Bill Barnwell reaches for low hanging fruit

[ivotuk]

The guy knows nothing about Seattle, and he counts on the fact that fans of other teams have the same level, or lack of knowledge.
He's like an Auctioneer, talks really fast and uses that to fool people in to thinking he knows more than he does. A story about "The Worst Offseason in NFL History," no matter who the team is, is going to get clicks. So let's go after a "small market team," where the backlash is likely to be negligible.

Barnwell ignores the facts, especially as it pertains to the RW trade. Seattle had limited options as RW had a No Trade Clause. Plus, we got two each 1st round picks, two each 2nd round picks. Two of those are really high picks, and I predict next year Denver will provide us with another great pair of picks.

Ad to that, a 1st Round talent in Noah Fant, someone JS tried to draft, and Shelby Harris, a damn good kick blocking, QB sacking, run stopping DT. And while most people would downplay Drew Lock, most of the draft pundits I heard said that Drew Lock would have been the #1 QB selected had he come out this year.

Some people will argue against the players we got, and that's fair, but to say it was "the worst off season in NFL history" is more than a stretch, it's a fantasy, written with half-truths, omissions, and a complete lack of respect for journalistic integrity. Of course, with the advent of the internet, journalistic integrity is a rare attribute these days.

And this isn't the first time that Barnwell has used the Seahawks as a "Whipping Boy," and I don't even get mad about it anymore, just irritated with the need to refute his statements.
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‘They could’ve kept Wilson and fired Carroll’ - ESPN ranks Seahawks offseason as NFL’s worst

(Idiotic statement. Russell did not want to be here.And unless you have Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady, you DO NOT fire the winningest coach in team history.)

As The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin pointed out, the Seahawks should know how easy it is to find running backs with late-round picks, having traded one for Marshawn Lynch while using the 249th selection in 2017 to draft Carson.

Really? An elite Running Back is THAT easy to find? And why does he use Carson as a bad situation, then switch to Carson as a good situation? Story. Blown. In the above statement, he forgot to mention that Buffalo had just drafted a high 1st round RB and would not play Marshawn. And, that Carson has had multiple injuries, and may never play again. Carson Good! Carson Bad! Which one is it? Remember a couple of years ago when we made the playoffs but had no running backs (Lynch was a shadow of his self)...and lost?

‘They could’ve kept Wilson and fired Carroll’ - ESPN ranks Seahawks offseason as NFL’s worst

There’s no doubt that this offseason has been unlike any other for the Seattle Seahawks. Russell Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos, Bobby Wagner was released, and many assistant coaches were...

www.fieldgulls.com

ESPN: Seahawks had the worst offseason in the NFL

The Seattle Seahawks had the worst offseason in the NFL, according to Bill Barnwell at ESPN.

seahawkswire.usatoday.com

 

[John63]

Pot Kettle

 

[Maelstrom787]

Pot Kettle

You might not have been able to read it, but this post is a little too large to simply reply "pot kettle" to and have it make sense, Dean.

 

[jammerhawk]

Exactly why should any of us care what this douche thinks?

What does he really know about the Seahawks? Likely not very much.

Hit the ignore button.

 

[flv2]

https://www.seahawks.net/threads/espn-seattle-worst-off-season-of-all.179799/

 

[Spohawks]

PC said Lock is better than any QB in this draft = 1st round pick

Fant was a 1st round pick like 2 years ago and is a stud = 1st round pick

Hawks got 2 first round picks in the trade and a Starter/rotational DL.

Thats 4 firsts and a contributor for 1 player...thats not a bad trade.

The Hawks drafted for need and got some elite talent while doing so. 1st or 2nd best DB/RB in the draft, 10 year starters at LT, RT and the best project the NFL draft had to offer in that huge 4.26 DB.

I can think of a few offseasons were the Hawks have done worse.

 

[Natethegreat]

I would argue its been a bad run of off seasons finally culminating in this one. So from that stand point I would 100 % agree with him. Terrible job by the front office in putting together a competent team especially defensively. Pete and John failed pretty spectacularly at making win forever moves. They traded away numerous first and second round picks on guys that never contributed much to the team. Repeatedly trying to cash in on next years draft capital hurt this team over and over to the point it caught up to them.
As for claiming we got 4 first round picks. Thats absurd, If the Seahawks could get a first for Lock they would take that trade so fast it would make your head spin. He is unlikely to start on a team desperately in need of a starter after already being in the league 3 years. No one. Not one team would give up a first for Lock (or a second or third for that matter). Nor would anyone give up a first for Fant either but he does hold more value at this point than Lock.

