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John Schneider: "This Year's Draft Class Is A Cool Group" · Seahawks Press Pass

0:02
Speaker 1: Hey, guys, how are we doing. Welcome everybody back to Indianapolis.
0:08
Speaker 1: Excited to get going another year. We just got here
0:10
Speaker 1: last night, so tons of meetings and league meetings this morning.
0:14
Speaker 2: Is this okay? And uh yeah, here we go. Let
0:18
Speaker 2: her rip.
0:20
Speaker 3: It's been like for you bring a new head coach
0:22
Speaker 3: and everything that's gone in the.
0:24
Speaker 2: Last couple of months.
0:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it seems like we just got off
0:29
Speaker 1: the plane in Arizona that night. To be honest with you,
0:32
Speaker 1: we've just been going NonStop, you know, for the last
0:35
Speaker 1: I don't know how long it's been, but uh yeah, exciting,
0:40
Speaker 1: you know, exciting times of getting no new staff.
0:43
Speaker 2: Now. I think Mike's an awesome job putting his staff.
0:45
Speaker 1: Together, and it's been pretty cool to see his process
0:48
Speaker 1: after you know, we went through our process of hiring
0:51
Speaker 1: a head coach down to see him turn around and
0:53
Speaker 1: and have his own process of putting the staff together
0:56
Speaker 1: has been.
0:57
Speaker 2: It's been. It's it's been. It's been. It's been.
1:00
Speaker 1: It's been eye opening, it's been, you know, meeting a
1:02
Speaker 1: lot of people.
1:04
Speaker 2: We learned a lot through the through the whole.
1:05
Speaker 1: Process, a lot of lessons, a lot of new ideas,
1:09
Speaker 1: and yeah, I'm you know, we're just get to know
1:12
Speaker 1: each other.
1:12
Speaker 2: You know, it's it's uh, it's crazy.
1:15
Speaker 1: You know, it's fifteen years ago, Pete, and now we're
1:17
Speaker 1: here together and doesn't seem that long ago. Uh, just
1:21
Speaker 1: trying to get to know each other, understand each other's
1:24
Speaker 1: philosophies and yeah, so it's uh exciting times.
1:30
Speaker 2: Remember Elliot Wolf from your Yeah I used to babysit.
1:38
Speaker 2: H Yeah, thanks a lot. I appreciate that. Uh. No,
1:42
Speaker 2: he was always around us. He was always in the
1:44
Speaker 2: draft room with us.
1:45
Speaker 1: He was always sitting in our offices, always taking in
1:48
Speaker 1: as much information as he possibly could.
1:50
Speaker 2: Always like, had very very strong opinions.
1:54
Speaker 1: You know, if you ask him, I think he thought
1:55
Speaker 1: he was like all conference and I'm not sure if
1:57
Speaker 1: you were played it down for the high school.
2:00
Speaker 2: It's a little dig there, Elliott.
2:03
Speaker 1: No, just he was just really into it. And then
2:07
Speaker 1: we hired him as a We hired him back. He
2:10
Speaker 1: went to Miami, went to school down there and was
2:12
Speaker 1: working in our scouty apartment, one of those first jobs
2:15
Speaker 1: that really existed. So went down there and then came
2:19
Speaker 1: back and you know Reggie and John Dorsey and Ted
2:23
Speaker 1: Thompson and myself hired him back and.
2:26
Speaker 2: He just he just took off.
2:27
Speaker 1: So I'm happy, you know, for I haven't had a
2:30
Speaker 1: chance to really talk to him too much, but you know,
2:33
Speaker 1: I'm happy everything's turned out for him there.
2:35
Speaker 2: You made the decision that was right for you. But
2:37
Speaker 2: I'd like to ask you quickly about Patrick Graham.
2:40
Speaker 1: He's a guy at some point in this league is
2:42
Speaker 1: going to get a job.
2:43
Speaker 2: Will you talk about what impressed you about him? Sir? Please? Oh?
2:46
Speaker 1: Wow, his his his his enthusiasm is intelligence. He had
2:51
Speaker 1: a lot of energy, He had a lot of presents.
