TOP STORIES
Offseason Program
The VMAC Doors Open Tomorrow. Here’s What’s Different About Year Two.
The Seahawks’ voluntary offseason program begins tomorrow, April 20, at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton. Meetings, strength and conditioning, rehab. Phase One. The boring, unsexy stuff that apparently wins championships.
April 20
Tomorrow. Phase One begins at the VMAC.
Last year, the Seahawks had near-perfect voluntary attendance. Macdonald and the players credited it as a major factor in the Super Bowl run. The question nobody had to ask back then was whether people would show up. The question this year is whether they show up the same way when they already have the ring.
Macdonald isn’t pretending the answer is automatic. He told reporters at the league meeting that the program will be tiered: young players, injured guys, and anyone who didn’t log heavy playoff minutes come back first. The veterans who carried the championship run get the first two weeks remote before Phase Two pulls everyone back in. The draft is four days away. Construction on the 80,000-square-foot VMAC expansion starts this summer. Hard Knocks cameras arrive in July.
The building is about to get very crowded. But it has to get full first. Last year they proved the voluntary program works. This year they prove it wasn’t a fluke.
SOURCES →
Draft Shakeup
Dexter Lawrence Goes to Cincinnati. The Draft Board Just Tilted.
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For Seattle, this matters in two specific ways. First, Lawrence is off the Seahawks’ regular season schedule and out of the NFC entirely. Second, and more importantly: the Giants just proved they’re in full sell mode under new coach John Harbaugh. That’s the same front office John Schneider called about Kayvon Thibodeaux.
$14.75M
Thibodeaux’s fifth-year option salary. Cheaper than any veteran edge rusher on the open market.
The Thibodeaux asking price is now clear. Per Pro Football Rumors, one GM told Jason La Canfora the Giants would accept a third-round pick, and would take a fourth if the board falls right. La Canfora says it would be “quite surprising” if Thibodeaux is still a Giant by the end of draft weekend. Seattle has a second-round pick at 64. The math is starting to work.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The Seahawks held a virtual meeting with Georgia All-American linebacker C.J. Allen, who ran a 4.47 forty this week and never committed a single penalty in college. Linebacker isn’t a pressing need, but Schneider doesn’t ignore talent. He hoards it. Field Gulls
Will Anderson Jr. signed a three-year, $150 million extension with the Texans, making him the highest-paid non-QB in NFL history at $50M/yr. The edge rusher market just went supernova. Witherspoon’s agent is taking notes. Yahoo Sports
The 30-visit deadline for pre-draft visits has passed. Only virtual meetings and off-site conversations remain before Pittsburgh. Schneider’s homework is due. Seattle Times
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
The Rams have four draft picks. All in the final two rounds. Turf Show Times is scouting special teams prospects for their first selection because that’s all they can afford after trading the 29th pick for Trent McDuffie. LA is the Super Bowl favorite, apparently, which means they’re one Stafford hamstring tweak from being the most expensive 8-9 team in NFL history. Their entire draft strategy is hoping a seventh-round punt gunner makes the roster. Dynasty behavior.
NINERS
The 49ers signed cornerback Jack Jones on a one-year deal, which SI on Seahawks says all but finalizes their passing on drafting a cornerback. San Francisco’s offseason strategy: a 32-year-old wideout coming off an eight-game season, a linebacker who’s appeared in 10 games since tearing his Achilles in the Super Bowl, and now a journeyman corner on his fourth team in four years. John Lynch calls this roster construction. Everyone else calls it a yard sale.
CARDINALS
GM Monti Ossenfort held his pre-draft presser and refused to name a starting quarterback a week before the draft. The Cardinals have heavy interest in Alabama’s Ty Simpson and might trade back into the first round to get him. Arizona went 3-14 last year, and the biggest draft decision reportedly comes down to owner Michael Bidwill, whose team’s current QB room features Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew. The fear of job security could have Ossenfort reaching for a quarterback to keep the owner happy. That’s not draft strategy. That’s survival instinct.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Earl Thomas was the heartbeat of the Legion of Boom defense, earning seven Pro Bowl selections over his career and intercepting a Peyton Manning pass in Super Bowl XLVIII. Thomas was drafted 14th overall in 2010 after the Seahawks acquired that pick in a trade with the Denver Broncos. Over his nine seasons in Seattle, Thomas became one of the most prolific ballhawks in franchise history. How many career interceptions did Thomas record during his time as a Seahawk (regular season only)?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
28. Thomas recorded 28 interceptions in nine seasons with the Seahawks, plus two more with the Ravens in 2019 for a career total of 30. He had at least one interception in every single season of his career, a streak of 10 consecutive years.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2018
April 19, 2018
Seahawks Release 2018 Regular Season Schedule
On this date, the NFL released the Seahawks’ 2018 regular season schedule, featuring the franchise’s first-ever trip to London (a Week 6 matchup against the Oakland Raiders) and five primetime games. The season would end up being a transition year — Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, and Kam Chancellor were all gone — but Pete Carroll’s squad went 10-6 and returned to the playoffs behind a rebuilt roster and rookie punter Michael Dickson, who became the first rookie punter named to the Pro Bowl since 1985.
Got a question for The Rooster?
Draft predictions, cap math, conspiracy theories about why Chris Johnson skipped his VMAC visit — send them all. The mailbag feeds on your anxiety. Submit your question and it might show up in a future issue.
Four days to Pittsburgh. One day to Renton. The phones are still ringing, the doors are about to open, and somewhere in Manhattan, Joe Schoen is answering every call. Go Hawks. — The Rooster