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Sunday, February 7, 2010 @ 11:58am
Walter Jones talks retirement, again

By Matt Pitman

UPDATE, 1:45 p.m.: Walt might mean business with this one. Within the hour he clarified the "concussion" confusion with this tweet:

"Sorry conclusion this phone just hep you spell to much but you understand."

The Seahawks had no comment on Jones tweet/announcement.

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For the second time in roughly two months, Walter Jones is making people very curious with comments made via his Twitter account.

"I have come to the concussion it is time for me to retire from football."

Interesting choice of words, and I'm not talking the use of the word retire. By 'concussion' he means conclusion. I mean c'mon, we all make typos when tweeting, texting, etc. on our mobile phones, right?

Nothing is officially official, if you will, until we see a press release and Big Walt holds a press conference.

It isn't the first time that recent comments by Jones on Twitter have sparked strong speculation he is nearing a decision on retirement. On December 4th Jones tweeted "I think I have had a great run at this thing the NFL and Seahawks and the fans have been great to me," and "There is no easy way to give something that you have been doing for s long time."

But following the season finale when Jones returned to Seattle for his exit physical he said he was just thanking the fans, and wasn't hinting at retirement, and January 6th tweeted, "I'm trying everthing I can to get back on the field, I still love the game andvi know that I can still play this game."

Jones told reporters at the time that it was his plan to rehab his surgically repaired knee as much as possible to get back, but ultimately it would the teams decision if he came back. He has two seasons left on a seven year $52 million dollar contract.

Leave your comments below. If you're buying it, I hope this doesn't put a damper on your Super Bowl Sunday. But all good things must come to an end and if Walter is in fact going to call it a career, the writing has been on a wall for a while. The count down to Canton and the Seahawks Ring of Honor is on, for one of the greats we will ever see in Seattle.

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Friday, February 5, 2010 @ 9:44am
Will Lewis Promoted to VP of Football Ops

By Matt Pitman

More shifting around in the Seahawks front office. A well deserved promotion for Will Lewis. Tag Ribary has been promoted to Director of Pro Personnel and the Seahawks have hired Trent Kirchner as Assistant Director of Pro Personnel.

Here is the press release from Renton:

Seahawks Promote Lewis and Ribary; Add Kirchner

Renton, Wash. - The Seattle Seahawks have promoted Director of Pro Personnel Will Lewis to Vice President/Football Operations, Pro Scout Tag Ribary to Director of Pro Personnel and hired Trent Kirchner as the Assistant Director of Pro Personnel, the team announced this morning.

"This is an exciting time for the Seahawks as we are combining experience, talent and loyalty in order to increase our overall effectiveness," said General Manager John Schneider. "These moves, in addition to the strong presence of Ruston Webster and John Idzik, should provide long-standing stability and leadership to the Seahawks front office."

All three employees have a background and working relationship with Schneider; working with Lewis in Green Bay and Ribary and Kirchner in Seattle and hiring the two in Washington.

Lewis joined Seattle in his former role on May 20, 1999, following three years in the Green Bay Packers (1997-99) scouting department, where he worked with Mike Holmgren. From 1998-99, he served as the Assistant Director of Pro Personnel, following one year as a pro scout. Prior to Green Bay, Lewis was a defensive assistant coach for the Atlanta Falcons, under June Jones, from 1995-96.

Lewis signed with Seattle as an undrafted free agent cornerback from Millersville (Pa.) State in 1980. He played in 26 games returning 45 kickoffs for a 21.4-yard average and 56 punts for an 8.0 average, including a 75-yard touchdown.

Ribary re-joined Seattle last season as a pro scout. He spent 11 seasons with the Seahawks from 1990-2000, serving the last three as the team's assistant director of pro personnel. Following his time in Seattle, Ribary became the director of pro personnel for the Washington Redskins in 2001. The following season he moved to a pro scouting role with the Carolina Panthers, where he remained through the 2007 season, helping Carolina reach Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Kirchner began his NFL career as a communications intern for Seattle in 2000. He then moved on to the Washington Redskins as college scouting coordinator in 2001 and has spent the last eight seasons as a pro scout for the Carolina Panthers.

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Thursday, February 4, 2010 @ 10:47am
Carroll Finalizes Coaching Staff

By Matt Pitman

Pete Carroll has rounded out his entire coaching staff with the Seahawks. It's a mix of NFL veterans, and young coaches that join Carroll from his most recent staff at USC last college football season and only two holdovers from Jim Mora's staff, Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley and Defensive Line coach Dan Quinn. 18 coaches are new to the Seahawks

In a statement Carroll said, “I’m excited about the makeup of our staff. It’s an energetic group of teachers with a nice blend of experience,” said Carroll. “Now we can turn our focus on the task at hand – competing in the NFC West.”

Here is a look at how is shakes out.

Executive Vice President & Head Coach – Pete Carroll

Offensive Coordinator – Jeremy Bates

Defensive Coordinator – Gus Bradley

Quarterbacks – Jedd Fisch

Running Backs – Sherman Smith

Wide Receivers – Kippy Brown

Tight Ends – Pat McPherson

Offensive Line – Alex Gibbs

Assistant Offensive Line – Art Valero

Quality Control/Offensive Line – Luke Butkus

Quality Control/Offense – Dave Canales

Defensive Line – Dan Quinn

Linebackers – Ken Norton, Jr.

