GM Candidates Down to 4

If DeCosta was involved in drafting Flaco, Rice and Oher I got to say he is someone I would like on my team! I also like the WCO guy from Philli. (I think he will go to Clevland)

Schneider has a history with Schottenheimer in both KC and Washington. Any chance if he got the job he brings him in as HC?

Deon Branch just said he is willing to restructure his deal to stay. I am all on board if he plays for for peanuts and will clean my house once a week.

From what I've been reading, Heckert hasn't had much power in Philadelphia and can't be credited with any of their success. Wikipedia says that although he has the GM title, he's mostly been an advisor to Andy Reid, who calls all the shots.

PFT also notes that VP Howie Roseman has had more influence in the organization than Heckert, and is the likely successor should Heckert leave.

So remind me again why we want this guy?

Me, I'm hoping we get DeCosta.

Hmm, if you read his blog entry carefully, you see that LaCanfora doesn't actually say that Heckert and Keim are on the "final four" list. Only DeCosta and Schneider are confirmed.

Branch said he would restructure: What source and link - Thanks

I won't even pretend to know enough about these guys to have an informed opinion, but it seems that in Baltimore, DeCosta has been equally good at drafting for the offense and defense. They have added very good players on both sides of the ball over the last few years including Flacco, Oher, Rice, Ngata, Grubbs, Suggs, etc. I'm not sure how many draft choices were 'his,' but he seems to be able to logically bring in guys who fit together and fit the team's schemes. Things that our last GM seemed unable to do.

that the Hawks get a three week head start on this search and Heckert interviews with Clev first?

Heckert interviews with Cleveland first because Holmgren is working his connections.

The proof is that Marty Morginweg (!!!) has been mentioned as a serious candidate for the head coaching job under Holmgren.

I wonder if John Marshall is ready to leave Oakland...

Tomahawker---

He said it live on KJR 950 AM on the Nate Burleson and Deon Branch show with Softy. Its crazy and this hasnt had much talk but Nate Burelson is free agent now. He is good player I hope he comes back. If not we will need completly address the position again.

Not sure how accurate this is but a couple weeks ago on Sirius NFL they had someone talking about Steve Keim and the passing on Peterson in the draft. The person said that was in the war room for AZ and Keim was fighting for them to take AP. Keim said AP was a once in 10 year find but he got over ruled and they took Levi Brown (who) anyways. It'd be nice to get clarification on that but if it's true then AZ's offense with possibly Peterson at RB would be something I'd like to see in Seattle.

I've been all for DeCosta since Ruskell resigned. One thing I like about DeCosta that differs for Ruskell's policies are his willingness to take chances with prospects from smaller schools as evidanced by Ray Rice in the second round (with our pick I might add). Can you imangine Ruskell drafting anyone from Rutgers in the top three rounds?

For anyone who is interested, we have an updated mock draft published today:

http://seahawksdraft.blogspot.com/2010/01/updated-mock-draft-5th-january.html

Arizona has been built through the draft, no one would go there during free agency. We need someone that knows how to draft players because we aren't getting any good free agents unless we over pay them. After the last two seasons and so much uncertainty why would anyone want to come here.
My vote is for Keim, he seems like the real deal and he can build a team to beat Arizona.

Also bring back Zorn.

I have to disagree with you there Richard.

Arizona has been built by signing Kurt Warner.

Nate will be back - Housh will be back, if Branch restructures, then maybe he's back, too. I think everyone agrees that his health and production are more the issue than money ever was.

I don't have any strong feelings about any of these people, the only one I'm a little leery of is the guy from Arizona. If he's now the sexy pick because he's built a dynasty in Arizona we need to remember that he hasn't. Let's face it, he's being rewarded for a four game hot streak that was aided by plain old dumb luck and the NFL's idiotic playoff seeding system. The fact is, the Cards have won two straight divisions with the same W-L as the '06-07 Seahawks, and those divisions were even worse than the ones those Seahawk teams won. If they get bounced in the first or second round this time I would seriously question whether they've truly been built for long-term success or if they are actually an average team that just had a brief hot/lucky streak in January of '09.

NFL Network just reported during a discussion that they doubted that Mora would fire Knapp, period. SO, if Mora stays we can look forward to another freakin year of Knapp and misery - bring your bag.

The good news, if this is the case, if the new GM doesn't like Knapp, we can expect Mora to go too!

Can I ask for an early 2010 x-mas present? Dungy, Dundy, and more Dungy.

Holmy is interviewing first because.. 1) The Browns HAVE a GM and they are ready to get to work....

Come on Hawks, our org. boat is adrift... get us a new high-motor

Tomahawker,

We can't interview any of these guys because their teams are still alive in the playoff hunt. We would have to wait for them to be knocked out before we could legally start interviewing or sign them.

Tomahawker,

The Browns don't have a GM, they have a President (Holmgren). It's the GM opening that Heckert is interviewing for.

Anyway, as I've been saying all day, in several forums, let Holmgren have Heckert. Heckert has only been Andy Reid's "advisor", not a true GM. I haven't seen anything that shows where Heckert was personally responsible for any of the Eagles' success.

DeCosta has a better resume than Heckert, even though he has a less impressive job title.

Mr Fish,

while I agree with you regarding Heckert, I don't know if one can fairly assign a whole lot of praise or blame to any of these candidates. Decosta, Keim and Schneider are all listed as being some variation of player personnel directors, and all of them would appear to operate under strong GMs. All of them have a background in scouting, are young and likely deserving of promotions. I wouldn't get too carried away with crediting deCosta on Oher and Flacco or Schneider on Rodgers and Matthews, however.

Oh, I agree that the credit being given DeCosta and Schneider for picking Oher and Rodgers is more than a little overblown. Both of those players fell unexpectedly (and I think inexplicably) in the draft, and taking them where the Ravens and Packers did was a no-brainer.

