Seahawks GM John Schneider interview notes

• Schneider thinks this team is very close to being on a Super Bowl level. Lots of young talented players that people aren't familiar with yet. Lots of guys with a lot of upside. Obviously things to take care of still. Always feels like that, it never ends. Core group of guys is very strong.

• Matt Thomas (in charge of contract negotiations, salary cap) has really helped us be a very diligent and responsible with our contracts. Knowing in Free Agency you are going to have to make tough decisions. Seeing guys like J.R. Sweezy, Russell Okung, Bruce Irvin and such leave. Overall in the league there isn't a middle class, it seems like.

• Least favorite part is seeing those guys leave. But you have to be very excited about the role players we were able to sign, Bradley Sowell, J'Marcus Webb, Sealver Siliga is back at NT.

• Biggest challenge this off-season is constantly making everybody feel appreciated. Have a salary cap system, only so much room to go around. We don't get bonuses or anything like that for being under the cap. Have to be as responsible as we can. Make sure we are trying to do right by the players.

• Really try to stay away from re-doing contracts as much as possible. Really try to stay away from using our players as "banks." Could come to a point where we have to re-do someone to regain cap space but we aren't there right now.

• Sowell will compete with Garry Gilliam at LT. Webb will be lined up at RT. His length, he really has done a nice job this last year, open, Tom Cable is really excited to work with him to. Gonna tinker our way through FA at OL then there is the draft.

• Terry Poole was injured so he was on the practice squad, didn't get a real good look at him. He has rededicated himself after the injury, interesting to see how he does. Kristjan Sokoli has a very good upside, is very quick, is a very good athlete, he just needs the reps. He just really needs to play a lot. Mark Glowinski started against Arizona and had a great game, looked really good in that game. Sure, he'd be a candidate to start at RG today.

• JS looks at Russell Wilson like he is a top 5 QB in the league. Was really fun to see how he caught fire in 2015. His eyes and feet were phenomenal. Saw him carry the offense. Last off-season coming off the loss of the Super Bowl and then the contract, that was an intense off-season. With Russell It went all the way to camp. Really pleased he came in and accomplished what he accomplished.

• What they are told is Jimmy Graham is making good progress in his recovery. Sounds like he is doing great, excited to see him again.

• With Marshawn Lynch retiring he was our workhorse, he helped change our culture he, helped us become that bully. Thomas Rawls is a hard charging back, Christine Michael is back in the mix, he did a really nice job when he came back, he really focused in. He did a lot of great things towards the end of the season. Will have other guys in the mix there as well.

• Very excited about getting Jermaine Kearse back, he was excited too.

• Looks like a good OL draft. There are different shelves of players all the way through the draft, this year there doesn't seem to be as many drop offs at OL. Looks like a good group.

My Thoughts:

Obviously JS isn't going to spit straight truth one hundred percent of the time, especially not during FA and before a draft, but I still thought this would be a good listen/read. I truly believe that some relatively unknown guys (to most Seahawk/NFL fans) are going to make an impact in 2016. We could see Frank Clark really emerge as an elite DE, we could see Mike Morgan and/or Cassius Marsh own that SAM spot, we could see Tharold Simon own that CB2 job, Tye Smith own that NCB job (if Tharold gets hurt and JLane moves to CB2), we could see Kevin Smith or Kasen Williams really emerge as productive WR's, we could see a Practice Squad player make a splash and make the team, Glowinski could own that RG spot, Gilliam could lock down that LT job and impress. Tons of spots for young relatively unknown players to make their name known.

I do take some vindication in hearing JS talk about Glow and CMike. He said exactly what I have been saying, and while a lot of you have agreed with me, there have been some loud dissenting (pessimistic) voices here who always love to bring up how Glow has only played one game and they wouldn't bet a $1 on CMike being anything other than a disappointment (along with he only looked kinda good for 2-3 games comments). Well, JS is saying Glow looked really good, had a great game and would start at RG if we played today. He also said CMike did a really nice job, did a lot of great things and really focused in. I like what JS is saying.