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The Carroll Code: 2016

A clue by clue breakdown of Coach Pete Carroll's 2016 collection of "Seahawks Draft Clues".

By Jared Stanger
Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to my annual attempt to decipher Coach Pete Carroll's draft clues. This year was interesting. Either due to the players that some of the clues referenced being sniped, or Carroll taking a different approach to how he gave the clues; I end up with one clue that feels like it has no answers, and the rest of the clues that have way too many answers.

One idea that I had during day 2, after it felt like none of the clues had truly referenced either of Jarran Reed or Rees Odhiambo, was that maybe Pete was digging deeper this year. Maybe he was cluing us towards players the team was targeting in what Pete and John refer to as the 8th round of the draft: undrafted free agency. This would have been extremely ninja, and totally something Pete would do.

But, by the end of the draft, I think most of the clues related to at least one player drafted. There were only 7 clues so, with 10 players drafted, three players would NOT necessarily have/need a clue.

I'll attempt to cover both the draft and UDFA, and at the end we can decide which case seems to hold more water.

First clue:


Couple possibilities to connect with: 1) Eddie. A few people think this represents If-edi, Germain. 2) Carson. I wondered if this meant Carson City in California, which is where Brian Treggs, former Seahawk and father of Cal Bear Bryce Treggs, went to high school. 3) Buckwheat. Could represent the Ohio State BUCK-eyes. 4) Eddie's bit about the President could represent a school named after a President.

Top 10: Germain If-Eddie.
Top 10: Buckeye Nick Vannett.
Top 10: Quinton Jefferson connecting to Thomas Jefferson.
UDFA: Buckeye Tyvis Powell.
UDFA: David Perkins went to Washington HS, and he also is a former OSU Buckeye.
UDFA: Christian French went to JFK HS.

Second clue:



This one felt wide-open from the start. 1) Mike Singletary could represent a linebacker. 2) Singletary was both a Baylor and Chicago BEAR. 3) Rose Bowl could represent a player that played in the annual Rose Bowl game, or was a UCLA Bruin. 4) Pasadena is the city where the Rose Bowl is. 5) The whole bit is about a DOG...which could be any number of team mascots, most especially a pit-BULL or BULL-dog.

Top 10: Kenny Lawler was a Cal BEAR.
Top 10: The "pit-bull" mention could clue toward Quinton Jefferson who is from PITtsburgh.
UDFA: Christian French is a LINEBACKER that played in the Rose Bowl in 2014.
UDFA: Vernon Adams wasn't signed and wasn't on the 2014 Oregon Rose Bowl team, but he is actually from Pasadena originally.
UDFA: Taani Tupou is a DAWG.

Third clue:



There was a WR from WKU whose name is Jared Dangerfield, but we didn't acquire him. Carson would be redundant to the prior Carson connection. When Rodney mentions "tough buck" that could relate to Ohio State, but that is also redundant. The "Simmons" in Richard Simmons could have represented Justin Simmons, but we didn't get him. Really, I think we're left to use the "Buck" reference from this clue, and use one of the other ways to use the Eddie Murphy clue.

Top 10: Buckeye Nick Vannett.
UDFA: Buckeye Tyvis Powell.
UDFA: Ex-Buckeye David Perkins.

Fourth clue:



There are a few things you could focus on here, but to me the word "West" is the most relevant. Northwestern, Western Michigan, Western Kentucky...I think that's the connection to look for.

Top 10: Germain Ifedi attended Westside HS.
Top 10: Nick Vannett is from Westerville, OH.
UDFA: George Fant went to Western Kentucky.
UDFA: Trevone Boykin went to West Mesquite HS.

Fifth clue:



This is where I'm completely stumped. I don't have anyone that makes sense with "Brian", "Regan", "pop", or "tart". The best I came up with was, if you watch all the way to the very end of the clip, Regan mentions "Montana". That could have meant Beau Sandland from Montana State, but we drafted another TE. That could have meant Tyrone Holmes from Montana, but we signed so many Edge/OLB in UDFA. Keep in mind, I think these clues reveal intent not result. So it is possible that a clue went unfulfilled, so to speak.

In that thinking, I am putting it out there that this clue represents one-time Montana Grizzly, Joe Dahl (whom we simply couldn't get as late as we had hoped).

Sixth clue:



This one took a while for me. We've got the obvious name of the song, which represents a city in Texas of the same name, "La Grange", but there is nothing of much relevance to our pool of players that is within an hour of there. We've got ZZ Top who are from Houston. We've got the letter "Z" prominently featured. And then, it came to me late, we've got the name of the album "La Grange" is on...Tres Hombres.

Top 10: Germain Ifedi is from Houston.
Top 10: Zac Brooks...it's simple, but maybe the 'Z' in his name is enough.
UDFA: Tres Hombres could represent Tre Madden, or more loosely Tre-vone Boykin.

Seventh clue:



After eliminating all of the obvious name relations that connect to nowhere, I'm pretty much just left with the fact that MJ is from Gary, Indiana.

Top 10: CJ Prosise played for Notre Dame, located in South Bend, Indiana
UDFA: David Perkins is originally from South Bend, Indiana.

Then, in the end, to put together a complete set of clues/answers for each of Top 10/UDFA with no duplicates; the following are possible and my best-guesses:

Eddie Murphy- Quinton Jefferson || Christian French

Bill Burr- Kenny Lawler || Vernon Adams

Dangerfield- Nick Vannett || Tyvis Powell

Dave Chappelle- Germain Ifedi || Trevone Boykin

Brian Regan- ? || ?

ZZ Top- Zac Brooks || Tre Madden

MJ- CJ Prosise || David Perkins

So there you have it. Or at least my version of it. I'm not sure if it's more baller, or less if Pete consciously made this applicable to multiple guys like I'm suggesting. Or if it's just coincidence.

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