2:52
Speaker 1: When he came through the building. Everybody felt him in
2:54
Speaker 1: the building. It was really important for us to bring
2:56
Speaker 1: the candidates in and have them experience. It's what you know,
3:01
Speaker 1: we viewed as and this is not an arrogant thing,
3:03
Speaker 1: but it's just kind of like the firepower that we
3:05
Speaker 1: have in the building and whether that sports science, uh
3:08
Speaker 1: you know our analytics group, equipment, you know, player personnel
3:13
Speaker 1: obviously pr But no, he came through, excuse me, spend
3:20
Speaker 1: a ton of time with everybody and and uh, every.
3:22
Speaker 2: Really enjoyed their visit. So yeah, he's got a bright,
3:25
Speaker 2: bright future. Look forward to trying to hook up with
3:27
Speaker 2: him down here and get caught.
3:28
Speaker 1: Up when you hired Dan Morgan as a scout way
3:31
Speaker 1: back when?
3:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, what stood out? This sounds like a blast, This
3:36
Speaker 2: is awesome. I am fifty I'm not fifty two. I'm
3:40
Speaker 2: not fifty two. I'm not fifty two. Go ahead, I'm
3:41
Speaker 2: feeling old.
3:42
Speaker 1: What stood out to you about him and what what
3:45
Speaker 1: do you think will make him a successful general manager?
3:49
Speaker 1: Very strong in his opinions, former player that came in
3:52
Speaker 1: and and really bought into our process, our different processes,
3:57
Speaker 1: I should say, Uh, spent the time him, wanted to learn.
4:01
Speaker 1: Didn't think he had all the answers. We looked at
4:04
Speaker 1: him for a lot of you know, answers that that that,
4:07
Speaker 1: you know, and we were really curious with him how
4:09
Speaker 1: he looked again, how he viewed the game.
4:11
Speaker 2: Uh So, he just always had a huge brain in
4:14
Speaker 2: terms of.
4:16
Speaker 1: Understanding trying to understand you know, the the the personnel
4:20
Speaker 1: side of it. And he was just really into it
4:22
Speaker 1: all the time. And then you know, became a personal
4:25
Speaker 1: confident of mine. So from a player's standpoint, you know,
4:28
Speaker 1: understanding what the locker rooms going through.
4:30
Speaker 2: Uh yeah, he's great. Yeah, Where who's next? Red Cochrane. Uh, yeah, yeah, okay,
4:39
Speaker 2: it's uh it's been a while since you worked with Brian. Yeah.
4:42
Speaker 1: But from your perspective on the outside, what has he
4:45
Speaker 1: done so well that's kept them you know, competitive?
4:48
Speaker 2: Steady. He's just been steady, you know, always has been. Uh.
4:52
Speaker 1: He did an internship in Green Bay and then we hired.
4:55
Speaker 2: Him in Kansas City.
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Speaker 1: Uh, and he's just always been you know.
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Speaker 2: He coached, he was like a JV I think at lacrosse.
5:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's as a coach at lacrosse on the JV team,
5:06
Speaker 1: never waivers, just a real steady even keeled, works his
5:10
Speaker 1: tail off. Uh, in my opinion, is very forward communicator.
5:14
Speaker 1: We can have conversations on the phone and get caught
5:16
Speaker 1: up in about ten minutes, which I personally like.
5:19
Speaker 2: So yeah, no, and and obviously uh this year the way.
5:23
Speaker 1: Uh the quarterback played and everything. Love was just was
5:26
Speaker 1: happy for him everything. You know, it's it's it's not easy.
5:29
Speaker 1: I'm really happy for him.
5:31
Speaker 2: How do you start? So what do you think I apologize?
5:40
Speaker 2: I can't hear you. How do you see the output?
5:42
Speaker 1: So I split between Ken Walker and Zach Charbaday.
5:44
Speaker 2: And how do those two guys like play off of
5:46
Speaker 2: each other as forts their styles. Yeah, they're they're different backs.
