From Great to Greatness: It’s Not Just About Super Bowls; It’s About Building a Dynasty
Well, now that the 2017 NFL Draft is over, fans and specialists alike are eager to know what the new 11 picks can do for the Seattle Seahawks this upcoming season. Head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider presumably have the human resources they need to aim to the highest of the prizes: the Super Bowl trophy.
Fans also have skin in the game
Although fans will for sure have their eyes on the same prize for the end of this season, management staff and coaching staff of the Seattle Seahawks should prepare for the long haul. At the end of the day, after a Super Bowl fans will want another one. And after that, another one and another one…and so forth.
It’s a mistake to think that fans don’t have skin in the game too. They have what I call emotional capital invested. And they want the return on this capital recurrently on a consistent basis. Not that they will ever divest from the Seahawks as NFL fans. But there are other franchises in different leagues (NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS) competing for the heart of Seattle Seahawks’ fans, play-by-play, season after season.
Staying relevant, being a protagonist and building a dynasty firstly for the fans
So winning Super Bowls is not just about staying at the top of the NFL and lighting the flame high in your fans’ hearts. It is not just about earning more and more fans from around the world either. Winning Super Bowls (plural) is about staying relevant. It’s about being a protagonist.
And staying relevant, plus being a protagonist, is what it takes to build a football dynasty. But why would the Seattle Seahawks think about a dynasty already? Because it takes a dynasty to break the reign of another dynasty. It takes a dynasty to show your fans that your wins, even isolated Super Bowls, mean something bigger and are not just hiccups in the timeline of your team’s existence. It takes a dynasty to show your fans that you deserve to be at the center, to be the capital of their invested emotions in sports.
And fans, as we know, are the beginning and the end of a franchise. The alpha and the omega. Even for the sake of planning for the upcoming season, the Seattle Seahawks should keep this always in mind.
Everything starts with a good Draft
So let us talk more about staying relevant and being a protagonist. Or in other words, let us talk more about building a dynasty.
The NFL is unique. No other sport in the world is configured in a way that equally gives all the tools (both financial* and sportive) for all the teams to thrive and achieve their restructuring objectives at the beginning of each new season.
*Note: The financial game of the NFL can be tilted toward one team’s side or the other due to the differences on each team’s individual sponsorship revenues, naming rights, etc. But this is another story for another article. For now, let us keep in mind that these differences are also related to – and derived from – a team staying relevant and being a protagonist.
Given that the opportunities (both financial and sportive) are level for all the teams at the beginning of each season, this makes the process of picking players from the Draft, and also among free agents, utterly crucial. More than that: studying the prospects to be hired for the next season should be the management and coaching staff’s sole religion!
And what is the god of this religion? This season’s Super Bowl? Nooo!!! It is building a dynasty! Build a dynasty and Super Bowls (plural!) will follow!
So, when Pete Carroll and John Schneider brought the new 11 picks on board, building a dynasty for the Seattle Seahawks is what they should be thinking of.
The Seahawks eleven
But let us not take this for granted and let us have a look on what we have in the basket:
DT Malik McDowell (Michigan State). Pick Order: Round 2, 35 overall.
OL Ethan Pocic (LSU). Pick Order: Round 2, 58 overall.
CB Shaquill Griffin (Central Florida). Pick Order: Round 3, 90 overall.
SS Delano Hill (Michigan). Pick Order: Round 3, 95 overall.
DT Nazair Jones (North Carolina). Pick Order: Round 3, 102 overall.
WR Armara Darboh (Michigan). Pick Order: Round 3, 106 overall.
SS Tedric Thompson (Colorado). Pick Order: Round 4, 111 overall.
FS Mike Tyson (Cincinnati). Pick Order: Round 6, 187 overall.
OT Justin Senior (Mississipi State). Pick Order: Round 6, 210 overall.
WR David Moore (East Central University). Pick Order: Round 7, 226 overall.
RB Chris Carson (Oklahoma State). Pick Order: Round 7, 249 overall.
Where does this leave us?
So, by the roster above we can pretty much see that there is a tendency to reinforce the Seahawks’ defensive system (7 defense players out of 11 picked). Regardless of what can still come from the free agent’s market, this defensive tendency is understandable since the famous and very effective Legion of Boom with Sherman and Co. was formed in the long-gone 2011 season. On top of that, Pete Carroll’s profile could also give some clues on his appreciation for the defensive system, since he served many times as a secondary coordinator and defensive coordinator.
The Seattle Seahawks are also likely to continue to count on the sharp services of CB Richard Sherman, whose trade was being taken as a viable option by general manager John Schneider until very recently. Much of the trade talk was reportedly due to a desire of the management staff to make the Seahawks a younger team. But, IMHO, the real aim is to get rid of Sherm’s hefty paychecks.
On the other hand, despite the defensive system being the focus for the Seattle Seahawks of this Draft, the offensive system should be polished mainly to avoid as many interceptions as in 2016 (11 total, against 8 in 2015) – Russell Wilson’s worst year since his debut in 2012.
From here to eternity
Bottom line, we can consider that the Seahawks are coming strong for the 2017 season. Time will tell if the duo of Carroll-Schneider is aiming at this season’s Super Bowl only or if they are working in building a long lasting dynasty.