NFL executives put John Schneider and the Seahawks in their rightful place

Pete Carroll was much more than a head coach for the Seattle Seahawks between 2010 and 2024. He and John Schneider did not have the normal coach-to-general manager relationship. Schneider did not oversee Carroll and Carroll got to make all the final roster decisions. They both helped set the culture for the team.

Seattle was known to have a player-friendly franchise and one who treated every employee well. They were the opposite of how the Washington Commanders were run under owner Dan Snyder, for instance. Was the team better on the field because the players were treated better and the organization was a happy one? Maybe.

This offseason, though, Carroll was removed from his duties (he remained an "advisor" in name only) and that could have meant trouble for the future of the team. Instead, with Schneider taking on more control of the on-field team, the transition to new head coach Mike Macdonald was a smooth one.

John Schneider and the Seahawks get high marks in new survey by The Athletic

This last part was noticed by executives around the league. Maybe they did not think the Seahawks would fall apart without Carroll, but no one knew how well the team would run without him. As it turns out, Schneider wasn't just Carroll's sidekick because the team appears to run just as smoothly without Carroll.

In a new survey of 35 league executives and five coaches by The Athletic, the Seahawks are ranked as the seventh-best front office in the league. One general manager said, "Everybody just loves to work there...Even with Pete leaving, the transition seemed very smooth."

One executive said, "(It’s a) very stable organization. John is a very humble guy and has great relationships throughout the league and in the media...Even though they have had great continuity, he never settles and is always looking for what is next and asking, ‘What am I missing?’ Never thinks he is the smartest guy in the room and listens. Great leader and respected by everyone because he is so genuine."

True fans are going to love their favorite team, whether that team wins every game or loses every game, of course, but it's still nice to get some affirmation that besides what the team does on the field, good things are happening within the organization. We don't want to know that employees are not respected or that the people in charge are jerks.

That is certainly not the case with the Seahawks, thankfully. Maybe the team hasn't won a playoff game in a while, but that might be changing with the new coaching staff. 12s also know that with Schneider as the general manager, the team is always going to have a chance to be competitive.

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