predict it yet, so there is a little bit of uncertainty that we are waiting on. With the commitment that we have in the run game, we want that group of guys really raring up to get this thing going. It felt like a good move, it’s going to make it very competitive, and like you said, it’s going to be the theme throughout camp.”
(On how important running back depth is)
Carroll: “Yeah, there is no doubt. It’s a volatile spot, guys get banged up, and with the way we ask our guys to run, we need rotations. We like playing multiple guys and we don’t have any problem with that at all. I’ve said it to you a million times, I’m fine about going with who is hot, but also, we have to find a way to keep our guys healthy. That’s why the rotation is so important, so we don’t overwork them, particularly early in the year, so we can keep the good momentum building.”
Schneider: “We saw late, was it two seasons ago, where we felt like that was the strongest part of our team. We went from four to zero and then talked to Beast Mode (Marshawn Lynch).”
(On if there was any temptation to take a QB)
Schneider: “Sure, things have to time up right, but they just didn’t.”
(On if there was any chance to move up or down in the draft)
Schneider: “Yeah, I know, it’s been weird. Yeah, our guys are talking to people all the way through, and it seemed like some guys were willing to do things and then some weren’t. Nothing really came to fruition and then there were times where we just didn’t want to go back too far. There were times where it was too big of a gap to jump up, so again, much like the quarterbacks, the timing has to work out and you have to come into an agreement with another team. There is a big process to that, so we want to be really, really careful with these picks and very selective. You don’t want to be willy nilly and we have some specific areas that we want to address. We addressed three of them today.”
Carroll: “I think it was an illustration that we felt good about the positions we were in and the spots that were coming. As John (Schneider) was working the board, it fit, so we felt fine about where we were.”
(On what they think about only one quarterback taken in the first 73 picks of the draft)
Schneider: “I think I talked about it last night, there’s a lot of pressure put on these guys. I’ve said this before, the head coach and the quarterback are the two most important people in the building. It has to be right. Everybody has to have a comfort level and everybody has different strengths and different weaknesses, deficiencies. The staff’s have to be confident that they can help those players out with their deficiencies. And there’s a ton thrown at these guys. It’s not like the old days with Hugh Millen where you can walk out there and play football. You have to know what you’re doing.”
(On being able to take 4 players in the first 75 picks)
Schneider: “We were in a good spot. Forty and 41 were really important to us. To Ian’s question, that’s where we were trying to, are we going up, are we going down, what are we doing. We just decided to take the 14 minutes and make the two selections. We don’t want to be picking high.”
(On if Chris Carson needs to see more doctors)
Carroll: “He’s going through a process here, the evaluation. There’s still more information to be dealt with and understood and translated for us. We haven’t heard any updates to help you with him right now, unfortunately.”
(On Boye Mafe’s ability to cover with the defense’s transition to 3-4)
Carroll: “It’s part of it. It’s a big part of the evaluation. He has the ability to do all of that. He’s been involved in coverage enough. I really think that the thing John was alluding to was the more they centered in on him coming down hill and rushing, the better he looked. That’s what we picked up on too, his designated third down snaps that we evaluated. We felt like he really got comfortable and that carried over to the Senior Bowl as well. The cool thing is that he’s got the background to do the other stuff. Our outside linebacker position does call for them to be droppers at times, but primarily we need those guys to be a force coming off the edge. He’s 6’3” something, he’s 260 something and he’s 4.5’s [40-yard dash] and he’s got a good attitude, a good level of quickness and hand-eye stuff that can really work with his rushes. He’s a unique package and it’s a kind of guy we need to help us to support this position.”\
Schneider: “We had great insight on him too. Willie Schneider is really close with and played with his cousin, Ayo, who came in for a workout here probably like seven years ago or something like that for our rookie mini camp tryout deal. We’ve had really good information coming back from him in terms of just everything. Nutrition, work ethic, all that.”
(On where Willie Schneider and Ayo Idowu played together)
Schneider: “At the University of St. Thomas. Thanks for the softball shoutout too. We are a Division I now, by the way. We went from Division III to Division I.”
(On why today’s picks made a statement)
Carroll: “We picked two offensive linemen and a runner. I think it’s pretty clear that we wanted to make sure we have all the elements together so that we can be effective running the football and compliment the rest of our game. That’s always a part of it. That’s not a change in philosophy or approach, it’s just an emphasis that we were able to hit on today. But I think it’s pretty obvious to me. I didn’t mean to have to help you out on that, but I just think it’s a pretty good statement. I’m excited about it.”
