Overview of our off season personnel wouldn't be complete without looking at the staff level. I'm just going with the most impactful positions.
Pete Carroll - Head Coach
I don't think there's a lot of Seahawks fans that want to see Pete go. Unless there's some random fallout amongst him and management in the coming months, I don't see him going anywhere. There was a scare that John Schneider may be leaving and the whole "Are they a package deal? Does Pete leave Seattle if he can't have John?" Now that Schneider is sticking around I'm not even semi worried.
The biggest complaint I may have about Pete is that I don't know why the fuck he hasn't fired Bevell or Cable yet.
John Schneider - General Manager
John is a great evaluator of talent. It looks like he'll be sticking around despite a quick scare where it looked like he might be headed to Green Bay. The Seahawks blocked the interview, likely wanting to get some value for him. Green Bay has since hired Brian Gutekunst as their GM, so Schneider's "Dream Job" is off the table. That's really good for us.
Some people threw around the name Scot McCloughan because of the monster talent evaluator he's been. Honestly in the event Schneider walks I'd love to see Scot come back. But I'm not asking Schneider to leave. Still, it would be great is Scot McCloughan could be hired on for any sort of talent evaluation role.
The biggest complaint I may have about John is that I don't know why the fuck he hasn't fired Bevell or Cable yet.
**Paul Allen - Owner **
Keep it real, PA. Never sell. #WarAllen
The only complaint I may have about PA is that I don't know why the fuck he hasn't fired Bevell or Cable yet.
Kris Richard - Defensive Coordinator
Richard received some heat in some games of 2017 due to a couple games. I think that those games are outliers, most of our games were lost by our offense/special teams. Additionally, he was working with an insanely depleted defense. Something like 8/11 starters were out for the second Rams game and Bob's hamstring was hamburger. I think he's a good DC with randomly one of the worst 'prevent defense' schemes the league has ever seen. Our prevent defense is BAD. Our defense will be a marble wall for 50 minutes, then when we start prevent defense we suddenly look like paper.
Will he be back? I don't know. He's gotten interest for the coaching job in Indianapolis. The Seahawks expressed interest in Gus Bradley as well. Anticipating Kris Richard's departure? Going to axe him instead of Bevell because of the Houston game/second Rams game? Who knows. We lost the potential of Gus Bradley to the Chargers as he signed a 3 year deal, so I think I'd like Richard to stick around.
My biggest complaint about Kris Richard is he hasn't fired- Well, I guess he can't.
Darrell Bevell - Offensive Coordinator
Oh gosh. Oh gosh. So Bevell is a really nice guy. Seems like a great human. There's a lot of great humans in the world that aren't getting jobs as OCs because they can't do it. Now, the Bevell hate is kind of split. I think it's important to point some things out. Bevell is not an atrocious OC. He's a mediocre OC that demonstrates moments of atrocity. It's also important to note that when you're averaging a total offense rank of 14.7 (especially considering that's being tipped by a rank 4 outlier year in 2015), your offense is not working out. As a team you want to improve in all areas every season. Have we just accepted that mediocrity is our ceiling? Yes? Ok, well we can't even reach it.
To say that our offensive ranks are reflective of what Bevell has given us is giving him a little bit of credit. One thing we know is Wilson's insane ability to extend plays, make something out of nothing, and to become greater the more out of reach a game becomes. It feels like all of our yardage is coming from a play breaking down, Doug, Richardson or Lockett finishing their route and saying "Shit I need to adjust for Russ running for his life," then Russ finds them on the patchwork of a broken play. You're not giving us even mediocrity Bevell, you're giving us rank 28 offense and our QB and receivers are doing things in broken down plays they shouldn't be asked to do.
The 2017 season came to the perfect end to get Bevell fired. He went into that last drive knowing a few things: We were moving the ball running a normal offense. Our play makers were coming through. He knew that we were not able to run on obvious running downs. He knew Blair Walsh couldn't be trusted with a 50/50 field goal and that should only be the last resort. So Bevell decides to run the ball three times in a row and kick the field goal instead of continuing the offense that marched the Seahawks down the field that whole drive. Instead of attempting a touchdown to put the game away. This is CHOOSING defeat over victory. He chose the objectively lowest percentage path to victory. If you say "Well he didn't know that, hindsight is 20/20" I'd retort that 100% of the evidence he needed was there. If he couldn't recognize that he CAN'T be an OC. He just can't.
Unfortunately it looks like the Seahawks have no intention of making big coaching changes so.. Well I don't know.
If your offense is mediocre year after year, it's not working out. If it's not working out, you move on. Regardless of your reasons. 5 years of mediocrity (1 outlier year), you move on. I wish the best for you Bevell, please stop being our OC. We have to try something new.
Tom Cable - O-Line/Assistant Head Coach
CAAAAABLLLLLEE!!! CAAAAAAABBBBLLLLLEEEEE!!!!! When are you going to admit that Cable is not the O-Line whisperer it was once believed that he was? You know what changed our run game in 2011? A full year with Marshawn Lynch. It kills me seeing people talk about the 2013 Seahawks O-line like Cable made some beast of a unit. Lynch wasn't Beast Mode because of a few huge runs. Lynch was Beast Mode because he'd get met by 2 guys 3 yds behind the line of scrimmage and plow them for a 3-4 yard gain. Seriously, subscribe to NFL's gamepass and watch Hawks games from those days. The O-line is terrible. Not as bad as now, but like pretty bad.
Our lineman that Cable is allowed to 'develop' seem to be getting worst sans Britt. Penalties seem more common. Blown blocking assignments seem more common. There's starting to be these bizarre plays made by the line... Such as the 5 man cut block (that didn't take a single Titan down), Matt Tobin running a route instead of blocking.. It's just gotten so bad that it's weird now. I don't even know what's happening.
Here are some hilariously bad moments from our O-line:
https://www.fieldgulls.com/2017/9/19/16307590/13-clips-that-show-just-how-bad-the-seahawks-offensive-line-is
It's to the point that at WORST you get a O-Line coach that can't develop players, weakens current players fundamentals and discipline, and makes bizarre trick blocking schemes which is EXACTLY what we have now. AT WORST IT'S THE SAME.
Carl Smith - Quarterbacks Coach
While I don't know a whole lot about what Carl Smith offers as a QB coach, I have taken notice of fans calling for the Hawks to try and get another one. I think it makes sense to make a change if Russel Wilson and Carl Smith are not jiving, or Russ isn't picking up more from him. Russ is a relatively young QB that has some areas he can improve. Confidence in the pocket, drops his eye level too quickly, sometimes makes errant throws, doesn't always protect the ball the best and such. I'm not gonna call for Carl's job, but for the off season I'd be excited if they made a change here.
Conclusion
I think some coaching changes on the offensive side of the ball could be gigantic. We have great play makers. We have massive potential. This current staff just isn't meeting it, and they have not been meeting it for years.