Pete Carroll and John Schneider excited by ‘flexibility’ this Seahawks offseason brings

PALM BEACH, Fla. — If the Seahawks have had one of the most eventful offseasons in the NFL — the Russell Wilson trade and Bobby Wagner release giving the team a complete makeover from the squad that won the Super Bowl eight years ago — the perception is that its 2022 season will be pretty lackluster.

Consider that BetOnline now has Seattle listed at 66-1 to win Super Bowl LVII, down from 33-1 before the trade of Wilson.

Those are longer odds than all but eight other teams in the NFL, and far longer than the other three teams in the NFC West, a group led by the defending Super Bowl champion Rams, who are currently 12-1, followed by San Francisco at 14-1 and Arizona at 33-1.

But as coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider met the media here this week at the NFL annual meeting, it was hard to tell much difference in their demeanor now from what it was in that glorious spring of 2014, when the Seahawks appeared a budding dynasty.

Carroll turns 71 in September, just a year shy of the record for oldest full-time coach in NFL history of Marv Levy and George Halas, each 72 in their final seasons (Romeo Crennel is officially the oldest to ever coach an NFL game during his stint as an interim coach with Houston in 2020 at age 73).

But Carroll exuded the same energy as the day he was hired by the Seahawks in 2010, giving off the vibe of someone who is indeed “back in his wheelhouse” — the phrase he said team chair Jody Allen used to describe where Carroll and Schneider are in now as they attempt to build another winner out of what in 2021 was a 7-10 team that now also has to find a new quarterback.

The Wilson trade gives Seattle the ninth pick in the draft (April 28-30), three of the top 41 and four of the first 72. It also gives the Seahawks the kind of salary cap flexibility they haven’t really had since 2013 when the team knew it had to begin planning for all the big contracts to come for the likes of Wilson, Wagner, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.

The team’s makeover also puts the onus squarely on Carroll and Schneider to form another winner, and if they don’t, it will put at least a little of a sour ending on what has been the best period of football in Seahawks history, and among the best in Seattle sports history.

But for Carroll and the 50-year-old Schneider, it also means putting to test the skills they used to build the LOB-era team in the first place — a challenge they made clear at the league meetings they embrace wholeheartedly.

“It’s exciting,” Schneider said. “Yeah, it’s exciting. We have a lot of cap flexibility, draft flexibility. It’s exciting.”

Seattle hasn’t drafted earlier than the ninth pick it currently holds since taking Russell Okung sixth overall in 2010, the first for Schneider/Carroll.

Seattle could surely still be convinced to trade down, but if it picks at 9, it would be tied for the 13th highest in team history.

At the league meetings, Schneider noted how the team has often had little reason to scout the top players in the draft.

That won’t be the case this year.

“The guys are excited,” Schneider said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Carroll, meanwhile, appeared to already be having fun during his media session Tuesday, At one point, Carroll was asked whether having to do things such as meet the media early in the morning could have him reconsidering how long he wants to keep coaching.

Carroll laughed at the idea talking to the media would ever be a consideration in any decision related to his career.

Then came a follow-up, a questioner noting Carroll seems to have the same passion for coaching now that he did long ago.

Carroll’s answer could be anticipated given his perpetually positive personality.

Still, Carroll’s emphasis in his answer on the long haul was telling.

“Well, I better keep getting better,” he said. “That’s the whole process here. The things that we learn from year to year. I mean, there is so much that has happened in coaching in the last couple years. There’s just been so many challenges and so many new things to be taxed by, to try to figure out and all that.

“I just feel like it’s just an ongoing process of battling every year and rejuvenating the spirit and the approach to it. It’s what I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember. So I don’t feel one bit different about it. The challenges of this season that are a little bit unique, the new opportunities we have to make this roster as competitive as it’s ever been. … It’s exciting and thrilling to go about it.”

But if Carroll has any thought other than to fulfill a contract that goes through the 2025 season — when he would become the oldest coach in league history — he didn’t let on.

He referenced again his “five-year program” that he learned a while ago to organize his life.

“You always look five years ahead,” he said. “And that’s really helped me. And it’s helped me have a good perspective on it.”

But to get to 2025, Carroll — and Schneider — will have to have a good 2022, one that at the least shows significant signs the plan still works.