(On if Abraham Lucas is too athletic to worry about his run blocking)
Carroll: “Both these guys [Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas] run under 5 flat [40-yard dash times]. They’re 4.9 guys at 320-something or 318 [pounds] or whatever it is. These guys can move their feet. They don’t call them sweet feet for nothing. Both guys are very athletic. We’ve never been this athletic with two guys with a shot to start. So it’s exciting to see how that translates. Meanwhile, what that does, it sends a message to our guys about how competitive this camp is going to be and guys are going to battle for their spots. Stone [Forsythe], Jake [Curhan] and all of our guys. So it’s going to be interesting to see how it goes.”
Schneider: “Abe is a finisher too. He’s a real strong man of faith, but he doesn’t look like it when he’s playing football. The guy is a big finisher in the run game.”
(On Abraham Lucas making the adjustment from a lot of two point stance to more three point stance)
Schneider: “We had a private workout this last week with him. Josh [Graff] and Chief ( Keli’i Kekuewa) flew over there and spent some time with him. I’ll leave it at that. They had a private workout.”
(On how they feel about the quarterback room and what they want to still accomplish there)
Carroll: “The competition is underway. Geno [Smith] has come in and is obviously ahead going in because he’s had all the background with us. He’s been with us for a number of years. He leads the charge right now. He’s in command of our system as much as a guy could be. [Jacob Eason] had a year with us so he’s doing his part. Meanwhile we’re watching how Drew [Lock] comes along and he’s going. He’s busting his tail to catch up and be right with it. All of our guys we know are strong-armed throwers. We will not lack in the potential of our throwing game, the style and the things that we can do. We’ve been able to see Drew in great depth. We’ve seen everything. We went all the way back to all his college days and everything else. Every throw he’s ever thrown to show us what he’s capable of doing. We’re fitting it together. It’s going to be a really strong, competitive group and we’re going to be smart. Geno knows what he’s doing. He knows the game. He’s a seasoned veteran. When he got his chance to get going last year, he showed some terrific stuff. We know the system can fit and work. We’re really off to a very good start just a couple of weeks into the offseason. We’ll get on the field for the first time for phase two this week. The coaches will finally get a chance to see the guys live and right up front. I’m really excited to see how that’s going and where they’re fitting. I know that in the meeting room, our guys are sharp and they’re precise and they know it’s on. Nobody is just going through the motions here. It’s a crucial [competition] and they’re taking to it and it’s serious. It’s great to see.”
(On if they want to or need to add someone to the quarterback room)
Carroll: “We’ll see. We’re always looking.”
Schneider: “We’re always looking.”
(On Kenneth Walker III liking the counter run play and if they will cater some of their run plays to him)
Carroll: “We already run the play that he’s talking about. It’s already in the scheme and it was a very productive scheme for us last year. It calls for your tackles to be mobile and our guys are that. We’ll see how it goes. I’m really not asking Kenneth for any suggestions on the scheme right now. If I ask him, I’m sure he’ll have answers.”
Schneider: “Underutilized in the receiving game too. The guy can catch the ball and be really productive.”
(On Drew Lock’s strong finish to his rookie year)
Carroll: “He got comfortable. In classic fashion, it takes a while. It’s hard. This game is freaking hard on that position. We have to do everything we can to make it really available to them to play at their best by not overdoing it and not overburdening them. That’s no different with any experienced quarterback too. You can’t go past where they can handle the information and be in total command of it. I think you saw him progress and make some good statements. And then they changed the offense. They changed the whole thing and so they kind of had to start over again, which is unfortunate. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it, but we did see him and there was enough stuff on him, you can see him do everything. He can throw the ball all over the field, he can do all the movement stuff, he’s got all the downfield stuff, he’s got the quick game, the play action and all of the things that work to help compliment a really good scheme, he’s done before already. And it’s on film. It’s just a matter of making sure the ball stays in our hands and our guys do a good job of understanding how to coordinate with the rest of the guys. And spread the ball around like we want to and be that point guard type position for us. This will be great this week. We’ll finally start gathering information on the field and it’ll be much more poignant for us.”
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