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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Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair: Oscar Pistorius Bail Decision Coming Later On Friday

Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during his bail hearing at the magistrates court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013.

PRETORIA, South Africa -- The defense and prosecution both completed their arguments Friday in Oscar Pistorius' bail hearing, with the magistrate soon to rule if the double-amputee athlete can be freed before trial or if he must stay behind bars pending trial in the shooting death of his girlfriend.

The prosecution vehemently opposed bail to Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair.

Pistorius is charged with one count of premediated murder over the Feb. 14 killing of Reeva Steenkamp. He says he accidentally shot her, thinking she was a dangerous intruder inside his home, lurking in a toilet stall off his bedroom.

Pistorius' hands trembled as he said "good morning, your worship" as the session began in Magistrate's Court in Pretoria, South Africa's capital. For the first time in the hearing, two representatives of the Steenkamp family were present in court, sitting behind and to the left of Pistorius in the public gallery.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel called Pistorius' version that he shot Steenkamp accidentally improbable and argued that Pistorius did not have to have planned the killing for days in advance for it to be premediated.

"He planned it that night when she (Steenkamp) locked herself in (the toilet)," Nel said in response to a question from the magistrate on why Pistorius hadn't staged a break-in at his home to make his story look more believable. "The fact that we have only one survivor of that tragic night is difficult for the state."

Pistorius' defense lawyer, Barry Roux, brought up culpable homicide as a possible charge for the first time in the case when answering questions from the magistrate.

"He did not want to kill Reeva. He had no intent to kill Reeva," Roux said as Pistorius began weeping again - like he has done for much of his bail hearing.

Roux said it was impossible for Pistorius, as famous as he is and with his prostheses, to escape South Africa before trial.

"Let me tell you how difficult it is for this man to disappear from this world," Roux said.

Prosecutor Nel earlier countered that everyone, whether disabled or famous or otherwise different from the majority, should be treated equally under the law. Nel noted that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is famous but is now holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex-related charges.

Pistorius' longtime coach Ampie Louw had said before proceedings began that he is considering putting his runner back in training if he is granted bail to allow him to "get his mind kind of clear."

Louw said he realizes that the Olympic athlete might not be emotionally ready to give any thought to running.

"The change is that he is heartbroken, that is all," Louw said in the courtroom, surrounded by reporters and television cameras. "For me it is tough to see that. Not to be able to reach out and sit next to him and say `Sorry, man, it was a terrible accident.' But I cannot do it, I must just sit here in court and that's all.

"The sooner he can start working the better." said Louw, who was the person who convinced the double amputee to take up track as a teenager a decade ago.

Nair will decide if Pistorius can be freed with conditions or if he is held until trial. Pistorius faces the sternest bail conditions in South Africa because of the seriousness of the murder charge, meaning his defense lawyers have to prove there is an "exceptional" reason for him to be freed.

He has been held at a police station in Pretoria since last week, but suspects who are denied bail are typically held in a prison.

Roux argued on Thursday that the evidence backs Pistorius' statement that he shot through a toilet door at his home because he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, killing her by accident.

"I think there will be a level of shock in this country if he is not released (on bail)," Roux said in court.

Opposing bail, Nel argued that Pistorius was too willing to shoot. The prosecution says Pistorius planned to kill his 29-year-old girlfriend, a model and budding reality TV star, after an argument in the early hours of Valentine's Day.

"The reason you fire four shots is to kill," Nel said.

Louw said he might put Pistorius - who overcame the amputation of his lower legs as a baby to compete at last year's London Olympics - back on a morning and afternoon training routine if he is freed, believing it might help him to be able to run track again.

"You must give him space," the coach said.

___

AP Sports Writer Gerald Imray contributed to this report from Johannesburg.

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