John Schneider talks shop on state of the Seahawks

It's only seven days until the NFL Draft. One of the most amusing parts of the league pushing the draft back two weeks has been watching writers slowly melt down on Twitter. We've exhausted all relevant talking points weeks ago, so it's been a relentless assault of nonsensical #hottakes. For instance, Mike Mayock says he finds Teddy Bridgewater "unsettling." What does that even mean? At this point I expect to see Mel Kiper and Todd McShay have a literal knife-fight on First Take.

At any rate, I can't totally blame them. Bills have to be paid and those pages won't click themselves, after all. But while the pre-draft news cycle devolves into self-parody, there are still a few worthwhile things to talk about. Seahawks general manager John Schneider met with reporters on Wednesday for a lengthy conference. Most of it concerned the draft and Schneider's general philosophy, which has been well-documented on this site, but he also dropped a few nuggets about current roster players.

You can read the full transcript at Bob Condotta's blog, but I'll highlight the most relevant bits:

• Sidney Rice is still on track to be ready for the season. Not a major revelation, given that he waited to be medically cleared before re-signing with Seattle. Rice tore his ACL in late October, giving him a 10-month timetable for the 2014 season. He probably won't be available for OTAs, but I expect Rice to be back by training camp.
• Michael Bowie is the front-runner for the right tackle job. Schneider confirmed this saying he's "first up" to replace Breno Giacomini, who signed with the Jets. The guard positions remain unsettled with J.R. Sweezy and James Carpenter struggling last year, but Bowie showed some promise in limited action. Schneider also said that preseason hero Alvin Bailey will be given a chance to compete.
• Speaking of Carpenter, it sounds like he's on the way out in Seattle. Schneider said the team hasn't made a decision on his fifth-year option (the deadline to do so passes on May 3). Declining the option means that Carpenter enters a contract year in 2014. A first-round pick in 2011, Carpenter showed some promise at the start, but multiple injuries have derailed his career. Hey, remember when Carpenter and John Moffitt were supposed to anchor our guard positions for a decade? Good times.
• Schneider still doesn't know if Doug Baldwin will sign his tender. A restricted free agent, Baldwin got a second-round tender from the Seahawks. Baldwin showed up at voluntary workouts last week, so I don't expect him to hold out. The tea leaves suggest he'll get a long-term deal done before training camp.
• Still no word on Richard Sherman's contract negotiations. The buzz has been that he'll get a deal done before the draft, but Schneider isn't tipping his hand.
• Schneider neither confirmed nor denied that Kam Chanceller had surgery. That bit of news came from John Clayton last month. It seems like an odd thing to go "no comment" on, especially if the surgery is supposed to be minor, but this will probably turn out to be nothing.
• He claimed that Terrelle Pryor will compete at quarterback and did not mention any other position. When the Seahawks acquired him from the Raiders, popular speculation was that he would be used in multiple positions, and many dreams were had about Pryor and Percy Harvin in the same backfield. However, for the time being it looks like Pryor will be fighting B.J. Daniels for the No. 3 quarterback spot.

Those are the most relevant bits. Once again, you can catch the whole thing at Bob Condotta's blog here.

What say you, Field Gullers? Is Carpenter worth keeping around? Should we be worried about Kam? Sound off below.