KIRKLAND – Like a quarterback addressing the huddle with one minute left and his team trailing by 10 points, Tim Ruskell knew the clock was not on his side.
He’d become the Seattle Seahawks’ team president on Feb. 24, giving him less than two months to prepare for the annual NFL draft. Compounding the problem was that no one within the Seahawks’ front office had much experience putting a draft board together.
And so Ruskell rolled up his sleeves, put in a little overtime, and got the project rolling.
Next weekend, the results will be in. Despite a front office that spent two months playing musical chairs, the Seahawks believe they’re ready to start building for the future.
“Everybody’s into it,” Ruskell said of the 70th annual draft, which begins Saturday at 9 a.m. “We don’t even think about the hours we’re putting in. This is what we love to do. We think we’ve got a good team. We’re going to make it better.”
Seattle’s front-office shuffle started in mid-January, when the team fired team president Bob Whitsitt and lost vice president of player personnel Ted Thompson and director of college scouting Scot McCloughan within a matter of days in unrelated departures.
As far as the annual draft is concerned, Thompson and McCloughan have been as important as anyone in the organization. Both made up the draft board that Seahawks personnel used in its annual selection process.
With coach Mike Holmgren on vacation, and then-general manager Bob Ferguson’s future in question, director of pro personnel Will Lewis and the scouting staff put in overtime filling the void. Ferguson also helped in the preparations for the draft and free agency before he left the organization on Feb. 21.
Ruskell arrived three days later and immediately went to work. After evaluating the existing talent base, as well as the pool of available free agents, Ruskell helped put together the draft board that will be used this weekend.
“Right now I’m wearing a few hats that way, and it entails a lot of work,” Ruskell said. “So we’ll have to do something about that going into next year.”
Not that Ruskell has done it all on his own. Holmgren has helped carry the load, while his coaching staff has been more involved in draft preparations than ever. The team also added Phil Neri, a former director of college scouting who joined the Seahawks as a consultant in March.
Since the end of last season, the Seahawks have added Ruskell, Neri and Mike Reinfeldt to their front office while losing Whitsitt, Ferguson, Thompson and McCloughan.
The early returns of the facelift have been promising, mainly because the Seahawks were able to retain Pro Bowlers Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander. But the test of this team’s future could come down to what happens next weekend.
Ruskell has a history of successful drafts, dating back to his time as director of player personnel with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He helped build one of the greatest defenses of all time, drafting a core of players that helped lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl title.
Ruskell is modest when discussing his success as a talent evaluator in Tampa.
“We got very fortunate in Tampa, (drafting) John Lynch and Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks,” he said. “That propelled that defense on to whatever they became, which was real good. That’s probably how the reputation got there.
“… I hope I can scout just as well on the offensive side. But I like defensive players. If you have a real good defense, that increases your chances of not only getting to the playoffs but going further into it.”
Based on its 26th overall ranking last season, the Seahawks could use some help on defense. With 10 choices in the draft, Seattle is likely to look for plenty of help on the defensive side of the ball.
It’s been a common theme in drafts of the recent past, only this time the Seahawks will have a slightly different group of voices making the decision.
Despite a tight window in which to prepare, Ruskell believes he’s ready for the task.
“That’s what I’ve done every year for the last 20, so I’m used to that part of it,” Seattle’s new team president said. “Obviously the business side, administrative side and free agency side has entailed doing double duty, but the same hours. We’re all going to be here for a long time going through the draft and going through what we do.”
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