Defensive Backs – Jerry Gray

Assistant Defensive Backs – Kris Richard

Quality Control/Defense – Rocky Seto

Special Team Coordinator – Brian Schneider

Special Teams Assistant – Jeff Ulbrich

Head Strength & Conditioning – Chris Carlisle

Assistant Strength & Conditioning – Mondray Gee

Assistant Strength & Conditioning – Jamie Yanchar

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Friday, January 29, 2010 @ 10:57am
Wyman: The Pro Bowl is doomed

by Dave Wyman

Thinking about watching the AFC/NFC Pro Bowl this weekend? Well take a good look because I think it may be on it's last leg.

There are several reasons why the Pro Bowl is losing favor with NFL football fans and players alike. But ultimately, it's doomed for a reason that isn't being discussed. But first…let's look at the obvious reasons.

1) Moving the game to one week before the Super Bowl - 14 Pro Bowlers including two of the most popular players (Drew Brees and Peyton Manning) will not be playing because their teams are in Super Bowl 44. Not to mention the 9 players fresh off of the AFC and NFC championship games that will most likely be too sore to play in the game. It presents the same problem we saw during the '87 NFL strike…people want to see the best…not replacements. Imagine buying a ticket to go see the best players in the NFL only to watch David Garrard and Vince Young, the 17th and 18th ranked quarterbacks respectively play!! Sheesh…at the current drop-out rate…I could've made the Pro Bowl!! (Okay maybe that's a stretch)

2) Moving the game from Hawaii to the mainland. One thing has not changed about players over the years-they love perks. Whether it's a free T-shirt, a hat or not having to drop a dollar into the Gatorade machine…they love those perks. And I know (not from personal experience…unfortunately!) that a lot of players look forward to hanging out in a tropical paradise after the season is over as a reward. I know that players are wealthy enough to fly there whenever they want and stay in a 5-star hotel. But trust me when I tell you…pro football players love freebies! I've seen guys go crazy for those free T-Shirts and hats and as a matter of fact, when I quit playing, it was a real bummer to have to go out and actually pay for a pair of shoes and a bottle of Gatorade. There's something about the cache of being flown to Hawaii that will be missed by a lot of players.

3) What about the field? The game is being played on the same field as the Super Bowl. What if it rains down in Miami during the Pro Bowl? The surface in Miami is natural grass and rain could cause a huge problem for the most important game of the year that is to be played one week later. Imagine the outcome of the Super Bowl being changed a) because the field is torn up from the week before. Roger Goodell might be impeached as commissioner of the NFL right there on the spot.
b) The NFL is forcing the Pro Bowlers from the two Super Bowl teams to attend the game! Are you kidding me? How angry do you think Colt QB Peyton Manning is going to be? He's being forced by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to take a full day away from preparation for one of the 2 biggest games he's ever played in…to fly down to Miami and watch a totally meaningless game. If there's one thing about Peyton Manning that we've all learned, it's that he is extremely committed to his film study and practice time. I look forward to his reaction if they make the mistake of interviewing him on the sidelines!

Ultimately, the game is doomed because players are making way too much money to risk injury in a meaningless game. The winners of the Pro Bowl receive $40,000 and the losers get $20,000. Not bad for a days work right? But consider this:

- Peyton Manning's contract averages out at approximately $884,000/game.

-New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma makes about 6.8 million per year and about $425,000/game

-Denver Bronco tackle Ryan Clady makes about 3 million per year and averages approximately $183,000/game

Let me pose the question to you…why in the world, would you play in this game? Not one of those contracts is guaranteed (certain amounts of the contract is guaranteed but you can be cut at any time). Why would Jonathan Vilma take a $400,000 pay cut to go run into 300-pound guards and jeopardize his career?

The Pro Bowl is doomed.

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010 @ 2:37pm
John Schneider's Road to the NFL

By Matt Pitman from VMAC

schneider

John Schneider is the new general manager of the Seahawks at just 38 years old. To understand just how rare that is, beyond his age, you have to know the story of Schneider's path to the NFL.

It's an incredible story of a division III college football player who realized he just wasn't cut out to be a football player after injuring his shoulder following just one season. But he didn't want to be done with football. He wanted more. So how would a 21 year old, who wasn't destined for the NFL draft find a path into the league?

"I basically stalked Ron Wolf," says Schneider. At the time Wolf had just taken over at the helm of the Packers, Schneider's home town team. It was 1991. "When Ron got that job I read about him, I was like hey, he started off as as intern for Al Davis, maybe I could do that," he said.

Schneider doesn't even remember how, but he ended up with Wolf's phone number. After a camping trip with his wife Tracy, and the urging of friends, he called Wolf on a Sunday. "So I did it, I was just going to leave a voice message, and he picked up. He was in there watching tape. We just started talking and he asked me how soon I could come down for an interview."

With a foot in the door, Schneider went to work. "I was doing a lot of college and administrative type of stuff, and then watching tape and writing. It was the first year of free agency. So I'd write, like, 'Reggie White is a really good football player. Marcus Allen is a great short yardage runner.' That was my first exposure to it."

Whatever it was going to take to get in, Schneider was going to make it happen. Football was that important to him. "When I got hurt in college and stopped playing was the first time I really stepped back and started analyzing who I was as a player. I think that really helped in my development early on like, maybe I can do this," Schneider said. After all, from an early age Schneider surrounded himself with football. "I was a kid growing up that collected all the cards and when the TV wasn't taken away from me if I did something bad, my football cards were taken away from me."

He remains surrounded by football. Now those surrounding include all the perks of running an NFL team. With every resource to return the Seahawks back to winning form.

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