Friday, 8 January 2010
Thinking out loud
The hot rumour is that Pete Carroll will become the Seahawks' new all encompassing coach and GM. In that scenario, it's being touted he'll bring in Pat Kirwan to handle contract negotiations and player evaluations. Kirwan currently works as a Senior analyst for NFL.com and CBS. He published five mock drafts ahead of the 2009 event. If you're looking for any evidence as to where he thinks the Seahawks need to invest...
Four of the mocks had Seattle taking a quarterback fourth overall - Matt Stafford (who ultimately went to Detroit with the #1 pick). The other had the Seahawks taking Michael Crabtree. Kirwan: "Time for the Seahawks to start thinking about their long-range future at quarterback."
This is all premature of course and is merely something to chew on, but the Seahawks are clearly going in a very different direction from 2010 onwards. If Carroll and ultimately Kirwan land in Seattle, despite Carroll's defensive backgrounds the emphasis may be on rebuilding the offense.
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14 comments:
Rob, your opinion is one that I value a lot. What do you think about this talk? Would Pete Carroll, in your eyes, be a smart move?
I like it, but I'm also very unsure. I'm very intrigued, but I'll admit, my knowledge of Pete Carroll is very limited. Before today he was "The head coach of USC, a big name in college football, and a great person for the community" That was pretty much all I knew. After checking his wikipedia page, he managed a record of 36-31 as an NFL head coach before. A winning record, and he never finished below 6-10 but not much better than Mora's record when he came in.
His NFL record is eerily similar to Mora, but nobody can deny the success he's had at USC. He's less of an unkown than an assistant without previous head coaching experience and Carroll is clearly a respected, articulate man who can be the face of the franchise.
However, the wild card here is Joe Bates. Now that would be a good move as offensive coordinator. He's done an excellent job grooming Matt Barkley and helped Jay Cutler make a pro-bowl as a younger guy. He comes from a good background with Mike Shanahan. It'll be a good addition in my opinion for the offense.
Carroll's success at USC is unprecedented. This will be a bold move for him and the Seahawks. A risk, of course. But it's an instant direction. That's a good thing. There's reasons to be optomistic here, even if Carroll's previous experience in the NFL has been mixed.
I agree. Pete Carrol would not have been my first choice, but I'll take it. Sticking with Mora seemed like a gloomy situation that would just be delaying the inevitable. It will nice to have some bonified excitement/optimism about the front office and coaching staff next year.
That said, how do you see this effecting the draft? Do you think we will see the team to favor USC prospects? McKnight, Brown, and Mays all come to mind. Not to mention Griffen and Damien Williams
Rob, what do you think of Pat Kirwin? I know he worked for the Jets pre-Parcell, then wrote a column for the sportingnews.com and then nfl.com. I can't say any of that impresses me at all. Seems like the affable insider who hasn't demonstrated anything of substance in recent years to suggest he would be able put together a winning roster.
Rob,
I am appreciative of your coverage of all things pertaining to the Seahawks draft.
This may seem like an esoteric question, but I'll go for it anyways:
Will the Seahawks be getting any additional, compensatory picks? When is this decided? They frankly need all of the young bodies they can get!
Thanks much and keep up the great work!
Carroll, if named, will know he has a job to do. He knows college football, he knows the prospects. He won't draft a guy from USC unless the pick is warranted. Don't be fooled into think the Seahawks are going to go out and draft the USC team. He'll know who is good for his team and who is not.
It doesn't mean USC guys won't be drafted because they have talent - I'm a big fan of Damian Williams. Charles Brown has great potential but needs to add weight. Joe McKnight is a playmaker. Taylor Mays is a freakish athlete who's stock has plummeted this year because scouts have found big problems with his instincts, reliance on big hits and coverage. Still, he drops to #40 and you pass on him? I'm not so sure.
But I doubt Carroll also reaches at #14 to take him as the other extreme. Loyalty in this sense doesn't exist. Carroll will do what's best for himself and Seattle, not Taylor Mays.
There will be no favoritism to the school unless it's totally justified.
Maglor - I'm doing the research now on Kirwan. I'll have more on the blog soon, I'm sending emails out to find more information. He's always seemed very knowledgable to me when talking about the NFL and the draft. He's experienced, he knows football.
Annonymous - I believe we'll find out about compensatory picks in February. I'll check that up. You get those picks for losing key free agents, Seattle retained nearly all it's starters except Leonard Weaver, Rocky Bernard and Maurics Morris. Julian Peterson was traded. I wouldn't be too optomistic about the Seahawks getting any extra picks. They might get a 7th rounder.
The difference between Mora and Caroll is this. Although neither was too successful as a head coach, Carroll was a great Defensive Coordinator, Jim Mora was below average.
Am I wrong when I say this? Atlanta had a terrible defense, the Jets/49ers/Patriots had solid defenses. The Jets and the 49ers had great defenses. Not too sold on his job with the Patriots though...
So I don't think the two are erily similar...
In fairness annonymous, I never said Mora and Carroll were eerily similar, I merely mentioned their NFL records were. When Mora was appointed Seahawks head coach, that was a fact. Simple as that.
I would say that's only similarity. Mora obviously has never coached in college football, let alone had the success of Carroll. They are very different people with very different coaching styles.
The one thing to factor in is that history shows that college HC's jumping to NFL HC's jobs have worked out to be failures (see:Saban,Nick, Petrino, Bobby;et. al.) Conversely, he could easily turn out to be another Jimmy Johnson. But, there has to have been a reason he was fired as an NFL head coach.
Of course there is a reason he was fired as an NFL head coach, twice.. But there is also a reason he was HIRED as an NFL head coach, twice.. He was a very successful coordinator in the NFL. Keep in mind, the last time he was fired in the NFL was 10 very successful collegiate seasons ago..
All that said, why am I not stoked about this hire? I'll have to reserve judgment until I see how the front office will be structured. News that Paul Allen is not comfortable with one man making all the personnel decisions is comforting, though..
I feel like this whole position regarding Pete Carroll has come about too quickly and is too radical of a move by the Seahawks to actually happen. I might be wrong, but I wouldn't be at all shocked if this thing is dead and buried by tomorrow night.
I don't blame Pete Carroll for wanting a lot of control. To me, it makes little sense to have a serious disconnect between the Head Coach and GM. Afterall, the coach is the one actually running the team, so why does it make sense for another individual to make the calls regarding the players that comprise it?
Carroll just went through his first real "down year" at USC in which he was still 9-4 despite losing a huge, vital chunk of his defense, starting QB all the while playing a true freshman QB. I really am going to be shocked if he is not still the head coach of USC this year.
I would really enjoy Pete Carroll in Seattle because I think he is a creative thinker who has a plan for everything he does whether it be charity or building a football team.
Interesting article you got here. I'd like to read something more concerning that matter. Thank you for giving this data.
Took me time to read all the comments, but I really love the article. It proved to be very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also engaged! I’m sure you had joy writing this article.
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