Not long after the surprising trade between the Seahawks and Saints became official, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider spoke with some local media about the decision to send Max Unger and a first-round pick to New Orleans for tight end Jimmy Graham and a fourth-round pick.
How did this trade come about?
Schneider: “We started talking to them probably maybe three days ago, just about general things—lots of different players. This time of year there are a lot of teams that are just trying to move some pieces around to figure some things out as we get close to the deadline to cut down for salary cap purposes to start the new year, and it was no different than a regular call like that. Then he was one of the players who was brought up and we continued to pursue it.”
“We think he’s a heck of a player, but there are a lot of names that are talked about. You just never know how serious people are, but it just depends on the different scenarios that you talk through, then the level of intensity or interest either increases or decreases based on the different scenarios that are discussed.”
How does Graham fit into the offense?
Carroll: “The opportunity to get a player that can make these kinds of plays that we’ve seen Jimmy Graham do for a number of years really got us excited. In complementing the rest of our team, we think he’s just a fantastic target that we can implement in a number of ways. It’s pretty clear, he’s a big receiver, plays big, makes plays in a crowd, makes plays on top of guys, he’s a very effective player in the red zone, he has been a terrific, consistent scorers, so all of that stuff, we’re just going to fit it into our offense and make him hopefully a very complementary part of it. When you have to Marshawn—it starts with the running game and Russell doing his thing—the complement of the receivers that we have that have made so many plays for us and done so many cool things, we think this is a great addition. Really as your best players always do, they help other guys play well and be productive, and that’s what we’re hoping for.
Carroll on trading Unger: “We’re going to miss Max. We love Max and he’s been a great part of our team, but in this time, this was part of the conversation we had to go with to get this done. So we’ll miss the heck out of him.”
Schneider on Unger: “Any time you’re making these types of trades for a player like this, it’s not just going to be a handover. Both teams had specific needs, for us, we’re going to miss Max’s leadership, he was a core part of what we were doing around here the last several years. He was here when we got here—coach Carroll and his staff actually move him to center for guard, and he really took off. But we have to continue moving this thing forward. We always talk about not having any finish lines, and this is just part of it—tough decisions, but exciting futures as well.
So what’s the plan at center now?
Carroll: “Well we’re going to figure it out as we go. We’ve got a number of guys—we had four guys play for us last year—so we do have some experience there within our system. We hope to just let the competition take over and show us who’s going to surface. We’ve got depth and we’ve got guys that we know can play. We played a lot of games with these guys last year, so, we’ll look forward to everybody contributing.”
Why did you like about cornerback Cary Williams?
Schneider: “I think with Cary first and foremost it starts with his length and his height and his aggressiveness and the style of play that we have here playing a lot of press. He’s a guy that the year Baltimore won the super bowl he finished the season extremely strong. He had a great year that year and really stood out and that’s when Philly went after him. When you watch him, especially playing against everyone’s big players last year like Dez Bryant, right toward the end of the season watched him play against Beckham of the Giants, they moved him around on people and he played the same sort of coverage with them. He was just intriguing. We’re going to miss (Byron Maxwell) but we had to be ready to go. I think it’s a testament to coach Carroll, Kris Richard, all of the guys that have worked so hard with our defensive backs; he’s a sixth-round draft choice that leaves for a monster, monster contract and we’re going to miss Byron a lot and we’re excited for him but we’re also very excited to add Cary. We felt like we needed to do it early because of the competition at the cornerback position and feel blessed we were able to finish it up last night.”
Was tight end a position you guys were targeting this offseason?
Schneider: “It absolutely was. We love Cooper (Helfet) and RaShaun (Allen) and we were able to re-sign Anthony McCoy and you guys saw the year that Luke (Willson) had, but this is an offensive weapon that we’re adding. A guy that is a big-time different maker at his position. Obviously a top 2 or 3 tight end in the league. We feel like it’s adding a big receiver and anytime we can do that we’re going to do it. I think it’s a great group of tight ends now.
On not being hesitant to make a big trade after the Percy Harvin deal was a failure?
Schneider: “Sure I think you get to learn from your past and make sure to cover your bases. This trade is still pending a physical here in a couple of days and hopefully we’ll get through all that information and move forward with this. But there is a lot of questions you have to get answered and we feel like we did that and that we learned from our previous trade with Percy.”
How much does this deal impact what else you can do in free agency?
Schneider: “In some respects it actually helps us. When you take out a first round draft choice like that, the cost of a first-round draft choice is close to 3.5 million. So if we were going to go out and sign a tight end in free agency, and have a huge signing bonus, big paragraph 5, a lot of guaranteed money, that would have hindered some of the things we would have been able to do. But right now we’re on course, we’re on budget and we feel like we have a lot to do, a lot of goals that we want to accomplish in the offseason. Like I said earlier, a lot of tough decisions but real exciting times ahead.”
Any concern that Bruce Irvin and Jimmy Graham got into it pregame in the playoffs, or that Michael Bennett called him overrated and soft?
Carroll: “Yeah. I don’t have any thoughts that there will be a problem. I think that’s gamesmanship and guys getting ready to play and all that and that’s all understood. I know a number of our players have already contacted him and talked to Jimmy and I’m sure that helps him if he ever had any thoughts. We’ve had good visits with him already as well. Yeah, I’m not worried about it a bit. It will be great to have him in here and get him with our guys. I’m sure they’ll get together well before we can start working here at the facility and expect that all of the groundwork for that relationship to begin will start all over again.”