5:49
Speaker 1: That's gonna be up to coach grub in this offensive staff,
5:51
Speaker 1: you know how they want to use those guys. Uh,
5:54
Speaker 1: we have We have several guys in that room that
5:56
Speaker 1: we really like and and so you know those guys
5:59
Speaker 1: are those two are obviously very talented. All four of
6:02
Speaker 1: our guys have different skill sets. So really really looking
6:05
Speaker 1: forward to seeing how the coaching staff views their strengths
6:08
Speaker 1: and you know, if they have deficiencies, tries to kind
6:12
Speaker 1: of hide those efficiencies but more importantly accentuate the positives.
6:16
Speaker 2: With those guys, John.
6:17
Speaker 1: Turning their quarterbacks, what are some of the bigger turns
6:20
Speaker 1: or red flags?
6:20
Speaker 2: And the evaluation does it have to be something.
6:23
Speaker 1: Catastrophically bad, But when you're just breaking down their tape
6:26
Speaker 1: and watching them, what are some of.
6:27
Speaker 2: The things that you don't want to see?
6:30
Speaker 1: Interceptions, low ball, carriers, ball coming out, how they handle
6:35
Speaker 1: themselves in the pocket, people that aren't confident in their abilities.
6:40
Speaker 1: I think you just look at the guys the way
6:41
Speaker 1: they handle them themselves through a football game. When you
6:44
Speaker 1: see guys play live, it's it's really important to see
6:47
Speaker 1: how they interact with their teammates and to see how
6:50
Speaker 1: they how they respond to the really tough things that
6:54
Speaker 1: they've just gone through. So you know, I know you
6:57
Speaker 1: hear people talk about corners all the time. Can they
6:59
Speaker 1: turn the page and you know, react to a you know,
7:02
Speaker 1: a play they just gave up or something like that
7:04
Speaker 1: explosive player or something. But quarterbacks, same thing, you know,
7:09
Speaker 1: and how they interact with their teammates when they come
7:12
Speaker 1: out in the field, how they're interacting with the quarterback
7:14
Speaker 1: or the head coach. And yeah, just just that like
7:18
Speaker 1: just that calm, steady, competitive field vision.
7:22
Speaker 2: Just yeah, tough, competitive.
7:25
Speaker 1: You asked me what I didn't like, which so now
7:28
Speaker 1: I had to go back to what we do leg
7:30
Speaker 1: So how do you assess I would assess the serious class.
7:36
Speaker 2: ABC. It's a good group at where you're going. It's
7:40
Speaker 2: it's it's it's a good group. You know, Greg, I've
7:44
Speaker 2: told you guys.
7:44
Speaker 1: In the past, you know, having grown up in the
7:48
Speaker 1: Packer organization and work for ron Wolf, not you know,
7:52
Speaker 1: fourteen drafts only drafting two quarterbacks is not something that
7:56
Speaker 1: we're necessarily uh proud of.
7:58
Speaker 2: You know, it's just happened. It just have It's happened
8:01
Speaker 2: that way, excuse.
8:03
Speaker 1: Me, and uh, every year to go to try to
8:07
Speaker 1: acquire a quarterback and whether that's a draft, reagency whatever.
8:10
Speaker 2: It looks like.
8:11
Speaker 1: Uh, but yeah, this this year's draft class is a
8:14
Speaker 1: is A is A is A is a cool.
8:16
Speaker 2: Group, A lot of a lot of variances in there.
8:18
Speaker 2: Have entirely new staff.
8:20
Speaker 3: Is that if there was ever a year to draft
8:23
Speaker 3: to develop a quarterback with a brand new staff in the.
8:25
Speaker 1: Regime system, Honestly, it doesn't matter. No, I understand the question,
8:30
Speaker 1: but no, you're always I mean it's every year.
8:32
Speaker 2: It's just literally if you if you guys sat.
8:35
Speaker 1: In there with us, it's literally like, Okay, this one's
8:37
Speaker 1: coming and then it doesn't happen, or that one's coming
8:39
Speaker 1: and it doesn't happen.
8:41
Speaker 2: You consider, do you know the starter right now? And
8:43
Speaker 2: what what kind of attack the other day?
