I am so excited about what John and Pete have accomplished in the offseason. The post draft free agency moves are only more evidence of the true genius that the Seahawks have trusted these two, to get it right, and to give us the best possible opportunity to be a bonifide championship competitor in the NFL.
I’ve gone out and researched every free agent invited to participate in our undrafted free agency competitions, and every single one of them, have proven themselves worthy of our considerations. Whether or not they survive the scrutiny they are about to face will be the real decision maker for them.
As things have unfolded since the end of last season, I was so happy and excited when the Seahawks first announce that Pete Carroll had been acquired to manage the future of our team. As a 40 plus year fan, it was the first time in all of those years, that I actually believed that we would win a Super Bowl, in my lifetime. We did.
When Pete first took over and brought John Schneider in as his general manager, and they started doing exactly the same sort of things then, that we have seen them do this offseason, they got almost the exact same response from the fan base., and from most of the critics in the NFL.
They traded, and cut many of our beloved veterans, went out and signed a bunch of free agents, most of which, were not well received by the fan base, and questioned and challenged, by most of the “all knowing NFL talking heads” at the time. Then the draft came along, and again most fans were left scratching their heads , and questioning just about every pick they made, Followed in sequence by the post draft free agent signings, where we are now, which were also met with even more doubt and pessimissim, than the draft or pre draft free agency signings were met with.
If you had believed even half of all the judgements and criticisms that they were bombarded with, you would have thought that Seahawk fans were in for yet another, if not even worse season, than fans back then, had become accustomed to. As a Seahawk fan in those day, You had to have a pretty tough hide, and an insane amount of loyalty and dedication, to keep subjecting yourself to the embarrassment and humiliation that came with being a 12.
When the first hick off of the first preseason game, under Pete Carroll went up, the Seattle Seahawks quieted just about every critic in the NFL, and put one hell of a dent in the critics in our own fan base, which is an even greater feat lol. It’s been a fantastic journey ever since. This last season, being defined by most as disappointing, I believe was primarily a result of Nobel player and coach loyalties, that overshadowed way to many tough decisions, that should have been made during the previous offseason, and that were ignored, but that were made during this offseason.
It’s the one major difference between college and pro football. In college your best player generally graduate and make room for the younger talents to move up and make their marks. In the pros you get tangled up in trying to do right by your older players, and because you feel indebted to them for all their sacrafices, you are subject to retain them, even when you know they can’t deliver the same level of play anymore, or even when their egos and self importance has made them no longer teachable and cancerous to their younger teammates. I don’t think that we will see much of this in the future under Pete and John.
They don’t call it Not For Long for no reason. You are hired to do a job, better than your teammates, who want your job, and for so long as you can defend your turf its yours. When the day comes that a younger gun does draw faster than you, it’s time to move on. It’s just business, and as such you are always one play away from the end of your career.
I can only imagine how hard it must be to be a Pete Carroll, and a John Schneider, who have to make the gut wrenching decisions that they have to make, for us, in order to give us the best possible opportunities, to be a championship capable team. I predict that when the first kickoff of the first preseason game this s season, goes up in the air, that there will be another silencing of the critics throughout the NFL, and more importantly throughout the Seahawk fan base.
Go Seahawks !
