Why grit means more than ever to Carroll, Schneider, Seahawks in this pandemic NFL draft
It’s clear the Seahawks have made maturity and grit a top priority for 2020’s rookies.
“Now, with acquisition, it’s all about the guys who can come in and contribute right away,” general manager John Schneider said via an online Zoom call from his home and draft center Friday night.
“Yeah, it’s been a focus for us, no matter what. We want to have guys who come in and don’t necessarily need a ton of hand-holding.”
Nobody’s going to be holding the hands of the newest Seahawks.
More likely, they are going to be extending theirs. To help others.
Jordyn Brooks is the youngest of seven children. He bulled through his family once being homeless to becomig a star linebacker at Texas Tech. Thursday night, he became a multimillionaire as Seattle’s first-round pick.
Friday, Darrell Taylor became the Seahawks’ second-round choice months after surgeons inserted a titanium rod in the pass rusher’s leg. He had 8 1/2 sacks last year while playing on a stress fracture. He grew up in Virginia, where his father was incarcerated when Taylor was a young boy. His mother died of breast cancer in 2013, when he was an early teenager.
Minutes later Friday night the Seahawks drafted Damien Lewis, the right guard on LSU’s national-championship team last season. The third-round pick had to raise three younger brothers from his eighth-grade year through his high school ones in Mississippi. Lewis was the only male authority in his home. His father, like Taylor’s, was in prison.
Then Lewis had zero offers from any four-year school to play college football. He enrolled in a local junior-college, rode a bus to school every day—then signed with LSU and started 28 consecutive games over his two years on college football’s best offensive line.
One of Lewis’ younger brothers was crying Friday night, overcome with joy, while was big bro next to him FaceTiming with Russell Wilson minutes after becoming the newest Seahawk.
“He’s a self-made guy,” Schneider said.
All three of Seattle’s picks through Friday night are.
Yes, 40-yard dash times and combine performances, special football skills and SPARQ scores, they still have their places in Seattle’s scouting evaluations.
But this year coach Pete Carroll’s favorite trait, grit, is taking precedence when Seattle drafts. It’s the Seahawks’ response to the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has shut down all offseason practices and perhaps a chunk or more of training camp—and thus a rookie’s normal maturation process this summer.
“We’ve learned about grit more and more and more every year. We focus on it. And it’s just a never-ending study,” Schneider said.
“I mean, Darryl Taylor is a very, very talented pass rusher. He could have very easily just shut it down (last season at Tennessee) with his stress fracture. And he ended up, even with that, fighting through it (and finishing with 8 1/2 sacks for the Volunteers).
“But he wouldn’t have been able to do that if he hadn’t overcome so many things in his past, before this past season.”
Carroll said it’s clear “these guys’ life experiences, they will mold you. One way, or the other.
“The guys that have been able to have the support when they needed it, or just the stick-to-it-ness when they were up against the big challenges, if they make it through it, it makes them stronger,” said the 68-year-old coach who sees pro football a little differently, more interpersonally, than most. “And these guys have all been through it. ...
“If they learned the lessons, then they bring along that willfulness that can make them unique and special. And we really feel like these guys all come in with the chip on their shoulder. They’ve got something to prove. They are not going to be denied. They are not going to let anybody get in their way and take it away from them. ...
“John has really made it important to his scouts...and to understand the impact their lives have had, so that they can contribute to us
“We are thrilled about these guys. This is the kind of people that you want to build a team with.”
Grit, Carroll firmly believes, is the key trait to being an intense competitor. Carroll says the word “competition” more than “Seahawks” in his Seattle program.
And the competition is now full on along the offensive line.
Lewis’ arrival gives the Seahawks 19 offensive linemen. They have to be the only team in football history, from Pee Wee through the pros, to have 19 blockers and just one quarterback on the roster. It’s Russell Wilson and his 19, scuffling guardsmen right now.
“Just trying to get as much competition as we can to protect our quarterback,” Schneider said.
“We’ve got 18 (veteran) guys coming in right now,” Carroll said. “Looking at what they are up against, this is going to bring out the very best. We want to play great football up front. We want to give Russ the chance to really tear it up like he can.
“So everybody is going to be battling to get that done. It’s going to take a lot of unique, adaptive coordination to take advantage of the time we have.”
Carroll confirmed Lewis will compete immediately with veteran D.J. Fluker for the starting job at right guard.
“Yes. He will,” the coach said. “He won’t take a back seat to anybody.”
He said that’s why the Seahawks drafted Lewis.
Of course, the proud—and massive—Fluker isn’t just going to slink away. The popular locker-room presence turned 29 last month. He’s missed eight games because of injuries in his two seasons starting for Seattle. He has one year remaining on his contract. The Seahawks could save $3.69 million against their salary cap this year if Fluker loses the competition with Lewis and the Seahawks release the veteran.
At pass rusher, Carroll sees the 6-foot-4, 267-pound Taylor as the prototype for a Seahawks “Leo,” defensive end, the edge rusher off the weakside of the 4-3 defense. The coach said Taylor has the requisite height, weight and speed for the position Seattle hasn’t effective filled since Pro Bowl veteran and Super Bowl champion Cliff Avril retired following a neck injury during the 2017 season.
“Really important pick for us to get,” Carroll said of Taylor.
That’s the understatement of the draft, given how Seattle must improve the pass rush to have a chance at home playoff games and thus the Super Bowl in 2020.
Seattle’s draft picks
Through noon Saturday
- Round 1 (pick 27): LB Jordyn Brooks, Texas Tech
- Round 2 (48): EDGE Darrell Taylor, Tennessee
- Round 3 (69): G Damien Lewis, LSU
- Round 4 (133): TE Colby Parkinson, Stanford
- Round 4 (144): RB DeeJay Dallas, Miami (Fla.)
- Round 5 (148): EDGE Alton Robinson, Syracuse
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 11:41 PM.
