Every weekday morning, we'll round up local and national Seattle Seahawks-related links.
Patrick Daugherty of Rotoworld ranks every GM in the NFL. He has John Schneider third behind Bill Belichick and John Elway:
John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll aren’t bound by convention. The duo may end up best remembered for pulling the plug on free-agent signing Matt Flynn for third-round rookie Russell Wilson, but just look at how they handled their backfield in 2015. It started in March, when they agreed to a $5 million raise for Marshawn Lynch. Many teams won’t pay a running back $5 million period, let alone dole out that kind of increase for a runner headed into his age-29 season. This is where it gets interesting. The gamble failed. Spectacularly. Lynch broke down as he averaged a wheezing 3.75 yards per carry. He collected $12 million and literally went home, retiring in February. But instead of crippling the roster, Lynch’s disappearing act was a mere nuisance. That’s because the Seahawks signed rookie free agent Thomas Rawls after he was passed on 256 times in the draft. Rawls impressed all offseason before going on to average 5.6 yards per carry in Lynch’s absence. Every general manager makes mistakes every year. But when you compile the kind of depth Schneider and Carroll have, any storm can be weathered, from Flynn and Lynch to Percy Harvin and Jimmy Graham. When building an NFL roster, the key isn’t avoiding mistakes. It’s having the players to move past them.
Joel Corry of CBSSports.com wonders whether a Seahawks trade for Cleveland Browns left tackle Joe Thomas would still make sense. He projects it would take a first-round pick and a third-round pick to acquire Thomas:
From the outside looking in, the Seattle Seahawks have a glaring hole at left tackle with the departure of Russell Okung to the Broncos in free agency. Garry Gilliam, who is making the switch from right tackle, is currently the frontrunner to replace Okung. Giving up a first-round pick for Thomas would be another aggressive move like the one that brought Jimmy Graham to Seattle at the beginning of last season's trading period, when the team's 2015 first-round pick and center Max Unger were dealt to the Saints. The remaining three years of Thomas' contract for $28.5 million are a good value considering he is arguably the game's best left tackle. Fitting his $8.5 million 2016 salary under the salary cap wouldn't be an issue, especially after $6.5 million of cap room is gained from recently retired Marshawn Lynch's contract coming off the books.
Matt Calkins of The Seattle Times catches up with Jake McCluskey, the man who was inspired by Marshawn Lynch and dropped more than 200 pounds:
“There were times when I was running those 60-milers and I would think ‘if Marshawn thinks I’m gangsta, then I’m gangsta!’ ” said McCluskey, who continues to watch that Lynch-Sanders interview on YouTube every day. “That shot my motivation way up.”
You read that right by the way -- 60-milers. McCluskey's training regimen included five straight weekends in which he would run 60 miles on Saturday and 40 miles on Sunday.