PETE CARROLL: It was exciting because this was such a full draft for us and I think every phase of it was challenging, but we met it with some really good choices that are going to help our club and it was fun to have all the pick, especially after last year.
So it was a good time and I thought we did great. So we're excited about it. So what do you got?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We like all three guys from last year, too.
Q. What do you like about the two corners?
PETE CARROLL: They're totally different. It's rare to get a guy that was chosen as the best DB in the country. That doesn't happen very often. I don't know if it's the Heisman for the DBs or just a great Jim Thorpe award in itself. But that's pretty cool.
And it's because Coby's such a good football player, just all around, can do it all, big and strong, really aware, leader on that team, on a championship club, and a really good playmaker.
The other kid, now this is something now. T Woolen, he's got unbelievable talent. He's been a DB for a couple years, was converted from a receiver spot. There's probably never been a guy that's as tall as this guy, as fast as this guy, that's ever run. I don't know. Maybe there has been.
But to be over six-four and to run 4.2-something is a crazy number. But he also, he's really learning the spot and he's really growing.
So I see they're different in their makeup and one of the points of that is Woolen will be a guy that we really like to just get him on that line of scrimmage and see if it can he own it because he's got such style to him. So that's where we'll take him. But more versatility in Coby.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. Coby was really buttoned up too as a pro, especially down at the senior bowl. He was talking to Jim Nagy, who runs the senior bowl, just throughout the week, the way he handled himself.
And then all that guys that went into the school, everything he got out of the coaching staff and everything, he was really, they called him the culture changer. And so, yeah, really excited about him.
And like Pete said, Tariq's just, athletically just a total freak. He's been playing there for two years now and he's awesome.
Q. What made Coby so good on the ball?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: He has incredible awareness and instincts. He sees the ball real well.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. Real instinctive and a natural football player.
Q. You guys have experience obviously with Richard Sherman many years ago coming in after converting from receiver to corner. How would you compare those two players development-wise, where Tariq is at right now compared where Richard was?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. Richard was, I had known him growing up and coming to school and all, so I had a little special insight on that one and was excited to see him as he went to defense how it physical he was and he really carried that through.
So Richard didn't run like Tariq runs, and so it's a little bit different in the dynamics of the player. And I don't, I don't know enough about Tariq now to see all of the instincts that was so special to Richard.
But what we do know is those are guys that because of their stature they present problems for a receiver and it's because they're so long and so wide and fill up so much space and can run with 'em. So there's some similarities. It was interesting that he knows all about Sherman. He knows about Browner and the guys we've had, and Maxie. He's kind of followed the, it sounds like, the Seahawks over the years, kind of like that. So he knows that this is a good place for him to come.
Q. What's his quickness like? We know he can go fast.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. You would think a guy like that would be really leggie, but he's not. He's very controlled, very balanced. He transitions real well. He's got some good power to him, flies up the run game. It's pretty cool.
And then he's such a big guy. I mean, it's very impressive to see a guy like that come flying up and run support as a former receiver, and we think he'll be a heck of a gunner as well.
Q. (Question about Tariq.)
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Oh, wow. He jumps off the ball, really good hands. He can get skinny and he can get in the gaps. He does some really nice stuff rushing inside and outside.
He's had a kind of a funky career there going through the COVID year and he's battled some injuries and stuff, but I think he's just scratching the surface.
He had a great senior bowl week as well and you can see him playing against some of the best prospects in the country and he's a unique talent with his the way he jumps off the ball and his hand use.
PETE CARROLL: Really good motor about him. He's good football player. You see him make a lot of different plays and well-schooled as a rusher. You can see the technique stuff, he's off to a good start with that.
Q. Another basketball guy?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. Former basketball player.
PETE CARROLL: It always does.
Q. Why did the wide receivers you chose show up on your radar?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We had great buy-in from our offensive staff with those guys. We had them in a spot on our board where it was like, okay, we think there's several guys here that could make it.
Sure enough, Bo Melton is, first of all, he's an amazing kid. I mean, he can fly. He's 4.3 -- shoot, I forget what he ran. I think he was like 4.36 or something like that, the combine and change of direction, captain of the team. I mean, he's just a great kid at Rutgers. They speak super highly of him there.
