On Tuesday morning, Seahawks general manager John Schneider joined 710 ESPN Seattle for a conversation with "Brock and Salk" to discuss the team's approach to the offseason.
Here are five things we learned from Schneider's sit-down with 710:
1. The Seahawks Want Marshawn Lynch Back Next Season
Following the team's 28-24 defeat to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, head coach Pete Carroll confirmed the club has been in negotiations with Marshawn Lynch.
The Seahawks running back's current contract expires after the 2015 season and Schneider reiterated the team wants Lynch around as long as he's willing.
"Regarding Marshawn, obviously we think he's a hell of a player," said Schneider. "We want to have him back. He knows that. His representatives know that. He knows that if he's back he's not going to be playing at the same number he was scheduled to make. He's a guy who's a heartbeat guy that we'd love to have back. Now whether or not he wants to play next year, I can't answer that. I don't know if he knows at this juncture.
"It's hard for these guys. This is a long season. We've played a lot of football these last two years and especially the way this guy runs the ball, it's taxing on his body and so he has to reset himself and get in that mind-frame of, 'OK, I'm ready to get moving here again and get prepared for another season of this.' Obviously, we'd like to have a decision as quickly as we could so we could move forward, but we'd love to have him back."
2. Russell Wilson Wants To Win For A Long Time
Under the NFL's collective bargaining agreement, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is eligible to sign a contract extension with the team this offseason. Schneider hinted at "outside-the-box" ways the Seahawks will assess Wilson's value moving forward.
"First and foremost, there's really no handbook for this job that we have other than the fact that we're going to do what's best for the organization - that's the number one thing," said Schneider. "I think Russell Wilson wants to win championships. We talk about being a consistent championship caliber football team and that means thinking outside-the-box a lot of times. We will do that with Russell.
"Russell knows there's certain dominoes that have to fall in line, or fall in place. I've talked to his agent now, much like several of our unrestricted free agents, and he knows. He gets it. He wants to win for a long time. I'm not going to get into specifics of contract negotiations or anything like that, other than to say that we're going to do what's best for this organization moving forward first and foremost and that does not mean that you just do exactly what everybody else has done around the League. I think that we've proven that we do things in the manner that we want to attack it."
3. He's Still Licking His Wounds From Super Bowl XLIX
With the NFL Combine set to take place next week in Indianapolis, Ind., free agency opening less than a month from now, and the NFL Draft in May, Schneider said this time of year is "everything" to him. Schneider said he and his personnel staff started preparing for free agency two months ago and the team held draft meetings in Phoenix, Ariz. in the lead-up to Super Bowl XLIX.
Yet despite the flurry of offseason activity on deck, Schneider admitted he's still "licking the wounds a little bit" from Seattle's ill-fated finish to the NFL's title game.
"I think the biggest thing for me is I feel bad for so many people, the gravity of it," he said. "I feel bad for Kevin Williams not being able to win that world championship and the way he felt right after the game and the reason he came with us and joined this team. I feel bad for Russell [Wilson] throwing the pick right there. I feel bad for Marshawn [Lynch] not having the chance to win the game. Doug Baldwin beats [New England Patriots cornerback Darrelle] Revis a couple times and for one reason or another isn't able to get the ball. I think there's just so many people. Then it comes back to walking outside the locker room and seeing your son bawling his eyes out, you know? It's not just me. It's everybody, the coaches, all the players, and then remembering what it was like last year seeing all those people in the parade and I had talked for several years back just when I got here that, 'Hey, we do this every day for the fans and it's an entertainment business and we want to make everyone so proud.'
"Seeing all those fans out there last year really kind of like put that weight on my chest like, 'OK, there really are a lot of fans out there and they really truly care about this.' It's not just the people in that stadium. It reaches the whole Pacific Northwest here."
4. He Determines Who Loves The Game By The Way They Play It
Asked how the Seahawks have managed to find individuals who exude an unrivaled passion for the game of football, Schneider said he learns a great deal about a person's makeup by the way they carry themselves on the field.
"If you watch Marshawn Lynch run the ball in college you pretty much know that he loves playing football," said Schneider. "Earl Thomas, the way he ran in college, the way he ran to the ball. Going through it right now we're watching players that don't finish plays, and what is that? What does that mean to you? It means that there's a certain lack of intensity to them, and those players can't make it here. They will get passed over."
As an NFL talent evaluator, Schneider said he must be cautious of certain attributes.
"You get tricked by the speed, or the athleticism, or the up-side, and we've done that plenty of times here," he said. "You have to be able to avoid those mistakes. And if you do make those mistakes, you need to compensate for them as quickly as you possibly can."
5. He Submits A Game Report To Paul Allen Each Week
Schneider revealed that after each Seahawks game he submits a game evaluation to team owner Paul Allen. Schneider said analyzing the Seahawks' Super Bowl loss was particularly difficult because so much focus has been placed on the game's final play.
"My job is to kind of step back and analyze the whole game, and when you look at the whole game we started out offensively and we had three three-and-outs," said Schneider. "In a Super Bowl, that's not real great. Jeremy [Lane] makes a great play [interception], he's out [with a broken wrist]. We've got some shuffling on defense. We had 11 missed tackles. We gave up 196 yards after the catch - that's the most we gave up all season next to the San Diego game, I think we were at 156 or 157, right in there."
Even with the game's unfortunate outcome, Schneider said Allen understands and is excited about how the Seahawks are focused on continuing to push the envelope throughout all aspects of the organization.
"We're always going to feel that stretch right down there at the end," Schneider said of Super Bowl XLIX. "We're always going to feel that. It's going to sting. But we always talk around here like there's no finish line. We're moving forward. We were moving forward before that game and we have a plan in place and we're going to keep attacking it."
