SEATTLE — The NFL Draft is still a month away, but the always exuberant and optimistic Pete Carroll seems ready for the draft to get underway this week.
Speaking at the NFL owners' meetings in Phoenix, the Seahawks' head coach along with general manager John Schneider know they have a lot of options holding picks number five and 20 in the first round.
"It's really exciting," said Carroll. "I'm having a ball watching John manage his way through all of this and navigate through all of the conversations and all of the processing and all of the things that we're doing, but there's a lot of choices.
"It feels good to be picking five and 20. There are players at both of those spots that are coming to us, and we'll have alternatives to go this way or that way. We're really looking forward to figuring it out when the time comes. We're a long way down the road because we haven't been able to avoid the topic, we've been all over it."
The Seahawks' defense has undergone a makeover this offseason after finishing 25th in the league in points allowed last season. Carroll says the addition of former Steeler Devin Bush will elevate the competition at linebacker, which is good for everybody. Carroll says the key at that position is the return of Bobby Wagner.
"He doesn't have to come in here and give speeches and orchestrate anything," said Carroll. "He needs to come in here and be the best he can be. It's exactly how he stated it. He wants to come in here and find his best game and be the best I've ever been.
"The way he does things, he is such an expert on how he handles his business and how he approaches the game, how he deals with people and how he takes to practices and games. Just being him is a great illustration for younger guys."
Throughout the Pete Carroll era in Seattle, the organization has had a propensity for drafting quarterbacks. Going into this year's draft, the Seahawks have their top two quarterbacks returning from last season. They signed starter Geno Smith to a three-year contract worth up to $105 million dollars. The team also re-signed backup Drew Lock, but that hasn't stopped them from scouting the top quarterbacks available in this year's draft.
Carroll said that comes as no surprise to Smith.
"I told Geno what we were doing. I talked to him beforehand, and he knows what's going on," explained Carroll. "If there was no communication there, it might have hit him differently, but he was great about it. He gets it, he's been around the game, he knows what's going on.
"He knows some guy's going to come in here and he's 21 years old. He's not worried about that a bit. He doesn't care. What he will do is help him - he's already stated that.
"Geno means what he says. When Geno says something, it's coming from a place where he felt it and thought about it. He's sincere about that and how can I ask for a guy who can model better than that? Yeah, bring him on, we'll help him. We'll do whatever we can, and we'll make him as good as we can make him."