And then Dareke is a guy that really showed up as a phenomenal tester in the spring, that brought you back to his, you know, the fall, at Lenoir-Rhyne, so a smaller school, and he's played in a wing T, and then they move to a spread, so you can see him actually coming downhill blocking people and he's a physical guy.
But the workout that he had for the scouts in the spring was incredibly impressive, and he tested off the charts. He's 6-2 1/2, 222-pound guy.
PETE CARROLL: Amazing student too, tremendous academic background.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. He's an engineering major. He had a great visit.
Q. Is Dareke kind of similar in style to David Moore, like, smaller school guy, little bit bigger receiver, has some pretty big athletic traits, some running back background; is there some similarities?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, there's some similarities there, sure.
Q. You talked last week about kind of an underdog feeling. Does this draft remind you any of like any of those early ones?
PETE CARROLL: I would think, early -- yeah, I don't mind saying that. I think it was like the first draft in that we had the picks in the first round. We haven't had that opportunity. John hasn't been able to take advantage of that because of our seasons and all.
But in that regard it felt like we had a full draft that year and all. And so there's just been a unique excitement about coming back in the building and this was all part of it. So it's been pretty fun.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's the first time that our owner's been able to come in the draft room and be with us. She was a blast. She was into it. And so it was great to have her with everybody in the draft room.
PETE CARROLL: She was fired up. She was ready to go.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We were talking last week about having everybody back in the building too, so the third floor, being back in the building, that's part of the excitement.
And then the players coming back in. We've been working our tails off in the draft room now for several months and the culmination of it, yeah, now -- it's a great question. It feels good. It feels good.
Q. Having gotten through the draft and the bulk of free agency, how do you guys feel like where the roster is right now?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We don't feel like it ever stops. So this is just one avenue for us. So we'll continue, around every corner we're going to keep taking a peak and see what's around the corner and see how we can improve this team.
PETE CARROLL: Pretty well-balanced though in our choices, you know, that we got some spots that we had kind of agreed upon it would be nice to get some help, and so the roster feels in pretty good shape right now. Is there big holes? I don't feel like that at all, no.
But, yeah, we're just getting warmed up.
Q. There's a lot of fourth-, fifth-year guys that you guys picked. A lot of these guys are 23 already. Was that something specific that you were looking for, guys with a little bit more experience or is that just a result of the COVID year?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, it's just the result of the class. There was so many guys that came back. I think you saw, I think we talked about the quantity and the depth maybe more so than the big-time like difference-makers maybe at the top, the very, very top.
So throughout all those guys coming back I think you saw some older guys in there.
Q. The quarterbacks, was it a matter of class or did you just want -- you're going to give Drew Lock and Jimmy Smith a chance to --
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's hard for rookies. It's very hard on rookies to come in here and you have to have unique, unique qualities. We talked about it last night, or the night before. Sorry, getting these confused.
PETE CARROLL: We've been here a lot.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. But it just, continuously throughout the draft we, it didn't, it just didn't fall the right way for one reason or another and we just, we've agreed to terms with somebody here as a rookie free agent that we're really excited about.
Q. Is it easier for running backs in this era when you talking about making that jump --
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I missed the first --
Q. Is it easier for running backs as opposed to quarterbacks in this league to make an immediate impact?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Absolutely. Yeah. Opposite ends of the spectrum, yeah.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, certainly is.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: If you can run the rock, you can run the rock, right? Quick quarterback.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty instinctive. That spot has always historically been one that guys can really contribute right away.
And the quarterback thing, it's a monstrous amount of information for those guys to command and it's really a challenge. You see so many guys struggle as they get going. It's rare that guys can be smooth through the first year or two.
Running backs, they come out of the chutes and you hand them the football, they pretty much know what's going on.
But anyway, I think it's quite a bit different.
