Three things we learned from Seahawks GM John Schneider's press conference

Since his arrival in 2010 one week after the announcement of Pete Carroll as the team’s head coach Seahawks General Manager John Schneider has been about evolution. The simpatico relationship between them is the tie that binds and the creation of a culture like no other in the NFL. The burning desire to compete with humility, compassion, and benevolence. While talent is important the make-up of the player is more important.

WHO THE PLAYERS ARE NO.1

“So I think the area guys and how they feel about the players and how the coach feels about the players and their development, their personality, the person, the competitor, how we feel like we can help them is a big deal here. It’s very important to us, we think that our culture is like we’ve talked about a bunch, we’re going to work our tails off, but guys are going to have fun, they’re going to give each other a lot of crud.

I think when you spend as much time evaluating those guys in the spring as we do, all the Zoom calls and the interviews that we study and everything it becomes clear. It stands out if a guy is going to be questionable whether they fit in or not. So then at that point, you need to do a deeper dive and do a little bit more research on them, possibly bring them in or maybe go see them again at their school before it’s too late in the draft process.”

PROCESS HAS CHANGED BUT NOT THE VALUES

A change in drafting philosophy saw Schneider and Carroll move away from a need-based draft to the best available talent on the board. A good example is the team drafting cornerback Devon Witherspoon with no. 5 overall pick.

“We used to have more players. We got to a point for several years where we had more players on our board, and it was a really talented football team. We were maybe drafting a little bit for need and whose contracts might be coming up. We fell into a rut there a couple of times. In general, our acquisition is the philosophy has always been the same since we walked in the door in 2010. I think I’ve talked about the whole building; whether that’s people in the equipment room or in ticketing or marketing.

Whoever is affecting the team is always going to be contributing to the development of our team and our players in how they fit in this building. Whether it’s Dave (Pearson) helping guys out and his group with social media and their press conferences and all of their messaging. I think it’s a good point on the draft acquisition, but in terms of the person and how we can help them in our building, that’s never changed.”

DRAFTING IS A JUST PART OF THE PROCESS

The draft is just the first part of the process to get a player on the field. The Seahawk’s successful 2022 draft class is an example of how well the culture-driven process can work.

The player is drafted after a long and meticulous process, he signs his contract and attends all the off-season workouts, and finds himself on the 53-man roster and on the field on opening day. With not all players making it to the 53-man roster, the key according to Schneider is taking a holistic approach with the 16 practice squad spots.

“Absolutely and then also balancing how you’re going to put the best group together. That best 69 (players), the most talented and or best team-fit type of players as well as helping the coaches get prepared for who’s going to be active for this game and who’s going to be inactive for this game. We are still working on some roster stuff as we get through the next couple of days here. Hopefully, things will be set tomorrow afternoon and by Saturday morning. Having the benefit of playing at home, maybe we’ll make a couple of transactions if we need to on Saturday morning. Being able to elevate two guys is a big deal and then having 16 players and several vets.

It’s been great. It’s hindered people’s ability. Teams have done a really good job, especially the last two years of being really strategic with their roster development when we do cut from 90 to 53. There are several teams that kept 11 offensive linemen or seven corners, or seven receivers. That balance by position on the 53-man roster, having the practice squad has affected that. We didn’t see quite as many names at the heavier positions or the positions that you would hope would be heavier, like offensive line and defensive line.”

ON HAVING A BALANCED ROSTER

A breakdown of the Seahawk’s current 53-man roster shows the team has 22 players that are either rookies or second-year players. There is no doubt the Seahawks are a young team making for some salary cap stabilization for the next few years. Schneider about the team’s salary cap philosophy when it comes to balancing young players and older players.

“It’s not necessarily a target but you have to try to balance your salary cap and how you’re paying people at different positions. When you have younger players, it’s a smaller salary. You have to try to be smart. Ted Thompson would always say ‘Keep your powder dry towards the end of the season’ so you have enough cap room and or space in cash to work with towards the end of the season. For us, primarily cap space as we move forward here.”

ON DEVON WITHERSPOON

With top pick in this year’s draft Devon Witherspoon hampered by a slow recovering hamstring, Schneider was asked if he had concerns about the rookie’s health

“A little bit. He had a hamstring in the spring, got himself ready to run his 40 (yard-dash), and had a little bit of a setback during camp. We have to be smart with it. He’s doing great. We’ll see how he does this week now. Physically I guess because it’s a hamstring. Mentally no, because he’s such a tough, gritty competitor. He’s going to go for it. If anything, we’re probably going to have to govern him a little bit’.

ON SIGNING JULIAN LOVE

“Yeah, I’d be lying to you if I told you it wasn’t a part of our thought process. How Jamal (Adams) was doing at the time with his rehab, but I would put a percentage in it, like maybe 10-15 percent. It was more about the player, the competitor, and the person and we had identified him as one of the better players in free agency that we wanted to try and add to our team, and we just stayed with it during our process. Our guys did a great job of communicating, and then Matt Thomas and everybody were working that weekend to make sure we could come close to an agreement.”