8:46
Speaker 1: It's kind of yeah, I mean I would think, yes,
8:49
Speaker 1: the starter until he's hot. I mean really, I mean
8:51
Speaker 1: this is this this this Our coaches aren't down here
8:54
Speaker 1: with us, guys, So we're basically what we're doing is
8:56
Speaker 1: you know, we we have a vision, we have a
8:58
Speaker 1: plan for what we're doing. Uh uh, you know, next
9:01
Speaker 1: week when we get back in the office after kind
9:03
Speaker 1: of learning the landscape down here, talking all the agents,
9:06
Speaker 1: all the other teams, you know what, what we're going
9:08
Speaker 1: to learn throughout the week, kind of coming around the
9:10
Speaker 1: corner next week, getting back with those guys with the
9:13
Speaker 1: new staff, with Mike staff in place, and then you know,
9:16
Speaker 1: getting getting in our alignment and you know, really asking
9:20
Speaker 1: for for patients from you know, from all our players.
9:22
Speaker 1: It's you know, all the guys that are free agents
9:24
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know the guys that you know
9:26
Speaker 1: are still like kind of you know on a team
9:28
Speaker 1: looking to just talk to their position coach. And I'm
9:30
Speaker 1: sure those guys are doing that this week. And I
9:32
Speaker 1: know some guys have already reached out and everything, but
9:35
Speaker 1: really just finishing up the staff last like maybe Thursday
9:37
Speaker 1: or Friday, So sorry.
9:41
Speaker 3: Also had Dave Canalis and Brady another Pas. Those were
9:46
Speaker 3: two really really young guys when they joined. You can
9:48
Speaker 3: you see something? Is there something you can see when
9:53
Speaker 3: the guy's that young, Like he's either got it or
9:55
Speaker 3: he doesn't. And maybe what did you see in those two?
9:59
Speaker 2: Yeah?
9:59
Speaker 3: Dave.
10:00
Speaker 1: Dave was you know, very intelligent, clear thinking, uh even keeled,
10:05
Speaker 1: but like you know, you can just tell, like the
10:08
Speaker 1: guy has his stuff together, right you just like you
10:11
Speaker 1: look at him, he's like, you know, totally fit, smart,
10:13
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, Brad.
10:15
Speaker 2: I worked with Brad's dad for a.
10:16
Speaker 1: Long time, and I've no I should say, I've worked
10:19
Speaker 1: with dad for probably like three or four.
10:20
Speaker 2: Years, and I've known his dad for a long time.
10:22
Speaker 1: So when we moved to uh Seattle, he was he
10:26
Speaker 1: was playing I think he was like a junior in
10:29
Speaker 1: high school and had a really bad knee injury, so
10:31
Speaker 1: he was rehabbing around the building a lot. Got to
10:33
Speaker 1: know him at a young age and then got to
10:35
Speaker 1: know him and he was at Stanford and uh, he
10:37
Speaker 1: just yeah, you just knew he was like a highly organized,
10:40
Speaker 1: you know, great work ethic. Uh.
10:44
Speaker 2: But you know, every works so hard in this business.
10:46
Speaker 1: He's still you have to have a sense of humor,
10:48
Speaker 1: and they and they both do and and now that
10:50
Speaker 1: one of those guys takes themselves uh real serious, I
11:00
Speaker 1: can't tell you yet. You know, it's early in the process.
11:03
Speaker 1: This is the week we kind of every kind of
11:05
Speaker 1: lays out what they think people are gonna make in
11:07
Speaker 1: the market, and and then we go from here. Over
11:09
Speaker 1: the next excuse me. You know, a couple of months
11:12
Speaker 1: and we see where it goes. It's not like you
11:14
Speaker 1: go in there saying, Okay, well you know.
11:16
Speaker 2: This group is he compared the groups or whatever.
11:18
Speaker 1: You got to compare the individuals and then you know,
11:21
Speaker 1: maybe more maybe maybe more salary cap space this year
11:24
Speaker 1: helps that out.