Q. Does it seem like maybe a lot of these guys knew as much about the Seahawks as you knew about them? Because a lot of them say that they followed you.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Pete told the crew, when we had our third visit, he told the crew, he's like, a lot of you guys were in grade school when we went to the Super Bowl, and these guys are growing up playing Madden football and making trades through Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor and guys on their video games.
But I think that also agents do a really, really good job of prepping their guys before interviews and letting them know what, where the good organizations are, the steady organizations, and we kind of pride ourselves on our communication with agents and the way they coach their prospects up.
PETE CARROLL: I think it a statement too about the guys that have come through here. They have made a name for themselves. And a lot of our guys have continued to be kind of visible and it's a good thing.
I was encouraged by it. Maybe I got sucked in a little bit by a couple of our guys talking about us, but it's nice to know that.
Q. You guys obviously added to the pass rush group, but how do you feel about the whole thing now with what you did there with and free agency and stuff like that?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We feel good. I think we feel good.
PETE CARROLL: I feel like we balanced it out. We've attacked some needs. And the tackle spots really, that was a big deal and we, really fortunate that that worked out like that, really fortunate.
We got two really good guys to go for it, to upgrade the challenge and the competition at those spots. I don't know who is going to start, but I know those guys, they're going to be challenged by the new guys coming in, which is great.
It feels like, as I was saying to John, we had some spots and we didn't just get a guy. We got a couple guys that can help us, we think. If we can continue to push to make it competitive, it makes us better and that's what I think we feel coming out of there. We got that done.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: You talking about those guys, you're talking about Jake played, got to play last year, did a nice job coming in, and we haven't seen a ton of Stone yet; right?
But you also have Tre Brown. We haven't seen a ton of him, and you haven't seen Dee Eskridge yet. So there's a class there that's missed out a little bit. So put those guys with this group, I think you're going to see some outstanding stuff.
Q. Was there any more of a priority to attack needs in this draft? You guys maybe referred to that a couple times.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We grade for our team, so it ends up, we end up trending towards needs, to a certain extent. We're comparing guys to different positions all the way through. That's what I'm talking about, when your collaborating in a real concise manner with a coaching staff, you have a great, you feel like you can put a really nice plan together and if you can stick with it, it's great.
Q. When people are talking about needs versus best player, did this fall, Pete talked about the tackles. Did this fall pretty well of the guys that were up there on the board happened to be places you needed the guys?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah, I felt like it did.
PETE CARROLL: It's a deep class of offensive linemen. This as good, or deep a class, I don't know, John, you would know better, but it's the deepest class we've had and all the way through there were still guys getting picked today that are formidable players.
And there was a big number of rushers also in this, different styles and makeups and all of that. So we hit it, we doubled up on both those and it was because of the, I think the depth in the draft and we were fortunate.
Q. How are Tariq and Boye different types of edge guys? Will they start up the same spot?
PETE CARROLL: Good question. Boye's got a little bit more linebacker in him, from his style of play and his upbringing, and Tariq was more of an edge rusher, and so in our system they have to do both and those guys will get a chance to, and we can maximize and minimize whatever to fit their strengths.
But they're a little bit different and both played same conference a lot, great level of play, really good comparisons we can make. But I think there's a little bit more of a lean towards linebacker, a little bit more lean towards the rusher background for the two guys.
Q. How dialed in was Jody? Was she making recommendations?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah.
PETE CARROLL: She was calling the shots. What are you talking about?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: She had some things she wanted us to get taken care of and we got them taken care of.
PETE CARROLL: She did.
Again, I tell you, this is another chat we had with her. She was great and she had fun. She was in it. She was competing and she wanted to know about who you maybe trading for, and the whole thing, she was on it. So she's really amazing.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I did ask her if she wore her third-day shirt today. She said she did. So I hope she was watching on TV though.
PETE CARROLL: Work day.
Q. With just the one trade and addressing so many needs, having to pick high in the first round, was it the most straightforward draft you've had?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: We didn't move around a lot. We thought we would. I definitely thought we would move around more than we did.
PETE CARROLL: There wasn't any different in the attempts, you were trying the whole time.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: The attempts were the same, yeah.
PETE CARROLL: We weren't shying away from it but...