How important was it to get Marshawn Lynch locked up last week?
Schneider: “The importance of it really I think when you look at it, we looked at free agency going into this year with K.J. Wright, Cliff Avril and Marshawn. Those were kind of the first three things that we really wanted to take care of. We feel blessed that we were able to do that. There’s certain guys that we were obviously not able to do things with that we’re going to miss moving forward. But being able to re-sign Anthony is a big deal for us. He’s been hurt two years in a row. Last year he was highly sought after early in free agency. Bringing back Will Blackmon is big for us and then obviously Cary and trading for Jimmy here. I think the Marshawn deal for us is huge because he’s such a big part of what we’re doing. Like coach Carroll talks about all the time, we talk about our offense starting with the run game and what a better guy to start it with than Marshawn.”
How will Graham help in the red zone?
Carroll: “Well he’s been a very, very productive player. I think we’ve got 46 touchdowns since 2011 or something. He’s a big target. He has a basketball background. He’s got the ability to get off the ground and play up high. He’s got a real sense for finishing plays. We’ve seen, of course, everything that he’s done over the last couple years and watched him finish plays around the goal line and find his way in after the catch. Just a fantastic talent and a great weapon for us. I’m sure it will be a great benefit for our passing game and the kind of productivity we want down there. We’re always going to be running the football but we need those targets and he brings us an obviously opportunity to get the ball in the end zone.”
Were you surprise he was available?
Carroll: “I think this is a fantastic job that John has done to get this done. It’s so rare that you get opportunities to get this kind of a player. Of course we looked at the draft and the pick and all that kind of stuff and tried to figure out what could happen and who else was available in free agency and all of that stuff to help on both sides of the ball. Here, talking about offense, I think it’s a continued message that we’re competing and we’re battling and we’re going to keep working at every opportunity and you’ve got to make big decisions to do that and here we’ve done this and we’re really excited about it.”
Did you guys need to mend fences with Marshawn Lynch after the Super Bowl?
“We had an excellent meeting. Marshawn was in a great place, was really excited to get to us and to make this commitment and looking down the road. He was really enthusiastic about the season, about our team, about moving forward and I was really pleased with his outlook and excited to be able to make a deal, really for everybody. Our locker room, of course, loves the guy. Our coaching staff does and for our fans as well. Everybody around the league knows what kind of player he is. He’s a big deal to us. For us to be able to take this step together and be excited about the future was a big moment. I’m really fired up about it and was really impressed and pleased with his approach to it.”
Thoughts on Jimmy Graham as a blocker?
Carroll: “He’s worked at his blocking. Guys can always improve and that will be an area that will be important to us, of course. The main thing, he competes hard at it and it’s important to him. He’s such a big body and so long that he is a factor in his blocking. Hard to get around and he takes up a lot of space, so we will certainly build him into our offense in all phases. He is going to play a lot football. We will continue to use combinations in groups like we always have so he should fit in very well.’’
Any progress on extensions for Russell Wilson or Bobby Wagner?
Schneider: “You know we have talked to their representatives and their representatives know where we stand but I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about timelines or anything like that. I hope you can understand that. … I shouldn’t say understand, appreciate it, sorry.’’
With James Carpenter gone, is Alvin Bailey the new left guard?
Schneider: “Our coaching staff always plans like, ‘hey if we were [laying tomorrow this is who would play,’ and Alvin Bailey would play there But we are going to continue all throughout this process. We have a long ways to go here, it’s early. And we are going to try to address every position as we move forward in any manner every day that waivers come out, every day we are talking to different agents and different teams. We are not going to stop. We are not going to stop approaching anything any different than we have since the first day that we walked into the building.’’
And thoughts on the Jets cutting Percy Harvin? (note: had New York kept Harvin, Seattle would have received a fourth-round pick for last year’s trade, instead it’s a sixth-rounder)
Schneider: “Well, I was really hoping that they would keep him. I really don’t have a thought on it to be honest with you. My understanding speaking with (former Jets GM) John Idzik is that he did a great job with the Jets and was great in the locker room and fit in real well with everybody there and his agent was right there he’s got a great relationship with his agent and it was a good fit for him. I can’t comment on decisions that other teams make. I just know that we’ve got a sixth round pick and we have to do our homework and make sure that we acquire the best player we can at that time with that selection.”
Have you talked to Russell Wilson yet about the trade?
Carroll: “Yeah, I have talked to Russell and he’s excited about the opportunity to add to the offense. He loves the guys that he works with and plays with every day we are out here and he knows that a guy like Jimmy can add to that. And we are just trying to get better and he sees that as an opportunity. So he was fired up about it I’m sure they have already talked to get together their schedules so that they can work out in the off-season and know that they will have some dates. Matter of fact he had already talked to him when I talked to him and they were already working on their dates to get together. So we are moving. We are not going to sit around Russell is not going to sit around. He’s getting after it and trying to make sure our guys all have an opportunity to get better in the off-season and he’s going to organize some stuff for those guys as they will too and Jimmy will be right in the middle of all of that.
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