11:25
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what health what are you saying that
11:33
Speaker 2: that could.
11:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say with coach Carroll and Shane and
11:40
Speaker 1: uh coach Joseph and and uh, you know obviously Dave
11:46
Speaker 1: instilling confidence in Geno. Gino had a had a certain
11:50
Speaker 1: level of confidence about him, and then once Pete named
11:52
Speaker 1: him the starter, he really took off.
11:55
Speaker 2: Excuse me.
11:56
Speaker 1: So I would say with that group, with with with
11:59
Speaker 1: Dave and Brad being there with Bryce again, it's it's
12:02
Speaker 1: instilling confidence in him. You know, those guys spend a
12:05
Speaker 1: lot of time with Gino after practice, a lot of
12:07
Speaker 1: time with Drew Sean Mannon, and so I would I
12:10
Speaker 1: would I don't want to speak, I don't want to
12:12
Speaker 1: speak for them, but I would think they would, you know,
12:13
Speaker 1: have the same approach with Bryce. Sorry, miss you, Yeah, yeah,
12:25
Speaker 1: you don't want to mess with him, right, I mean
12:28
Speaker 1: you're like I want that guy in a dark alley
12:30
Speaker 1: with me, right, I mean, no, he's his his intensity
12:33
Speaker 1: is football. Intelligence. Was always a really good teacher for
12:36
Speaker 1: us and in a in a in a in a
12:38
Speaker 1: really good communicator. I think that really stood out for
12:41
Speaker 1: us right away. But yeah, I just saw it was
12:44
Speaker 1: able to see him last night and give him a
12:46
Speaker 1: big hug, and I still can't keep my hands on
12:48
Speaker 1: his back. You know, it's funny you bring up Elliott's name. Uh,
12:55
Speaker 1: you know, I I was able to talk about a
12:57
Speaker 1: little earlier. Uh, it was very close with his dad.
12:59
Speaker 1: Obviously the baby sat Basically we didn't baby sed Elliot,
13:03
Speaker 1: but I mean like basically did. He was in the
13:05
Speaker 1: office with us all the time. And honestly, I always
13:09
Speaker 1: use him kind of like a little brother really, you know,
13:11
Speaker 1: just uh, he's asked me for advice over the years
13:14
Speaker 1: and everything. And you know, unfortunately, having moved, you know,
13:18
Speaker 1: been away from the packers now for you know what
13:21
Speaker 1: fifteen years or whatever, we haven't stayed as close a
13:24
Speaker 1: contact as I would have liked. He's probably happy about that,
13:28
Speaker 1: but yeah, just just highly you know, highly intelligent work
13:33
Speaker 1: with obviously being around his father, seeing his father's interaction
13:36
Speaker 1: with with coach coach Holmgren at a young age and
13:39
Speaker 1: then coach Sherman. You know, all those coaches that were
13:42
Speaker 1: on that staff. It was like an all star staff.
13:44
Speaker 1: Andy Reid and you know John Gruden and Marny Morning.
13:47
Speaker 1: You've seen the staff so like a photographic.
13:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, much like his father.
13:53
Speaker 1: You know, it could could rip off stats, Jersey numbers,
13:57
Speaker 1: you know all that stuff was was always very impressive
13:59
Speaker 1: with that the Ravens well, yeah, I mean like the
14:14
Speaker 1: illusion of complexity like everybody talks about and and you
14:17
Speaker 1: could see it on film and it's the product right
14:20
Speaker 1: you're watching it. You saw it happen several times this year.
14:23
Speaker 1: You saw it having in Michigan this year, you know
14:26
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago when Mike was at Michigan
14:28
Speaker 1: as well, and then where he's taken that defense is
14:31
Speaker 1: is really impressive. Mike's a very Mike is a very
14:34
Speaker 1: clear thinking, uh you know, highly intelligent guy that can
14:39
Speaker 1: like you know, just super impressed in the short like
14:42
Speaker 1: speed dating time we did with his wife's staff and
14:44
Speaker 1: like you know, just like they have been able to
14:47
Speaker 1: have a really strong conversation with somebody and they kind
14:49
Speaker 1: of jump into a different conversation. It's a little bit
14:51
Speaker 1: more lightheaded and then get back to business real quick.
