In addition to players and coaches being available at Super Bowl XLIX Media Day, Seahawks general manager John Schneider talked for a bit too. Here’s a transcript of some of what he said, which includes his funny recollection of a “nuts” NFC championship game, his thoughts on re-signing Russel Wilson, and why the structure in Seattle works so well.
(on what the key is to the success of drafting late-round offensive linemen) “When you get a certain part of the draft, there is a certain level on characteristics that you are looking for in players that you know can have a strong fit with your staff. With a guy like (Seattle Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line) Tom Cable… Like (Seattle guard J.R.) Sweezy is a perfect example, you knew that his personality, he was going to dive into everything that Tom had. It doesn’t have to go by position necessarily, it’s just a certain characteristic that you would think would be a good fit with that coach.”
(on if he wants to be a mentor to the personnel people on his staff now that he is in his fifth year as the general manager) “Yeah, absolutely. Whether you get a job or you interview for a job, it’s just a great learning experience. Both (Seattle Head Coach) Pete (Carroll) and I believe in pushing your people forward as much as you possibly can. We always have younger guys coming in and we’re always teaching them and working with them in helping them improve their craft.”
(on if he was surprised former New York Jets General Manager John Idzik didn’t get a third year on the job) “Yeah, I felt bad for him. It’s just my personal opinion that you should be able to hire a head coach. If you’re going into a situation like that, you try to make it work with the coach that is there. If it doesn’t work, you can hire your own coach and see where it goes. I don’t know the specifics of what happened there. Just from afar, he’s a good friend of mine, so I feel for him.”
(on if he has given advice to Idzik since he was fired) “I’ve been in that situation before. I was let go in Washington in a year. You always kind of just joke about that situation. You know going in that it’s tough, New York City. We talked about staying positive and what his next steps are going to be. We’re just good friends, so we try to lean on each other in that regard.”
(on if he thought Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch was going to be drafted by Green Bay in the 2007 NFL Draft) “We thought he was coming to Green Bay, yeah. We thought there was a shot.”
(on how difficult it is to make an in-season trade like the one Seattle made recently by trading wide receiver Percy Harvin) “It’s very difficult. You’re talking about a person’s livelihood. We have to do what’s best for the organization, first and foremost. We had the support of our owner, which was huge. We had discussed it for a long time with our owner. For one reason or another, it didn’t work out so we had to be able to move forward. So, the Jets got real interested. It was the Thursday night game. I was actually at the University of Missouri, and we were just able to move forward. We played the Rams that weekend.”
(on if the trade involving Harvin came together quickly) “Yeah, absolutely. We had talked about it for a little while, about whether or not it was going to be a great fit. He came in and had a hip issue right away, so we felt bad for him right away. He comes in, wants to make a big difference. Right away, he has to have an operation. Last year was a very trying time for him.”
(on how the team was able to come back in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers) “I think our defense really stepped up. They weren’t going to give an inch. The quarterback and the running back basically just willed their way. The two-point conversion was unbelievable. (Seahawks quarterback) Russell Wilson and (Seahawks tight end) Luke (Wilson) made a heck of a play. When you go back and watch the game, it’s amazing how it went down. I’m not quite as positive as Pete (Carroll) is all the time. I was thinking to myself how I was going to address each player after the game, what I was going to say to the coaching staff. I was going to be like, ‘Hey, we had a great season. We’ll get them next year. Let’s have a great offseason.’ All those things are running through my mind, and then at the five-minute mark, things just started snowballing there. Anxiety, depression, you can throw it all in there. It was nuts.”
(on why more teams don’t have the same power structure as Seattle) “I think there is a level of trust that goes into it. I was telling these guys earlier that when I went for the interview, it was kind of a question; is it still a good job? Is it not a good job? I had worked there before, so I knew that ownership was great and the people in the building were fantastic. But, I didn’t know (Seattle Head Coach) Pete (Carroll) all that well. Just going to USC and shaking his hand and talking with him for a little bit down there. The way it was explained to me was really a selling point because he wanted to have his philosophies as like a strong accord of what we’re doing. Every head coach should be that way. We’re both pretty pliable guys, so the way we just hit it off. I thought it was cool. They had him in the interviews. We just hit it off. He is coming from USC, so they had played young people all the time. He was used to guys moving on and my belief is that if you want to be a consistent, championship-caliber team, you have to make those tough decisions where guys are moving on every year and you just have to keep playing young people. Philosophically, we hit it off in that regard.”
(on if he was convinced that the Seattle job was a good job after his first meeting) “I really was because of the individuals. You talk about Pete Carroll and John Schneider, for as successful he had been, his ego level was just… He was real. I remember when I was in Kansas City, watching his press conferences when he was with the Patriots. I remember thinking to myself that he seems like a cool guy – even keeled and positive.”
(on what kind of challenges Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson’s upcoming contract could present for the team) “It presents challenges, there is no question. We haven’t sat down with his representatives. We are still going to be drafting young players and playing young players, so we might not be able to dip into free agency like you may want to here and there or compensate somebody else that you want to compensate that is already on your team, but just the fact that we’re going to continue to keep drafted players and playing young players should help us compensate for whatever level of compensation (for Wilson’s contract) is.”
(on how important is it to compensate Wilson moving forward) “It’s important. It’s a huge piece of our puzzle, obviously, moving forward. We have a lot of different models that we work with, so we just have to figure out where that is going to go.”
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