Seahawks minicamp closes: Notes & Quotes

Seahawks minicamp closed out today, which means the team is off for about five weeks until training camp starts. Here is a roundup of some things that happened and things that were said today.

Carroll speaks:

-- Pete Carroll Minicamp Press Conference Notes

- Seahawks have had a fantastic offseason. Great attendance, great focus. Getting a lot of guys back this year that missed out on last season with injuries. Ready to go to camp - concerned bout the five-week vacation before camp.

- Carroll is encouraging guys to find each other, work out together, stay in shape. Subtext = not get in trouble.

- Carroll thought that Jesse Williams ‘was done' after he went on IR last year. He looks really great this year. Jesse's rehab went really well, and he's lost 12-15 pounds and is down to 312 or so.

- Carroll talked about consulting, visiting with coaches and managers of other organizations. Always trying to get an edge - even from people in different walks of life, retired coaches, people in the science world, etc. Carroll hates to learn the hard way - would rather have the other guys do that and learn from them.

- Carroll said DL depth is better this year than last, very excited about that. Korey Toomer looks really good at LB and he's excited about that - KPL looks good. TE looks good with the return of Anthony McCoy. Competition and speed at receiver looks really good. Defensive backs - Tharold Simon has been a great return and AJ Jefferson has looked really good.

- Cassius Marsh has great quickness and he's really savvy. He looks like how they hoped he'd look. Flexible like Mike Bennett. Really good start, made a really good impression. He's up to 262 pounds.

- Sidney Rice will be able to work to a greater extent but he's not sure if he'll be ready on day one of training camp. Bruce will be ‘up against it' to get back for day one. Everyone that's hurt now does have a shot for training camp.

- Nickel defense is ‘half the game'. They almost divide it 500 plays and 500 plays with base vs. nickel. Nickel guy - safety or cover linebacker - is very important.

- "There's nothing like being fast," -- on the wide receiver group.

- WRChris Matthews is ‘totally different from all our other guys." really good stuff, style, and Carroll loves the variety of stuff that he brings. They want to spread the variety of styles among their receivers.

- Earl Thomas is still in the leaders spot for punt return. Percy is right behind him, as is Doug Baldwin and Richard Sherman.

Quotes:

"Final Mini-Camp Takeaways: 1) Fastest Hawks team in history, 2) Get ready for a lot of bubble screens, 3) D-Line should have no issue splitting reps." - Brock Huard

"Some nice runs and cuts from Demitrius Bronson today. Looks much faster than when I covered him at UW." - Todd Dybas

"My favorite thing about Marshawn Lynch is how he ate his twin in utero." - Jacson Bevens

"Mainly peaceful Seahawks mini-camp today except when safety Jeron Johnson briefly got into it with RB Christine Michael." - Bettina Hansen

"I look at it as killer instinct. You can't harness the beast." - Earl Thomas

"Dion Bailey. Undrafted rookie safety out of USC, and someone who could factor in as a backup to Earl Thomas." Danny O'Neil, on a surprise player that could make the 53-man roster.

Bonus:

"That was our point all along, let's build the best team first, let's not take the quarterback. There was so much pressure internally to take a quarterback with the fourth pick [but] we weren't going to do it because the grade didn't justify it; we weren't going to draft for need.

"My point was, I hope we're not drafting fourth again anytime soon. Let's look at the model. If you don't have that guy, then you need to build it like Seattle did, like San Francisco did. Get a guy with some unique traits, but first and foremost, he's not going to lose the game for you. Building a great defense and offensive line so we can run the ball-the quarterback's going to look good because you're not going to be in third-and-8, you're going to be in third-and-4. Percentage-wise you're going to convert more. Then ask the guy to make a couple plays with his feet, complete a fourth-quarter comeback half the time. Next thing you know, you look up and you're pretty damn good." - Mike Pettine, from MMQB.

Notes:

-- Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times reported from mini-camp: Pete Carroll talked about WR Chris Matthews: "He’s done a really good job. He is totally different than our other guys. Unfortunately he hurt his shoulder a little bit. Banged it and didn’t get all of the work. But he has shown really good stuff and styles as a big guy. Always appreciated big receivers and he has that stuff and I like the variety that he offers us and in camp will be a great competition. We would like to spread the variety of style guys if we can, so he will be in the mix of it."

-- Todd Dybas adds his notes: "Carroll’s main concern between now and the start of training camp (late July) is that "everybody stays safe. They’re on their own now. We’re encouraging our guys to workout together and find each other. Our guys have worked so hard, I can’t imagine they’ll lose their conditioning over this time. We want them to maintain at least and improve if they can. It’s kind of the unknown."

Listens:

Earl Thomas joined Mitch and the gang:

... and Bob and Groz:

Kevin Williams joined Ian and Puckett:

Doug Farrar gives his impressions from mini-camp:

Seahawks roundtable from this morning: