John Schneider Breaks Down The Draft

by Jessamyn McIntyre

John Schneider, Seahawks GM, took some time out of his extremely busy schedule today to tell Kevin and Jim just how he put together such a monstrous draft.

Here are the highlights:

On Russell Okung: “Besides his massive size and length, he’s got that inner desire to be the best football player at his position. He’s one of those guys that is going to strive to be the best every day.”

On How O-Line Fits Together Now: “I think the big thing for us was being able to finalize that deal with Ben (Hamilton) last week. There was a certain comfort level among Coach Gibbs and our offensive staff in terms of having a veteran left guard there as sort of a bridge type player, if you will.”

On The Draft Room Before the#5 Pick: “I had talked to Kansas City, and everybody knew the players involved at that point – and I just wanted to know if they were going offense or defense and that would help us out in the direction we needed to head. He (Scott Pioli) was gracious enough to do so with about three, four minutes left on the clock. And we knew we were going to get our guy and we were ecstatic.”

Would He Take Berry if Kansas City Took Okung: “Long pause…yeah, strong possibility. I think it’s safe to say we would have gone in that direction.”

On Jimmy Clausen: “I was surprised to see him fall as far as he did – we did have him rated as a first-round player. (If Clausen were available at 60) there’s a good possibility we would have done that, sure.”

On Julius Jones: “He factors into the mix. I know we added two players and we’re very excited about the two players we added…but all four…there’s a wide variety there. You’ve heard Coach Carroll talk about competition at every position, and heck, we might add another one. I think it’s going to be one of the more interesting positions on our team to watch.”

On Golden Tate: “First of all, he’s a highly competitive individual, he’s got a lot of pride. He’s got the combination of the punt returns and the kick returns. He’s extremely strong and he can track the ball really well. There’s several opportunities to see him catch the ball in competitive situations with people hanging all over him. His competitiveness and his natural juice is going to add a lot of toughness to this football team.”

Wildcat Possibilities with Golden Tate: “Sure, he’s played running back, he’s done a fashion of the wildcat in South Bend. He’s a really unique player. I was personally shocked and felt blessed that we were able to add him at 60.”

On Anthony McCoy’s Failed Drug Tests: “I have personal concerns when a player does fail a drug test at the combine, knowing you have month to prepare for it, and it’s one of the biggest interviews of your life. There’s definitely concerns, and that’s why we had him slotted where we had him, and nobody knows him better than Coach Carroll…basically, the risk vs. the reward at that point in the draft is really where we felt this is a comfortable start to take him.”

On Alan Faneca: “We feel pretty solid at the interior right now. We’re trying to be somewhat careful in terms of how many older players we add at this point. I wouldn’t completely rule it out, down the road a little bit. But he’s such a talented individual that I think somebody who has a little stronger need there may step out.”

On Missing Out on Brandon Marshall: “I think it’s one of those deals where you put so much time into it, I think that with the time and the effort, that’s disappointing. I truly believe that some of those deals that you don’t make are the best deals when you look back on it down the road. You guys are going to see us involved with a lot of different things…but just because we’re heading down that road doesn’t mean we’re going to finish every deal.”

You can hear the entire interview right here.

Tune in tomorrow for Golden Tate at 5:15!