Seahawks are in a rebuild, whether they call it that or not

Nov 12, 2024, 9:54 AM

Producer, Brock & Salk (6-10 a.m.)

The Seattle Seahawks’ bye week was a chance for the players to get a break from the physical grind of the long season, and an opportunity for this new coaching staff to take stock of where this team stands and where it’s headed.

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That evaluation led to a personnel change, as the Seahawks announced the release of linebacker Tyrel Dodson on Monday. This move comes less than three weeks after the Seahawks traded linebacker Jerome Baker to the Titans in exchange for linebacker Ernest Jones IV. The Seahawks signed both Baker and Dodson to one-year deals back in March and expected the pair to be their starting inside linebackers this season. That has obviously not gone according to plan, but some trial and error this season should be expected.

The Seahawks as an organization have been extremely hesitant to use the word rebuild. That resistance dates back to previous coach Pete Carroll’s tenure when they were trying to piece together the defense after most of the Legion of Boom departed, and then go a different direction at quarterback with the Russell Wilson trade. Carroll’s “always compete” mindset wouldn’t even allow him to consider the idea of a rebuild.

General manager John Schneider seems to have carried that mentality into coach Mike Macdonald’s tenure, despite a new coaching staff that includes a first-time head coach and first-time offensive and defensive coordinators at the NFL level. Schneider made it very clear when he told the NFL Network’s NFL Insiders in June that the word rebuild was not in the Seahawks vocabulary over at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.

“It’s very similar to when we came in here in 2010, when Pete Carroll and I came in here together,” Schneider said. “It’s very much an ongoing, every day, ‘how do we improve?’ We’ve never looked at this team building deal here in Seattle as a restart or a reboot or whatever people call it, like a rebuilding deal.”

NFL on FOX broadcaster Curt Menefee sees it differently, as he explained Monday about the 4-5 Seahawks when he joined Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

“I think anytime you change head coaches and you change the coaching staff, it’s a rebuilding year,” Menefee said. “I mean, let’s just be realistic about that. You rarely get a Tampa Bay with Tom Brady, where Bruce Arians steps aside (as head coach) so Todd Bowles can take over and he’s got a Super Bowl-winning team. I mean, that doesn’t happen in the NFL. When you change head coaches, it’s because you haven’t won and you’re looking for the new staff to come in and turn things around, which is rebuilding.”

Meneffe makes a good point, but the realistic view towards this Seahawks season was cast aside by many of us when they got off to a 3-0 start. Now that they’ve come back down to a harsher reality, should rebuild be considered such a dirty word? In sports, it’s often tied to taking a step back or unloading talent in order to start over, but the dictionary definition is to build something again after it has been damaged or destroyed. The Seahawks were flawed, and now they are trying to fix that.

“You don’t usually keep the same pieces you’ve got,” Menefee said. “They’ve got to get their players, players that fit their team on both sides of football, their philosophy inside the building, the kind of guys they want. You know, we love the word culture right now, but that’s a big part of it. That’s what’s going on, not just in Seattle but with every team that has a new coaching staff.”

It’s not ideal for the Seahawks to move on from their two starting inside linebackers months after signing them, but Mike Macdonald and John Schneider are showing that they’re willing to be aggressive in getting this roster where they want it, even if means admitting they made mistakes.

Rebuilds can happen in the NFL very quickly. The Seahawks only need to look at their division rivals to see how that’s worked out in recent years. The 49ers went to the Super Bowl in their third season under coach Kyle Shanahan. The Rams had immediate success under coach Sean McVay, going to the playoffs in their first season under him and the Super Bowl in their second. And the Cardinals went 4-13 in their first season under Jonathan Gannon last year but are already 6-4 and in first place in the NFC West this season.

Whether we call it a rebuild or not, let’s hope the Seahawks are figuring out the formula for building a roster that will keep pace in this competitive division for years to come.

Listen to the full Brock and Salk conversation with NFL on FOX broadcaster Curt Menefee in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.