Salk: Seahawks deserve credit for making right subtractions

With the Seattle Seahawks playing in the NFC Championship this Sunday, they’re getting a lot of credit – general manager John Schneider especially for all of the people and players that he brought in. Everybody from coach Mike Maconald to DeMarcus Lawrence to all the draft picks, Grey Zabel and Nick Emmanwori – you could go on and on, and Schneider and the Seahawks deserve credit for every single one of them.

But I don’t think you can tell this story without also talking about the three people they let go.

One of them was probably fairly easy, and that’s Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator last year. It didn’t work. Just by bringing in Klint Kubiak and some of the offensive line coaches that came with him, they fixed an offensive line that has been broken for the better part of a decade. That is a huge deal, and it doesn’t happen if Ryan Grubb is back this year.

How John Schneider built Seahawks back into a title contender

The other two, and you’ve heard me talk about it over and over again, are DK Metcalf and Geno Smith. And I truly, at my core, don’t believe the Seahawks have the kind of success they’ve had this year if either of those guys are still on the roster.

It allowed the Seahawks to do a few things.

One, it allows them to reset where their money is going – not to a quarterback that, quite frankly, had an awful year with the Raiders, was getting older and was never able to win a playoff game while he was here. And the other, a wide receiver who just plays too far from the ball.

Two, it allowed them to completely reset their culture.

Geno Smith was not the leader that this team needed. DK Metcalf, as one of its highest-paid players, was not the leader this team needed. And they were both guys with extreme ties to Pete Carroll.

I could probably include Tyler Lockett in this, as well. I hate to do it because Tyler’s such a great guy and everybody loves him, but again, it was important moving on from players that were so bought into the Pete Carroll culture and looking for people that were going to be willing to jump headfirst into what Mike Macdonald was trying to bring to the culture. And then of course you add in the draft picks that they got, and that helps lead to Nick Emmanwori.

It was one of the great decisions the Seahawks have made – not just who they brought in, but who they let go.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity.

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