 

[Boohman14]

The off season Seattle had was painful but had to happen either this season or next. I think given the circumstances, Seattle did quite well. Wilson would have commanded a huge portion of the salary cap had Seattle tried to keep him. Denver gave us Fant who is a stud and Harris who is a very good and seems to have a fire in his belly after being traded, seeing it as a form of disrespect. Lock is a player with potential but it's hard to know if is a victim of Denver's system and frequent changes or a career back-up.

As far as the draft is concerned, there's no way to know how a draft will turn out. The "experts" loved Seattle's pick of Curry yet he was a bust. Our 2012 draft was graded an "F" by many but we all know how that turned out.

I'm very optimistic about this draft. The players chosen weren't one season flashes in the pan, but had sustained success in college. It takes a couple of seasons to determine how a draft pans out. After Rick Mirer's rookie season most felt he would develop into a quality starter for years. But it was not to be. At least Seattle fleeced Chicago in the trade after three seasons. My gut tell me that Seattle drafted some very good foundation players and potential stars. If Seattle can draft well with the capital obtained next off season the "Hawks should have a very nice run of sustained success.

 

[Welshers]

Pot Kettle

Hi John, how are you today?

 

[John63]

we will, reality is none knows for sure. We also need to see how they are used. As for what PC said yeah don't believe much of what he says anymore. We will see.

 

[onanygivensunday]

My gut tells me that Seattle drafted some very good foundation players and potential stars. If Seattle can draft well with the capital obtained next off season the "Hawks should have a very nice run of sustained success.

Particularly while the Rams, 49ers and Cardinals traded away their 1st round picks in 2022, and the Rams and 49ers did as well in 2023.

In household terms, the Hawks are restocking the pantry while the other teams in their division are depleting theirs.

 

[BigMeach]

What is funny to me is the concept that they could have fired PC and kept RW as if that's such an obvious thing. Let's play that out:
They fire PC, new coach comes in, we don't win (which would be the odds) and now it's contract time.

RW walks, we get nothing for him and now we're stuck looking for a coach to take over a roster that is completely in shambles.

 

[scutterhawk]

Bill Barnwell IS a "Low Hanging Fruit" cake.
How many Lombardi's is he responsible for Bringing home to his City??

 

[Spin Doctor]

It was a bad offseason, yes. We lost our signal caller and now we have one of the worst QB crews in the NFL. We kept a coach that has underperformed and struggled to keep up with the game for the last 5 years. Now he's trying to spin it as being a "re-tooling" rather than a rebuild. Yes, we decided to keep a coach that is turning 71 through a rebuild. Our draft was good, but honestly -- I don't trust Carroll any longer. He's trying to play catch up with the league trends. He's not in the same position that he was coming into the team back in 2010.

 

[Natethegreat]

What is funny to me is the concept that they could have fired PC and kept RW as if that's such an obvious thing. Let's play that out:
They fire PC, new coach comes in, we don't win (which would be the odds) and now it's contract time.

RW walks, we get nothing for him and now we're stuck looking for a coach to take over a roster that is completely in shambles.

Lets play it out the other way. We trade Russ. We don't win(which would be the odds) and now we are stuck with an old coach and have no QB. Now we get to play the hope we find a good QB game. Until we do we continue to lose.
You know the teams that are continually good? Teams led by Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and oh yeah, the Seahawks when they had Russ.
Edit: by the way saying bringing in a new coach and assuming Russ would lose is pretty head scratching to me. Could it happen? Sure, but its certainly not the odds as you state.

 

[pittpnthrs]

What is funny to me is the concept that they could have fired PC and kept RW as if that's such an obvious thing. Let's play that out:
They fire PC, new coach comes in, we don't win (which would be the odds) and now it's contract time.

RW walks, we get nothing for him and now we're stuck looking for a coach to take over a roster that is completely in shambles.

It is an obvious thing. Wilson was good enough for 9 to 10 wins regardless of who the coach was. Heck he proved that playing under Carroll with his poor game planning and antiquated schemes and philosophy. The reason Russ wanted out was because he saw they weren’t going to get rid of Pete and nothing was going to change. Your going to see how well Pete does without Russ now. It isn’t going to be pretty.

