RENTON — If you were hoping for candor, you instead got delusions of grandeur.
If it was a plan that you sought, it was platitudes that you got.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider addressed the media Wednesday after whittling the roster down to 53 players. It was a rare appearance from the exec, who doesn’t usually meet with reporters this time of year.
There were obviously a host of personnel questions, along with queries about the quarterback battle that ended with Geno Smith earning the starting nod over Drew Lock. I had a more general inquiry for the general manager, though: What is the plan for this franchise?
OK, I didn’t ask it that succinctly, but I did bring up the fact that this is a team that went 7-10 last season before trading likely Hall of Fame quarterback Russell Wilson and releasing likely Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner. I mentioned how there were no big-name additions to the roster, and that most fans probably saw this as a step-back season similar to the one Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto declared in early 2019.
Did Schneider have a response to such fans’ concerns? And if those concerns were legit, what was the vision for restoring the Seahawks to prominence?
Well, as you read this, that vision seems no clearer than it was before.
“I think the easiest thing to do is to say, well, who are the stars? Right? … I’m not gonna mention names, but you know, I mean, look at the guys, it’s pretty easy to know who the big-time players are. It’s exciting. It’s an exciting thing because the fans don’t know what’s coming and who’s gonna step forward. And I think there’s a bunch of good opportunities for guys to really step forward,” said Schneider, expressing some surprise that Seahawks receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf weren’t listed among the NFL Network’s top 100 players in the league (safety Quandre Diggs was the only Seahawk mentioned at No. 72).
“There weren’t a lot of people who knew who Richard Sherman was or Kam (Chancellor) or K.J. (Wright) or Bobby for that matter. Russ was a third-round pick when (head coach) Pete (Carroll) decided to start him as a rookie, right? So these guys come out of nowhere.”
Are you saying people are sleeping on you? (Las Vegas sportsbooks have only two teams winning fewer games than the Seahawks this season.)
“Well, sleeping, I just think it’s really — we’re chasing,” Schneider said. “You know, instead of being chased … I think it’s cool.”
That last line may have been the most transparent Schneider was about the Seahawks’ prospects this year. Though he is right that few, if anybody, saw the Pro Bowl potential in the aforementioned players they drafted between 2010-2012 (and that’s in addition to the team nabbing first-rounders Earl Thomas and Russell Okung in 2010), such a collection of picks was like 10 bolts of lightning in a thimble. Good luck replicating anything close to that.
Still, it’s hard to blame Schneider for fielding the questions the way he did Wednesday. Even if he wanted to be more direct in tempering expectations, he doesn’t have the same autonomy as someone such as Dipoto.
Schneider was essentially hired by Carroll. The assumption is that he still answers to Carroll. And if you replaced the Seahawks’ roster with the casts of “Love Island” and “90 Day Fiancé,” Carroll would still talk as if this team were Super Bowl bound. Schneider isn’t going to contradict that.
But that doesn’t change the following: 1. The Seahawks’ starting quarterback (Smith) spent the last seven seasons as a backup and threw 34 interceptions against 25 touchdowns in his only two years as a starter. 2. The Seahawks’ backup quarterback (Lock) led the league in interceptions with 15 two years as ago in his only full year as a starter. 3. The Seahawks finished fifth-to-last in total defense last season, and that was with Wagner, who tallied a career-high 170 tackles.
It just doesn’t look good. Though the organization’s GM offered few details on a plan for the future, fans can only hope he’s carving one out diligently.
At the end of Wednesday’s news conference, the ever-elusive Schneider yelled out “see you guys at the combine!” joking that he wouldn’t likely talk to the media again until then.
Well, that’s a month after the season. And if Schneider is like a good chunk of Seahawks fans, that may already be where his mind is.