14:53
Speaker 2: That was something really stood out.
14:55
Speaker 1: So I can imagine the conciseness of his teaching when
14:58
Speaker 1: he's in a room with you know, a defensive with
15:00
Speaker 1: the team.
15:02
Speaker 3: When you come sorry sometimes you learned.
15:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, he gives you a look.
15:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, but then he can he can he can snap
15:15
Speaker 1: out of it, and he kind of looks at you,
15:17
Speaker 1: like what you know? So but I have one of
15:18
Speaker 1: those two, so we're kind of trying to get annoyed
15:21
Speaker 1: to not know each other. He has much more of
15:23
Speaker 1: a it's got a much better sense of humor than
15:25
Speaker 1: like all the background people gave him credit for. He's uh,
15:29
Speaker 1: he's very well read. And you know, I told uh
15:32
Speaker 1: one of one of the coaches was coming to an interview,
15:33
Speaker 1: I'll interview with us.
15:34
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, he's like a thirty six year
15:36
Speaker 2: old guy and has a maturity of a sixty year old.
15:38
Speaker 1: And he's like, great, I'm turning sixty next month and
15:41
Speaker 1: I have the maturity but thirty six year olds, So
15:42
Speaker 1: maybe this will work out. John John not looking at
15:47
Speaker 1: it's been fourteen years since you.
15:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, Carol, here the entire time. How different is the
15:54
Speaker 2: dynamic or how different do you respect the.
15:56
Speaker 1: Dynamic to be without having to coaching stamp here and
15:59
Speaker 1: not Pete Carroll the complins.
16:01
Speaker 2: Uh I I I don't.
16:02
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of where it's going, you know,
16:04
Speaker 1: Like you know, over the years now, the last several
16:06
Speaker 1: years has been a lot of staffs that have not
16:08
Speaker 1: come down or some of the coaches have just kind
16:10
Speaker 1: of come down for you know, the interviews or you know,
16:13
Speaker 1: our our our our personnel staff does a great job
16:17
Speaker 1: of filming the interviews, uh, getting the getting the questions
16:20
Speaker 1: we want answered in the in the in the videos,
16:23
Speaker 1: and then throughout the process as well into the spring
16:27
Speaker 1: all the zoom interviews that we do. We're constantly studying those.
16:30
Speaker 2: And so.
16:32
Speaker 1: The dynamic with Pete in particular and Mike is not
16:36
Speaker 1: it's a true partnership. So that part's not gonna be different.
16:39
Speaker 1: It's gonna be you know, our personnel staff kind of
16:41
Speaker 1: learning these coaches, understanding what's important to them and and
16:45
Speaker 1: and letting them you know, have the trust in our
16:47
Speaker 1: system and you know, the processes that we've developed over
16:49
Speaker 1: the last uh you know, fifteen years.
16:52
Speaker 3: Process when you come down here for this DRAP process.
16:55
Speaker 2: How much do you take in for the interviews? I
16:57
Speaker 2: guess what's the most important thing that you take out
16:59
Speaker 2: of this you go back to Seattle.
17:01
Speaker 1: It's really more of the person than than than the
17:03
Speaker 1: football part. Obviously, when when when we're interviewing the players,
17:07
Speaker 1: you know, there's certain things that can stand out, and
17:10
Speaker 1: we never really think like, you know, our philosophies, that
17:12
Speaker 1: we don't feel like we have all the answers even
17:14
Speaker 1: when they come into the building.
17:15
Speaker 2: We're still learning these guys, so you.
17:17
Speaker 1: Know, we're trying to figure out, you know, how to
17:20
Speaker 1: build the questions upon questions to dig further into the
17:22
Speaker 1: person and understand the person so when they come into
17:25
Speaker 1: the building we're able to help them out as much
17:27
Speaker 1: as we possibly can. Football, personal character, nutrition.
17:32
Speaker 2: The whole nine. Awesome. Thank you everyone, Appreciate you.