It was June, the Seahawks were in minicamp, and everyone, not just here but across the league, was still about a month and a half away from the summer’s first padded practice.
Not that you would’ve known that if you pulled up to Seattle’s Renton, Wash., practice field.
“We were jaw-jacking, talking smack to each other. It’s minicamp, OTAs, and you can’t tell that,” recounted quarterback Geno Smith. “Guys are competing, like competing. It’s really just the culture of the locker room. It’s what we do. I always go to the weight room at 6 a.m. no matter what I do, and I’ve got guys literally trying to beat me to the weight room. There are guys in there at 5:30, 5:40. I’m just like, .
“That’s how deep the competition is. Yeah, we’re a team, but who wants to be an alpha dog on the team? You’ve got Bobby Wagner, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, myself, Jarran Reed, so many alphas. … It’s crazy, the night before I’m like,. That’s just the culture of our team at this point.”
Meet the new Seahawks, same as the old Seahawks. The same, they hope, in every way.
Part of the legend of the Legion of Boom Seattle teams was how the program was so competitive that the practices—with the roster’s edgiest players going head-to-head—were tighter, nastier and livelier than most games. True or not, the idea typified the energy of the operation, and what Smith is describing in this case is, well, at least in that ballpark.
The roster may be heading that way, too. While they aren’t there yet, the 2022 draft class has the makings of Pete Carroll and John Schneider’s early draft classes—Seattle shored up weaknesses at tackle and corner with two players at each spot, landed a bell-cow tailback and an edge rusher compared now to Cliff Avril. And the ’23 group, buoyed like ’22 with extra first- and second-rounders from the Russell Wilson deal, might not be far behind.
In the eye of this storm is the 71-year-old Carroll, one of just three coaches (Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer the others) to win a Super Bowl and a college national title. With all that experience and wisdom, it’d be understandable if he wanted to slow down the idea that this group is comparable to the historic one that roamed these halls a decade ago. But instead of tapping the brakes, he’s punching the gas, in particular, because he sees a trait this group has that the previous one thrived on.
“Just a huge frickin’ chip on their shoulder,” Carroll says. “The [old Seahawks] had to prove it. It didn’t matter who it was or where it was. They just had to prove it and get the f— out of the way; we’re coming through. I really think [this group has that]. We’ll find out. We’re working through it. We got to face the challenges that are coming here and see how we respond and see what emerges from it. I’m opening the door for them. It’s wide open.
“We’ll cut them loose.”
