Seahawks training camp Press Conference: Tom Cable, Richard Sherman on mic

The Seahawks have the day off on Wednesday. Here's what Tom Cable and Richard Sherman had to say before the break:

Tom Cable said:

(A lot of the questions asked by the reporters were inaudible)

• Think that we have transferred from spring well in terms of learning and retention. I love the work so far.
• You know, I think a couple of those guys, him [?] being new, Garry Gilliam moving over, I think they are all working extremely hard and have not seemed to have any real issues. So were taking it day by day.
• We're doing a fantastic job of being able to pick up where we left off [from spring OTA's] in terms of installs and information.
• The key for Mark [Glowinski] like everybody is becoming more familiar with the system. Getting as much work in as we can and having a really good preseason. All those steps in those games will be really important for him.
• I like him [Glow at LG]. I just like how they are working. We have a lot of work to do but they're really doing it. Every day they are doing something a little bit better. We'll just keep grinding.
• I don't really know you can answer that until you start playing games. Think the fairness of that question is after you play a couple of preseason games do they look like they are kinda on the same page? Particularly communication-wise. And then you'll find the answer to that.
• So far so good [for Gilliam at LT]. We have him on a kinda like a pitch count every day in practice. So we're staying to that schedule and he's handling it well.
• Like a lot of guys, I just mentioned it with Justin Britt, it is new for them. They are working extremely hard. (Gilliam's transition from right side to left).
• Nothing challenging about the transition other than getting comfortable and confident.
• I think it is important to recognize that young guys are going to help your team. So if you treat them like rookies you are going to put them in a negative vibe if you will. And they are going to be part of this football team. Whoever they are that make the team. So you treat them like any other teammate with great respect and have great honor in the work they are doing and the process they are going through because if you are an older guy you have been through it yourself so you know what it is like to do that.
• I wouldn't say that [being committed to seeing these give ...]. I mean if you look today we mixed and matched some. So I am not sure that is totally accurate. In that you're going to see a guy go over to left, a guy go over to right, we're moving people around a little bit still. But the first snap of every practice has been the same five, yes.
• What I have been most surprised about is just really how they have been able to come back and plug right in. We haven't been that far ahead in terms of learning with all these young kids so I think that has been the biggest surprise. They're working extremely hard and improving each day so that is really important.
• J'Marcus Webb so far looks like a guy that didn't do hardly anything in the spring [calf injury kept him out of OTA's]. Mentally he is catching up very well. For him the challenge, as is for Brad [Sowell], is our system and tempo of play is different. They have been at one extreme and we're at the other end. To learn to play this fast and aggressive and all that...most big guys that is not the way this league is. So it is a learning curve for them.
• No, I think it would be much more difficult inside [to come from college to the pros]. You think about the guys in this league that are playing inside at nose guard and three technique you're talking about some of the most powerful humans in sports. Guys outside are used to that edge and the speed.
• Has mentioned this a number of times; after game five last year he [Gilliam] played extremely well [at RT]. And then the athleticism, the former tight end, all those things kinda show up when we lost Russ [Okung]. You have an opportunity to draft a left [tackle] if the one you want is there but if not you use the guys on your football team. He's the right answer for us based on his experience last year and his athleticism.
• Garry [Gilliam] is like a point guard to put it that way and Russ [Okung] is like a power forward. So he [Gilliam] is going to be niftier, he's going to move a little quicker, change direction faster. So the point of being unorthodox is he is going to be more limber, more athletic, more pure an athlete.
• Yeah I think so [one vs one drill being a good test for offensive linemen like Germain Ifedi]. I don't think that Mike [Bennett] likes it. It's really good for him to get tested by all those guys. Whether it is Ahtyba Rubin doing it, who I think is a fantastic football player. I think one of the really really true best defensive tackles in this game. Every snap Germain gets against him is realistic. That is what it is really going to be like. Regardless of who he goes against it will be good for him.

