Pity that Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald doesn’t put a premium on ebullience as an asset in drafting players, something that his predecessor, Pete Carroll, seemed to relish. The Seattle teams from 2012 to 2016 were about one “Flounder” character short of the full “Animal House.”
Talking, of course, doesn’t make a football player better. But it sure helps writers on a slow news week. Ask something off-beat of Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett. Doug Baldwin, Earl Thomas, Jon Ryan, et al, and it was possible to turn a quick story and make it to the start of happy hour.
So I was delighted to hear the remarks from Julian Neal, a cornerback from Arkansas taken Friday in the third round (99th overall), who sounded like he was interning for the Legion of Boom.
“I’m all up in your face — get down and dirty with it,” he said to reporters Friday, describing his playing style. Then he added a haymaker.
“We goin’ back-to-back this year.”
Referring, of course, to winning a second Super Bowl in a row. I imagine the cringe on Macdonald’s face could have stopped an avalanche. It is bad form for players to offer predictions. False humility is the proper form, especially from a rookie who has yet to be slashed by Rams QB Matthew Stafford.
Neal’s boldness is amusingly provocative, given how hard it is to win a Super Bowl, or even play in one. Did you know that even though the game has been contested since the Johnson administration, 12 of the NFL teams have yet to win one? It might be the most difficult feat in modern pro team sports.
Below is a different kind of Super Bowl scoreboard, which attests to the degree of difficulty in sustaining (and even gaining) excellence:
I suspect some of you had at least a flinch when you realized how privileged would be the Seahawks company, except for The Play That Cannot Be Unseen.
Notable in this listing are the teams that did most of their title-winning in the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s — Dolphins, Raiders. 49ers, Cowboys, Steelers, Commanders (Redskins). After the Cowboys won titles in 1992, 1993 and 1995, they have since won just four playoff games total, including 24-22 over the Seahawks in 2018.
Among the reasons for the Cowboys’ fade (besides the blundering buffoonery of owner Jerry Jones) was a huge change in 1993 in how the NFL did business — the overdue advent of true free agency for players.
The league and the union struck a deal that allowed players with at least five years of experience to enter free agency, in exchange for a team salary cap. The subsequent movement by quality players has diminished the chances of long-term dominance by any franchise, although the Patriots behind QB Tom Brady did well (if you don’t care about cheating). The emotional effect of free agency was a belief among fan bases that their teams had an annual shot. Which explains a lot about the industry’s immense TV ratings.
The recent Super Bowl was a good example. The Seahawks began the season a 60-1 long shot to reach the title game.The New England Patriots were 80-1. The gambling houses claim that it represented the most remote tandem odds in the game’s 60 years.
In terms of the history of team building, the NFL game is two worlds — pre-1993 and post-1993. After the Cowboys’ dominance was broken apart, the back-to-back Super Bowl winners have been the Broncos in 1997-98, the Patriots in 2003-04 and the Chiefs in 2022-23.
What those three teams had in common was the best quarterback of their times — John Elway, Brady and Patrick Mahomes. As much as Sam Darnold shushed his doubters and did everything needed for Seattle to triumph in February, no one is accusing him of being the era’s premier QB.
More than any player, the difference-maker for Seattle in defending the NFL title is club majordomo John Schneider — the only general manager in SB history to win separate titles for the same franchise with completely different rosters.
Besides losing only five free agent players who helped beat the Patriots 29-13, including game MVP Kenneth Walker, Schneider re-stocked the most glaring absence, running back, with first-round pick Jadarian Price of Notre Dame. Even though conventional NFL wisdom suggests the first round is too high a price for a rusher, the Seahawks are also covering for the absence of Walker’s tandem partner, Zach Charbonnet, who is likely out until November following knee surgery.
The choice was nearly a no-brainer. Schneider’s slicker maneuver had nothing to do with the draft. The Seahawks are $31.8 million below the salary cap for 2026. According to spotrac.com, that is the eighth-most cap room, a remarkable feat for a team coming off a championship. Much of that is destined for the rookie class, but Schneider has been adroit at keeping enough cap room to accommodate a mid-season trade for a veteran. That was the case last season with receiver/returner Rashid Shaheed.
Then there’s an unintended future bonus. Because the Seahawks lost veterans in free agency, they are entitled to four compensatory picks in the 2027 draft, bringing their total to 12, instead of the standard seven. Some of the dozen could be useful in trades in 2026.
As for the forecast of the ebullient Mr. Neal, as of late April, he does not appear daft. Imprudent, certainly. But imprudence was the required posture for entry into the Legion of Boom.
Discover more from Post Alley
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