 

[scutterhawk]

It was a bad offseason, yes. We lost our signal caller and now we have one of the worst QB crews in the NFL. We kept a coach that has underperformed and struggled to keep up with the game for the last 5 years. Now he's trying to spin it as being a "re-tooling" rather than a rebuild. Yes, we decided to keep a coach that is turning 71 through a rebuild. Our draft was good, but honestly -- I don't trust Carroll any longer. He's trying to play catch up with the league trends. He's not in the same position that he was coming into the team back in 2010.

"One of the worst QB crews"??, YOU don't KNOW that for a FACT, just like you don't know for a fact that a 71 -year-old Head Coach doesn't understand that you SHOULD NOT pay $50+ Million (what Wilson was demanding) for a Quarterback who can't or won't read Defenses, & wouldn't take a LOT OF DOABLE "Layups"...Denver is going to have to pony up AT LEAST a quarter Billion $$$ ALL OF IT GUARANTEED for Wilson's services.
Wilson just isn't worth that kind of Cash/Risk.
That 71-year-old acquired Marshawn "Beastmode" Lynch, built an ALL WORLD DEFENSE, took a chance that no other HC was willing to take at that point, & brought (3rd rounder, too short) Russell Wilson, & some of y'all suspect that he's no longer able to understand how to beat out HC's like BB, & the like???, that's absurd reasoning.
Looking at last month's Draft shows 'Like Bill Barnwell', that you're either not paying attention, or that you're letting your hate for Pete cloud some of y'all's your good sense.

 

[BASF]

y'all suspect that he's no longer able to understand how to beat out HC's like BB, & the like???, that's absurd reasoning.

Which is funny since Pete is 3-1 against Bellichick since both got a second chance at being head coaches.

 

[Spin Doctor]

"One of the worst QB crews"??, YOU don't KNOW that for a FACT, just like you don't know for a fact that a 71 -year-old Head Coach doesn't understand that you SHOULD NOT pay $50+ Million (what Wilson was demanding) for a Quarterback who can't or won't read Defenses, & wouldn't take a LOT OF DOABLE "Layups"...Denver is going to have to pony up AT LEAST a quarter Billion $$$ ALL OF IT GUARANTEED for Wilson's services.
Wilson just isn't worth that kind of Cash/Risk.
That 71-year-old acquired Marshawn "Beastmode" Lynch, built an ALL WORLD DEFENSE, took a chance that no other HC was willing to take at that point, & brought (3rd rounder, too short) Russell Wilson, & some of y'all suspect that he's no longer able to understand how to beat out HC's like BB, & the like???, that's absurd reasoning.
Looking at last month's Draft shows 'Like Bill Barnwell', that you're either not paying attention, or that you're letting your hate for Pete cloud some of y'all's your good sense.

One of the worst QB lineups is a fact. You're fooling yourself if you say otherwise, we're solidly in the bottom third of the NFL in this category. The only reason people can give me as to why we're not is based on speculation and wishful thinking. Look at what Lock and Smith have done previously in their careers, it isn't pretty and you are deluding yourself if you think they're suddenly going to be above average. More often than not situations like this end up exactly how they look on paper. They *might* end up above average, but more than likely the mean says they're going to be exactly who we think they are.

Pete Carroll build that team in 2010, 13 years ago. Things have changed since then, we've had rule changes and the NFL adopted to his defense. The drafts this team has had since 2013 have had some questionable results too. There have been many decisions that Carroll and JS have made that have lead this team to where they're at right now. In addition to this, Carroll's playoff record since our last Super Bowl run has been absolutely dismal. In that period of time we have one of the worst playoff records of any team.

It's time to let go of the past. Carroll was great for us once upon a time but that time has come and gone. Past result does not indicate future success. Yes, he built a Super Bowl team, but that exact thing is not going to happen again under Carroll, period. He came in with an innovative defensive concept that teams struggled to deal with. To run that scheme he looked for players that teams traditionally undervalued, large corners, a safety that was more of a linebacker/SS hybrid and smaller, quicker pass rushers.

That defense that he ran at the USC for the NFL in 2010 was perfect. What happened over the years? Teams figured it out, they cracked it. Even many of his understudies have decided to switch from that system over the years. Carroll has been playing catch up and on his back feet ever since. Carroll is an old hat in the NFL. We can acknowledge what he's done for us in the past while realizing that he never is going to do it again. Also, you need to read my post again, I acknowledge that this draft was good.

 

[JayhawkMike]

Wow, I now appreciate the site upgrade. It blocks quoted comments by ignored members. That is awesome. Thank you!

I only ignore one member but this really makes this place better.