Seahawks' NFL Draft Strategy Involves Finding Strong Picks In Later Rounds

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left, talks with general manager John Schneider prior to an NFL football game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, Sept. 9, 2012, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)

RENTON, Wash. (AP) — John Schneider has mapped out his vision for the Seahawks' future and it involves detailed plans for keeping his team a contender for more than just one season.

They serve as his guidelines for how Seattle's roster is constructed, both in talent and money, and how to proceed in the years to come.

"I talked about these models and we're going to try to keep as many of these guys together as we go — but we want to be good for a long time. We don't want to just kind of cruise in one year and then cruise out," said Schneider, the Seahawks' general manager. "We want to be a consistent, championship-caliber team where every year, the fans, the 12th Man has hope that we're going to be in this thing and the only reason we're not in it is because — knock on wood — we have injuries or something along the way."

The Seahawks didn't have a pick in the first round of the NFL draft on Thursday night. That's fine by Schneider, who believes the Seahawks are in an enviable position, from the standpoint of roster talent and salary constraints, because of how often Seattle has hit on key players in the middle to late rounds of the draft over the past three years.

Since Schneider and head coach Pete Carroll arrived in 2010, the Seahawks have turned seven selections taken in the third round or later into starters. The most notable was last year when the Seahawks selected Russell Wilson in the third round — bypassed by others because he was only 5-foot-10 — and watched as Wilson won the starting QB job, led the team to 11 wins in the regular season and was 30 seconds away from playing in the NFC championship game.

That's not to say the first two rounds haven't been important to Schneider and the Seahawks. They got left tackle Russell Okung and safety Earl Thomas in the first round in 2010; wide receiver Golden Tate in the second round that same year; and last year picked starting middle linebacker Bobby Wagner in the second round.

But finding strong safety Kam Chancellor and All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman in the fifth round, getting starting outside linebacker K.J. Wright in the fourth round and paying relatively very little to a QB taken in the third round has all helped the Seahawks reap bigger benefits going forward.

The Seahawks were without a first-round pick in this year's draft for the first time since 2007 and only the fourth time in franchise history. The 25th overall selection Seattle owned was sent to Minnesota as part of the trade that landed wide receiver Percy Harvin. The move to get Harvin highlighted a free agency period where the Seahawks also nabbed three additions to their defensive line, led by defensive end Cliff Avril, and addressed a need at nickel cornerback by signing veteran Antoine Winfield.

Seattle had the financial means to make such a splash in free agency because of its later-round draft success. The Seahawks will pay less than $600,000 in base salary to Wilson for the 2013 season. Sherman will make $555,000 in base money. Seattle has seven likely starters making less than $700,000 in the 2013 season. Six of those seven were drafted by the Seahawks in the past three seasons.

"It's been an exciting proposition to watch these young guys come along and you challenge them to play then you figure out a way to get them in there. And then when they do, by midseason they're regular players and they really strengthen your roster in a number of ways," Carroll said. "We've just believed in that, and it takes a great job in personnel to get the right guys in here and to make sure they can meet up to the standards and you have to give them the chance."

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John Hrabe: 3 Draft Picks in the Fantasy Entrepreneurs League

John Hrabe: 3 Draft Picks in the Fantasy Entrepreneurs League HPFB.init();
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John HrabeCo-Founder, Atlas Workshops

GET UPDATES FROM John Hrabe   Like 91 3 Draft Picks in the Fantasy Entrepreneurs League Posted: 04/25/2013 5:29 pm Follow   Small Business America ,   Department of Veterans Affairs ,   Veterans , Aaron Kletzing , First Impressions Designs , Rally Point , Reagan Smith Smutny , Seth Siegel-Gardner , Small Business Administration , Terrence Gallivan , The Pass And Provisions , US Chamber Of Commerce , Yinon Weiss , ENTREPRENEURS , Entrepreneurship , Houston , Risk , Seth Godin , Small Business , Stop-Stealing-Dreams , Small Business News
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I've been retired for a few seasons. But, back in my prime, I knew how to field a fantasy football team as good as the rest. Eventually, I lost time and interest, which had nothing to do with Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury in the 2008 opener against the Chiefs.

If you don't know the difference between a field goal and a free throw, let me share a secret. Fantasy football is intoxicating for many reasons, none of which involve pigskin. It's addicting. It's engaging. It lets you trash-talk with your friends and co-workers. And it makes you a part of another person's success.

Success, in the Great Recession, has been hard to come by. Recent graduates are struggling to find work. Any work. Let alone work that pays the student loan bills. Mid-career professionals have watched their opportunities for career advancement evaporate as quickly as their home equity. All of which means that fewer people are willing to take the risk of starting their own business.