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I don't know. Things kind of, it's like God's plan, right? Things just kind of kept happening the way they should have.
PETE CARROLL: We had a good fit.
Q. There didn't seem to be the outlier or the pick that we're all going, what was that for, or where did he come from.
PETE CARROLL: What are you saying? (Laughing).
Q. No. What I mean is you had needs; you filled them, rather than sometimes you take players --
PETE CARROLL: It fit, yeah. It did. That's, the opportunities of the numbers where our positions were, it fit the choice. But that didn't, my point, so you guys know, that John's staff, they were working. They were in on every, so many, I mean, you can't imagine how many different scenarios that came through, but none of them fit as well as the choice that we had got to make. So it was cool.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It was like speed dating. They think they're headed somewhere and then they'd tell me about something that's happening and we'd talk about it.
PETE CARROLL: I don't know about speed dating. What is that? (Laughing).
JOHN SCHNEIDER: If only. I've seen it in the movies (laughing).
But they would bring us, they would be fired up about a deal they had and we would sit there and kind of analyze 'em and then all of a sudden they would just go away.
Q. You mentioned earlier the depth and total numbers of this group. Does that carry over into the undrafted stuff? Is there a pretty good crop of guys out there?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yeah. It's a, yeah, there's a lot -- the numbers were a surprise in this year's draft with the guys coming back and getting that extra year.
Q. Pete, you guys start a different phase of the off-season program Monday, right, kind of get on the field a little more? Seeing Drew and all that in there, I guess what you want to see out of him or the excitement level of seeing that?
PETE CARROLL: Phase one, we're not on the field with the players. They're with the strength and conditioning guys Monday. That's the first time phase two begins and now we're rolling.
Phase one, it's a different stage.
But so it's, yeah, in anticipation of it we're fired up about it and a week later we're going to have the young guys in here too on the weekend and we'll have a whole lot more information to go on.
It's just time to kind of unwrap the presents and the packages and stuff and see what's in there. We're looking forward to it.
Q. You once tried to recruit LeBron James to be a Seahawk. What was it like drafting a guy by the name of Coby Bryant?
PETE CARROLL: I think the amazing thing is that he comes from Cincinnati. The last guy we drafted from Cincinnati was Mike Tyson.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: He couldn't wait to say that. He couldn't wait to say that. It's been all afternoon.
PETE CARROLL: Freaking softball.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: And he's going to wear number 8.
PETE CARROLL: He maybe wears number 8, who knows.
Q. (No microphone.)
JOHN SCHNEIDER: No, he wants him to wear number 8.
Q. We've been talking about the primary positions. Can you tell how this draft class will affect special teams or is it too early to kind of know who your key contributors could be there?
JOHN SCHNEIDER: It's too early to totally tell, but the traits are what we look for and the mentality. So all the way through there was a competitive aspect of a makeup of the person, so it was an emphasis for everybody all the way through, whether it was the way the scouts felt about the player and the makeup of the player and the position coaches as well.
Obviously our special teams guys sit in all of our meetings.
Q. Inside linebacker was a position a lot of people had their eye on. Where do you guys feel like things are at there?
PETE CARROLL: I feel like we're in good shape in the way we're lining up. Depth-wise and as always we keep, we'll keep working it, but I like the guys that we have and I think we're in good shape there. We didn't need to go there.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: The depth with special teams. Iggy?
PETE CARROLL: Iggy?
Q. How does Tanner Muse fit with that? He was backing up all year.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: Tanner is a heck of a special teams player and finding his way and his fit as a linebacker.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, he's one of the core guys on the special teams, but he is an inside guy that we're continuing to grow with. We think he's really got an upside.
Q. Is Ben Burr-Kirven healthy now?
PETE CARROLL: He's running. He ran for the first time only the field with our guys, which was extraordinary accomplishment for the kid. He's been busting his tail and not letting anything get in his way of making this return and it's been really challenging. But he's running and that's very inspirational and emotional deal for us to see him make it back. And it's been such a, so important to him, it's just a statement about the kid. He's a great kid with a great love of the game and really wants to prove himself and all of that. So we'll stay with him and monitor it all the way through so he made a really good statement this week.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: You have to give him so much credit for the effort and everything he's been through is, it's been really rough for him and he's been working with C.J. downstairs and he just keeps attacking it. And so sometimes during the season it's rough because guys get injured and they go to injured reserve and you keep going. We got to keep going, right? So to see him coming in and working as much as he has to get to where he is right now with history has been, man.
