I think there is something to be said for how Seattle does it, as overly conservative as it may feel sometimes.
I like the idea of always having a competitive team, rather than selling out with the implicit acknowledgement of it all falling apart and having lame duck years between runs. Selling out doesn't always work. As much as I respect the hell out of McVay and especially Snead's work, there's such a large degree of variance and chance to this that I don't think you even bat .500 at bringing home a championship per championship window following the Rams model.
Seattle's goal isn't a single-season minmax, it's the "win forever" mantra. I enjoy having a chance every year, and I think it's critical to the ethos of the organization.
That said, organizations should do what works with the skillsets and philosophies of their decision-makers. If you've go go-getters like Snead and McVay, I wouldn't want them to fight against their instinct. Uncertainty = loss.
I agree.
That “selling out” and going all in with all your marbles in with all draft capital traded is high risk and although high reward.
I like the idea of fielding a year to year competitive team with draft capital in hand solely on the basis of this is a physical game and each week players go down and coaches get outcoached.
You can have the “greatest” collection of players but that doesn’t guarantee each week they play with the same intensity and drive every single snap.
That’s what creates the parity in the NFL.
Even the greatest Seahawks teams lost games because they didn’t play with the same motivation every week.
And this is what matters most if you go “all in” and trade for what you believe are “elite echelon” players and then trade your 1st and 2nd round picks to acquire certain players. And then you have to pay those players because it wouldn’t justify trading all that capital for them if you do not extend them. They aren’t 2 year rentals, cause the price you gave up is too much.
I much rather prefer, take your draft picks, coach them up, and hopefully the talented players you drafted further develops into the next generation of stars, etc etc.
I think Seattle with Carroll and Schneider can do it again. They just gotta “hit” on a future young QB that fits what Carroll likes to do and Seattle has proven they can rebuild a run game and a defense, and if they get the cherry on top, QB, they can win without selling their entire draft stock.
Whether or not, Geno Smith, is the QB, when Seattle wins the Super Bowl (if) is somewhat irrelevant cause, the front office as shown, they can strike gold again with drafting and Seattle should stay in contention for winning the division as long as Carroll and Schneider continue to draft well and make good trades and free agency moves, etc…