According to a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, "There were 514,000 new business owners per month last year, down from 543,000 each month in 2011." Much of this decline is attributed to the improving economy. Few people start a business if they can land a stable job. But, the overall trend line has been down. "For roughly 30 years, new businesses have made up a steadily shrinking portion of companies in the United States while generating a declining fraction of new jobs," writes The Atlantic's Jordan Weissmann.

There are plenty of reasons why we're less entrepreneurial: Schools that teach one right answer. Confusing and costly regulations that seem insurmountable to people without lawyers and accountants. And fewer people believing they can do it.

"The cost of setting up a lemonade stand (or whatever metaphorical equivalent you dream up) is almost 100 percent internal," writes Seth Godin, the author of Stop Stealing Dreams, an inspiring, must-read and completely free e-book. "Until you confront the fear and discomfort of being in the world and saying, 'here, I made this,' it's impossible to understand anything at all about what it means to be a entrepreneur. Or an artist."

There's even science to back it up. The Harvard Business Review has the scoop on how practicing a skill during lucid dreaming improves performance in real life. "It has been well established that athletes who mentally rehearse an activity can improve their performance, and it makes sense that dreams can achieve the same effect," dream researcher Dr. Daniel Erlacher said.

Which is why we need a Fantasy Entrepreneurs League. To inspire others, who want to start their business, but can't overcome the internal obstacle. To share tips of what works and what didn't. To support our friends and family that are putting in 12 hour days, every day.

How would it work? What categories would there be? Who would you draft first? Here's who I'd draft with my first three picks.

Restaurant Category: The Pass and Provisions, Houston's Hottest Restaurant

Reason for the Category: The NPD Group, the research company that tracks restaurants, estimates that, as of last year, there are 616,008 restaurants in the US.

My Pick: The only thing better than the food at Pass and Provisions is the story behind the two-in-one restaurant. Terrence Gallivan and Seth Siegel-Gardner, two acclaimed chefs, left New York City to cram into a tiny house in Houston. They started with a pop-up restaurant, the Just August project, a clever way to test their ideas, menu and build a loyal fan base. People couldn't get enough of their raclette, short ribs and anchovy pizza. So, they found investors and launched The Pass and Provisions, which combines the fine dining of The Pass with the more casual Provisions. For a better understanding of their long road to success, read Katharine Shilcutt's piece in the Houston Press.

Biggest Obstacle: Free-loading friends like me that eat too much when we come to Houston.

Sole Proprietor: First Impressions Designs, Five Star Service with a Personal Touch

Reason for the Category: The Small Business Administration estimates that more than "70 percent of U.S. businesses are owned and operated by sole proprietors or sole traders."

My Pick: If you're planning an event, you'll get five-star service from First Impressions Designs. That's not an exaggeration, just check out their ratings on Yelp and Wedding Wire. Perfect scores across the board from customers pleased with the invitations, accessories and personalized planning for life's special moments. Over the past 20 months, Reagan Smith Smutny has expanded her one-woman shop to a team of printers and designers. "I put my heart, my soul, my love into my business, into every interaction with every client, into every product I design and create. My business isn't just a way to make money. It isn't what motivates me to put in the 12 hour days."

Biggest Obstacle: "The millions of people who own small businesses don't have armies of lawyers and advisers helping us navigate the changes," Smutny says. "So politicians making clear, straight-forward rules would help."

The Next Big Idea: Rally Point, LinkedIn for the Military

Reason for the Category: Every business wants to be the next Facebook.

My Pick: RallyPoint is the next big idea. Founded by two military veterans at Harvard Business School, RallyPoint lets members of the military chart out their professional network and then use that to take control of their career development. It's LinkedIn for the largest and most complicated hierarchical organization in the history of the world, the Department of Defense. Aaron Kletzing and Yinon Weiss, the co-founders, have already won the 2012 MassChallenge, the world's largest startup competition.

Biggest Obstacle: Government bureaucracy. The Department of Veteran Affairs' bureaucracy has been criminal in its inept handling of veterans' disability claims. The backlog includes 250,000 claims from veterans waiting longer than a year. We need bureaucrats to step aside for innovators like Rally Point.

I'll put my three fantasy entrepreneurs against yours any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Seriously, if you think you can field a better team, post it below.

John Hrabe is one of two teams competing to lead the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Summer Road Trip. The other team is led by the Huffington Post's Small Business Editor, Nate Hindman. To learn more, check out www.freeenterprise.com/tour.

 

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Chargers NFL Draft: Bolts Could Pick Much-Needed Tackle At No. 11

Tom Telesco looks on after being named the new general manager for the San Diego Chargers at the NFL football team's headquarters on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Left tackle? Left guard? Trade up? Trade down? Stay put?