PETE CARROLL: They just cleared him last week for the first time. So that was a big statement in itself. It's just totally on him for making that happen.
Q. (No microphone.)
PETE CARROLL: He's making good progress. He's here with us and doing everything and everything seems to be on point. There's been no set backs.
Q. Will Quandre and Jamal be back at any point soon?
PETE CARROLL: Yes, they will be. They're featuring the rehab, trying to max that out before they get here. They will be in short order, just a week or so away.
Q. (No microphone.)
PETE CARROLL: He is. Yeah, he is and he has started his running as well. Like those two guys, he is in a total rehab mode right now and gets get through that and out of that. Jamal's probably the furthest along as I understand it, but all the guys, it's all working and they need to get that focus nailed before we get back to the full speed football. They're in on all of the meetings and all that kind of stuff.
Q. (No microphone.)
PETE CARROLL: No.
Q. How do you feel about the group's overall potential to function at a high level around whoever wins the quarterback competition?
PETE CARROLL: Well, give me a chance to get these guys on the field and really see how they look throwing and comparison. But we do know a tremendous amount about really about all of our guys at this point. But still until you see them going head-to-head and the going from one throw to the next and one drill to the next. But we are very talented and arm talent, the guys ability to throw a football, that's not even a question. It's going to be system, it's going to be commanding the position to take care of our football team and with the right mentality and the right conscience. That's where we have to see how far we can come. We have not, we don't really have all of that nailed with Jake, he's been with us a short time, but -- and we don't have that nailed with Drew at this point. We have a really good feel for where Geno is. But the way that we're going format our football team is going to call for this position to really, really be on point to run the club with the big mind that it takes to have a great conscience about great winning football.
So not worried about the talent at all, it's the process and seeing them grasp on to all of that that I'm really excited to see and it's really let the games begin. These guys are going to go and go at it. So it will be great fun.
Q. Regarding DK, Hollywood traded and being paid as well, are you guys comfortable with waiting on a DK extension or --
PETE CARROLL: Who said it has to go that way?
Q. I think they just picked up his fifth year?
PETE CARROLL: They got something going. Yeah. It's really important for us to, and John, and we'll kick it into John's court here in the weeks to come and all, but we're really communicating great. And DK, we've been a great wavelength to move forward and hopefully it will all work out. We don't plan on him going anywhere else, we want him to be with us.
Q. What does it say about DK that he shows up not having a contract?
PETE CARROLL: I think I mentioned it, it was a great statement for our guys. And he's back in the rehab mode but he wanted to show that this is his place and he has a responsibility to it and as we do also and I thought it was a great start to the off-season.
Q. Chris Carson back here for the program?
PETE CARROLL: No. He's still at home. Still rehabbing at home.
Q. (Question about the quarterback position.)
PETE CARROLL: Fortunately we don't have to. The games, as we're looking at it now the games are going to be really important and, but we'll do everything, we'll take it as far as we can every step of the way and then use the next opportunity. Camp, these camps now will be really important, we'll take the break and come back into camp in those first couple weeks, see where everybody returns and how do they come back in command of the system, we'll start to have a better feel for that, we'll compete like crazy against each other and then we'll get our games to go.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: I like to say everything counts. Everything counts. Yeah. So no, I think that you can look back at all the competitions we've had since we've been here, I would say probably the obviously the biggest one was 2012 and the coaches did an outstanding job with T-Jack Matt and Russ and they formulated a great plan.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, we planned to orchestrate it so that it show us everything we can possibly get. And sometimes you got to play games. We might take it all the way to the season.
JOHN SCHNEIDER: And I'm talking about practice. You're talking about practice? I'm talking about practice.
PETE CARROLL: You're talking about practice? (Laughing).
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