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Richard Sherman said:

• It is really intense, it is training camp. Bunch of young guys fighting for a spot. Obviously we have a ton of young guys. I think Pete [Carroll] said we have 63 guys that are practice squad eligible. They kinda take the lead from the older guys and we step the tempo and they follow.
• Out of the group of corners; they are hungry. Their eager to learn. They are coachable. And that is what you can appreciate about those guys. They come out here and they are not earns closed, locked in like that. They are open to being coached, to being corrected, to learning from their mistakes. Anytime guys are willing to do that they are going to be great players. They are going to develop. They are going to make more plays than get made on them. And that is what you are starting to see. You are starting to see these guys grow like they are supposed to.
• Tharold Simon is an incredible athlete. He is going to be a great ball player. I continue to stand by what I have always said; "He's going to be better than me by the time it is all said and done. Kids a player." He just needs to put it all together. And hopefully this season he can stay healthy (knocks on podium) and it will be a fantastic year for him.
• It has been frustrating [seeing Tharold get hurt]. It has been frustrating. It's been tough to watch. Cause me and him spend a lot of time together. I invest a lot of time helping him, teaching him, helping him learn. Kid works hard and it's just unfortunate. You get things like dislocated toes and that isn't something from lack of working out or training hard, that's genetic. That's just your feet doing what they do and being messed up. So hopefully everything comes together like it is supposed to and it will be good.
• The shorter list [compared to the list of things that when he is at his best has everyone so high on him] is what he doesn't' do well which is almost nothing. He can keep up with anybody. He can jump with anybody. He can stop with anybody. He can move with anybody. At 6'3 and some change and at 200 pounds to move as fluid as he does there are very few people in the league that can move as smooth as him. I'd say Patrick Peterson is the only person that comes to mind with the fluidity in which he moves. But I'd say Tharold kinda gets vertical a little more. He can jump out of this world. I don't know what his vertical was at of the combine or whatever but he can probably jump 42 to 43 inches. So there are no jump balls he can't win.
• When he [Tharold Simon] gets his hands on a receiver it is impossible, it's over. Once he gets two hands on them I'd say they are done with the route. I'd say once he gets his eyes right and his hands right and he's in good position they aren't completing a pass.
• I feel great. Year six now. It feels great. My body feels good. You know what to expect and what is expected you. You go out here and try to lead these kids. You try to enjoy every day and understand it is a blessing to play this game and to do what you love every day. You appreciate the little things. I appreciate my son being able to come out and watch me practice and run on the field. That's why I had him so young so he could see me before I'm 35 and barely walking out here.
• Just more educated on what it takes to be prepared when training camp comes. You see a lot of these young guys in training videos training like they are training for the combine and it's March. You know our season sometimes doesn't end until February. I'm not going to be breaking my neck in March when I know the season isn't until September. Your body goes through peaks and valleys, even when you are training. You reach your peak then you start to level off and then you have to beat your body up, beat it down and beat it out until you get it back up to a peak and you don't want to be peaking in June when the season starts in September. So that is what I have learned throughout the years.
• It is everything to have Kam Chancellor and Mike [Bennett] being here even with the contract situation he is dealing with is fantastic. That is why you can see the energy is different from last year. That is why you can see the guys moving different. There is more chemistry. There is more unity. There's more continuity. Guys are ready. Guys are season ready and we could play tomorrow if we had to. At least with the first unit. And that comes from guys playing together, seeing each other, respecting each other, loving each other and appreciating one another.
• I don't think it ever flips [a switch from wanting a teammate to get paid to putting the team first] . Those things can go hand in hand. We want that for him as well. We want him to get everything he can get. We want everybody to get everything they can get. Because this game takes as much as it gives honestly. It takes a toll on the body and mind. We want everybody to get as much as they can but we also understand it is a business and we understand the way our organization is run. There are certain things you gotta do and certain things you gotta show up and you gotta show good faith. And that is what they are both doing right now and we appreciate that.
• It was a tough camp [last year] because both Kam and Earl Thomas were sitting out. It is just a different feel when all of us aren't together. Not to say we are more valuable than anybody else but it is just a different feel when everybody is out there. We are moving, we're shaking. The energy is different. There is more enthusiasm and there are guys understanding and trusting one another. When you get younger guys out there who are unfamiliar with the situations then you second guess situations. Is he going to be there? Is he not gonna be there? There was a play today on a post ball where I knew exactly where Earl was going to be and Earl knew exactly where I was going to be. It wasn't a guess. It was knowledge from playing together for years and being in many intense situations and trusting. So those things kinda go away when you go with another guy. You try to build that chemistry.
• [There is this perception that if they did something with Michael Bennett that guys like you or Earl would say what about me? What do you think? Is that an overplayed fear?] I don't know. I am pretty happy to be here but more is more (laughs).
• [DeShawn Shead and Jeremy Lane being different] Makes us versatile. Shead can do a lot of things at the line of scrimmage. He is very powerful and tough to deal with. Once he gets his hands on you like Tharold it is pretty much a done deal. JLane is quicker. He can play off. He can sit on it. He and Marcus Burley are similar in their technique. Very quick guys. So their anticipation and their brains work a little different than us long guys. We wrestle with you all the way down the field and make a play on the ball. Those guys are read and react. Read and react. Read and react. It helps because there are different styles of receivers out there. There are the big guys, the Megatron's and there are the little guys, the Antonio Brown's. The Desean Jackson's and T.Y. Hilton's. So you have to be ready for all of them.
• To some degree this [cornerback] group reminds him of the 2013 group. Guys are fighting and guys are hungry but it's hard to compare to that group because they are already established. The history, we are already past the point. Ron Parker got his big deal as did Byron Maxwell. Brandon Browner went to other places and had success. So these guys haven't had a chance to make their history. To make their mark. So I don't want to put any expectations on them but this is a good group that we have. They work hard and this is going to be a great group by the time it is all said and done.
• Tye Smith is light years ahead of where he was last year. He is trusting himself. He is confident in his ability. I think confidence is his biggest tool right now. He believes in himself and he believes what he sees. He's playing with it. There are great players out here and players will make plays but if you believe in yourself and you don't lose confidence then you'll give yourself a chance every day.
• [What did you learn from last year?] That we can overcome any circumstance. I think last year there were some difficult circumstances throughout the season. Guys had to fight through injuries, frustration and mental issues but we continued to fight. We found ourselves and we found love for one another and at the end of the day we brought it together to do something special. We fell short but we understood what it took to get there.
• Browner has been incredibly physical. He has done a great job with these tight ends. He has done a great job covering them up, putting his hands on them and being physical. That's all they asked him to do and that is what they expected from him and he has done it beautifully.