So many questions for the San Diego Chargers' rookie brain trust, and so many ways they can go in the first round of the NFL draft Thursday night.

Even casual Chargers fans who saw Philip Rivers scrambling for his well-being all last season know San Diego desperately needs to upgrade the left side of its line, particularly at tackle to protect the quarterback's blind side.

But holding the 11th overall pick puts the Chargers in somewhat of a no man's land, a spot that's not high enough that the team is assured of getting Lane Johnson of Oklahoma, the third of the three top-rated tackles.

San Diego was consigned to that spot by a win over the lowly Oakland Raiders in a meaningless season finale, with the Chargers already assured of missing the playoffs for the third straight season and coach Norv Turner and general manager A.J. Smith one day away from being fired.

So it's up to rookie GM Tom Telesco to attempt to undo the damage Smith did to the roster, both in unproductive recent drafts and in an uncharacteristic free agent frenzy last offseason that stuck the Bolts with bad contracts and underwhelming players.

The Chargers' needs are many, starting with left tackle. They could also use a left guard, a defensive tackle, inside and outside linebackers and a safety.

Rivers was sacked 49 times last year and committed 22 turnovers, many because he was under siege so much of the time. Toward the end of the season, he'd often drop back and have to throw the ball into the ground because the line couldn't hold off the pass rush.

The Chargers still haven't adequately replaced left tackle Marcus McNeill and left guard Kris Dielman, who were forced to retire after the 2011 season due to injuries.

San Diego thought big Jared Gaither was the answer at left tackle, but they cut the player nicknamed "The Big Lazy" after an unproductive, injury-riddled 2012 season raised serious questions about his work ethic.

Left guard Tyronne Green is an unrestricted free agent.

For the time being, King Dunlap, one of three offensive linemen picked up via free agency, is the top left tackle. The Chargers lost right guard Louis Vasquez to Denver.

"Sure it's something we're looking to address, yeah," is as specific as Telesco got when asked about the need to bolster the offensive line.

"No. 1, we don't rank our needs," said Telesco, who learned the importance of building through the draft while working in the Indianapolis Colts' front office. "To me, if you start ranking your needs, it may start influencing your draft board, so we have positions we think we'd like to add players to and then after that we let the board tell us where to go. We don't rank our players 1-255. It's more of a horizontal look by position and then we'll rank each player against each other at different positions. But we let the board tell us where to go."

Important stuff, considering that Telesco calls the draft board "a living, breathing thing."

The top two tackles, Luke Joeckel of Texas A&M and Eric Fisher of Central Michigan, are expected to be long gone by the 11th pick. There's a chance Johnson will still be there, and the Chargers are known to like him.

Telesco said the Chargers would consider taking a guard at No. 11, perhaps Chance Warmack of Alabama or Jonathan Cooper of North Carolina.

The Chargers could trade up, although with as many needs as they have, it'd be more likely that they'd trade down, which would allow them to stockpile picks.

New coach Mike McCoy shares Telesco's view of building through the draft.

"The big thing is, when you get done with the draft is, how did you improve your football team?" McCoy said. "Without a doubt, you always want to keep the guys you draft and re-sign them so it's not just developmental for some other team. With today's salary cap, you've got to make tough decisions some of the time and we're going to do whatever we can to draft the right guys and re-sign them and keep them here long term."

Even with all the changes that have been made since the new regime took over, Telesco and McCoy say the Chargers aren't rebuilding.

"Nope," McCoy said, "because we have a core and a foundation here and we're building to win as many games this year as we can, and to win over time."

The Chargers were 7-9 last year.

"You know, we don't like to use that word because it makes it sound like we don't care about winning right now," Telesco said. "I want to win right now. Mike wants to win right now. We want to build this as we go, but there's a lot of transition that's going to happen between now and then. There's no timetable to how long it's going to take."

Telesco was No. 2 in the Colts from office when they went from 2-14 in 2011 to 11-5 and the playoffs behind Andrew Luck, who was taken with the first pick overall in last year's draft.

"Where I just came from, we tried to turn it over as fast as we could and try to win as we get there. That's going to be the plan here," Telesco said.

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NFL Draft 2013: Geno Smith, Roger Goodell, Suits, And Mr. Irrelevant Among Things To Watch

A detail of the video board and stage during the 2012 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall on April 26, 2012 in New York City.

NEW YORK -- Since 1936, the NFL has picked the best of college football to join the pro league. From the very first pick – Jay Berwanger, who also was the first bust, never playing a down in the NFL – to last year's No. 1, Andrew Luck, the draft has always offered plenty of intrigue for teams and fans.

Here are 10 things to watch for during the three-day NFL draft beginning Thursday night:

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