A few minutes with new Seahawks right tackle Eric Winston

RENTON – Newly-signed Seahawks right tackle Eric Winston joined 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Bob and Groz” following practice Wednesday. Below are a few highlights from that conversation.

Seahawks’ appeal. This is the ninth training camp for Winston, who has played for three other teams. And in his words, “it’s definitely the prettiest.”

The practice fields at the Seahawks’ headquarters sit feet from Lake Washington, and the scenery is even harder to beat on 80-degree days like Wednesday. According to Winston, that’s only part of the organization’s appeal.

“Around the league everyone talks about, any guys that have been here, they love it. You don’t really hear a bad word about the organization as far as how they treat the guys, take care of the guys, how good the guys are in the locker room,” he said “… and then you get here and you see the facilities, you see how they’re trying to support all the players with all the support staff and everything else, I haven’t been anywhere like this, I can say that.”

Winston’s role. Winston has been a player representative for the NFLPA several times throughout his eight-year career and became the union’s president in March. While leadership can be a hard characteristic to pinpoint from the outside, there’s no doubt about Winston’s credentials in that department. That doesn’t mean he’ll try to automatically assume that role with his new team, though.

“I’m not looking to come in here and be the captain or any of that stuff. I think that’s stuff’s been taken care of here,” he said. “You’ve got Max Unger and J.R. (Sweezy) and those guys are as good as it gets up front, obviously Russell Okung. Those guys have been here and done that. I’m looking to help the team out. Obviously, I wanted a chance to compete. I think I’m going to get that here.”

‘You got me.’ It’s a safe bet that Winston has delivered his share of pancake blocks, the kind that leaves the other player flat on his back. He was on the wrong end of a big hit last season, though, and it happened to come courtesy of new teammate Kam Chancellor. During Seattle’s Week-7 win over Arizona, Chancellor bulled over a pulling Winston in the backfield before making a tackle for a 1-yard loss.

Winston was a good sport when asked Wednesday about a play he’d probably just as soon forget. He laughed as he described what he’ll say to Chancellor when he gets a chance.

“Alright, alright, OK, I want to tell you my side of the story. You got me, but I kind of, like, looked right when you were about to hit me. Some other guy was really supposed to hit you and I was going for another guy and then I turned and saw you and said, ‘Oh …’ and got nailed,” Winston said.

“But hey, it’s on film, it’s on film,” he added. “I know this: you play long enough in this league, you’re gonna get a few and you’re gonna take a few. No matter what you do … you’re gonna give and you’re gonna take in this league. If you play long enough, someone’s bound to catch you at some point, I know that.”