"Oh yeah, I mean we just about every day we are speaking about it for hours and hours and hours because this is our time. This is an incredible time to be in and so we made sure, it's good and it's different. I'm sure if people filmed our discussions and really, really saw how deep we dive into it then they would understand how seriously we are taking these issues. I think at this point, you know, it is unfortunate time we are living in. It is unfortunate that kids have to deal with discrimination and things like that. That kids have to deal with underfunded schools, just because their skin is a certain pigment. I think that's unfortunate.

"I think, you know, my message to the kids, and that's always who I speak to, because they are the future, they are the next generation, they are the innocent souls who had nothing to do with this. I think it's going to be powerful once we come together and understand that these kids didn't do anything wrong, these kids didn't pick the color they were born. They have extra pigment in their skin. It is not to say they don't need great schooling, it's not to say they need to be ostracized when they go to a great school. We are talking, having those talks and Mike B [Michael Bennett] and Cliff [Avril] were talking about their kids going to school and you know, they go to pretty affluent schools and they are one of the few minorities in the school and they have to deal with those issues. They have to deal with being ostracized and being asked questions why your skin is brown and things like that.

"I don't think any kid, anybody, should have to deal with that and that goes on to talk about the issues we have going forward that adults shouldn't have to deal with that. You treat everybody the same. You treat everybody equally regardless of what your job, your duty as a human being, you treat everybody equally.

"I think that is what I want to emphasize, that's what I want people to understand, that come on, just get past the color of people's skins, nobody picks the color of their skin. We're black people, we're born brown, you know etc, etc. We should not be dealt with a different way just because of that and that's what I want to emphasize to the kids because kids, you're powerful. You're strong. You're intelligent. You're amazing people and don't let people tell you otherwise because that's the truth of the matter.

"Sometimes you lose that, you lose sight of that because society doesn't give you that power, they don't give you that equal opportunity and that is what my foundation (Blanket Coverage Foundation) is all about; giving kids equal opportunities. Sometimes adults get caught up in their ways, stuck in their ways, you can't control that; you can't change it. But with these kids I think they need to understand that they are powerful, they are incredible, they're unique. Obviously, your skin color makes you unique to some degree. You walk around in Europe you are going to stand out a little bit, but just understand you're a beautiful person. Thank you."

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