Flacco and Matthews, on the other hand ...

Gentlemen we are adrift we have no one with football IQ in the front office.How will they chose the right GM? a search firm? com on..... We need a blood and guts football leader in here,

Read the original posting:

"Cardinals director of player personnel Steve Keim also is considered by many as a top candidate, but it can’t be fully determined at this time whether or not he has been contacted by the Seahawks. Some of those people on the team’s initial list of candidates, such as Eagles GM Tom Heckert, haven’t been contacted about the position, according to sources, although Heckert will interview for the Browns’ GM vacancy." Jason LaCanfora

Newsome and Thompson get no credit at all?

TacomaHawk,

Of course they do.

But with DeCosta at least, there are many insiders who say he had a lot of influence on the way the team was drafting. I haven't seen anyone say that about Heckert. (Or Keim, now that I think about it.)

I don't think there's any serious disagreement between us here. If I'm wrong about that, please let me know so I can clarify my remarks.

Yup my brain-fart - Holmy is the Pres.

BTW, if anyone does know of examples where people in the know are saying Keim or Heckert had some personal impact on their team's draft, I'd love to hear about it. I'm not claiming that such examples can't be found, only that *I* haven't found them.

I was really hoping for Jimmy Raye, here is his bio.
Jimmy Raye oversees the professional and college scouting departments and assists on all player personnel matters. He joined the Chargers in 1996 and spent four years (1996-99) as a scout and eight (2000-07) as the team’s director of college scouting.

The Chargers have been really good for about 5 years now and I think it has a lot to do with their young talent that Raye helped aquire.

Since others have been name dropping here are the players that Raye has had his hands on I'm sure. Tomlinson, Brees, Cromartie (and they drafted him after he missed his Sr. season with a knee injury) Marcus McNeil, trade Manning for Rivers and Merriman, Jammer, Castillo, Weddle, Malcom Floyd, Vincent Jackson, Sproles, Micheal Turner and Antonio Gates. I'm sure he wasn't responsible for all of those guys but I bet a lot. The Chargers haven been notoriously been big spenders so they have built what they have now mostly through the draft... Oh yeah one more, Dielman, I believe he was undrafted.

EEEERRRRRRRRRR Still no RINGS Steering the ship.

Having Jimmy Raye not in the running is a giant mistake on the Seahawks part. Jimmy has perhaps the best eye for talent in football. His 2004 and 2005 drafts are stuff of legend. Decosta is nothing more to the Ravens that Savage, Kokonis and "Shack" Harris were, gophers for Newsome. I am not liking this one bit.

Heres a little info on Heckert that gives some insightful and credible information.
http://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/eagles_files/html/Heckert_1.html

Also checkout DeCosta on the Ravens site......he gets credit for Flacco, Ben Grubbs, Jared Gaither,Ngata, and Mark Clayton along with some others. DECOSTA FOR GM!!!!!!!!!

Webster is still being considered as well, that makes five final candidates.

I have to say that I am partial to they guy who has worked under Ozzie Newsome more than the guy under Thompson or whoever the Cards GM is. I was hoping the Hawks would take a guy from Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indy or NYG because I respect how those organizations are run above most others. So, from this list, I'm pulling for DeCosta.

Mr Fish,

not at all, sorry if it came off that way. It just seems like these guys are getting all the credit when the ultimate decisions are made by the GMs they serve under.

...not a strong D and mediocre O(isnt that supposed to be Moras strength, the D) or vice versa. I like DeCosta, I hope he is our man.

That was a good read. DeCosta is still my top choice, but I feel better about Heckert now.

I would be happy witheither Decosta or Heckert.

Give me DeCosta.

Our next GM will be responsible for finding our QB of the future, finding a new RB, rebuilding our offensive line and shoring up our defense. Of the options presented, only DeCosta has recently drafted a franchise QB and RB and their o-line is really solid. (and their defense is always solid)

I don't pretend to know a lot about any of these guys, but Baltimore has made some really good decisions in the last few years. As a fan, that's all I can hope for with the Hawks.

Cysco

I believe that the Jimmy Raye that was reported that we were after was Jimmy Raye II who works for the 49ers, not Jimmy Raye III who has had all of the success with the Chargers. If the younger Raye is available that would be great but we don't need anyone from the pathetic 49er organization.

Here's something you might find interesting:
http://www.draftdaddy.com/features/blesto.htm

I don't know how current this article is, but notice that Baltimore is one of the few teams which do not subscribe to the BLESTO or National scouting services. (Seattle subscribes to the National.)

What, if anything, does that tell us about DeCosta's approach to the draft and his ability to have similar success working with the Seahawks scouting structure?

I want to know more about how the Ravens do their scouting. They've obviously done pretty well despite not using the combined services. Do they have a larger than usual scouting staff? How do they learn about prospects from the smaller schools?

Looking for answers to my question above, I found this very interesting interview with DeCosta. I think you Addicts might enjoy it too:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.co...sta_1.html

I haven't yet found anything that confirms the Ravens have a larger than usual scouting staff. But I did find a couple hints that seem to point that way.

So if DeCosta joins the Seahawks, we might see them pull out of the National and spend some of Mr Allen's money enlarging the scouting staff. I think that would be an excellent thing to do. I've never been comfortable with the idea of relying on the same info every other team
is using.

No db taken with either of the first picks? That is insane. This team MUST draft Eric Berry if he is on the board with that second pick. The guy is the great playmaker, hitter and coverage back we're missing at the SS position. Deon Grant is good in coverage, but more athletic than physical. He should stick at FS.

OT is an obvious first round need, but the QB need can be filled in the 2nd and RB in the 3rd or FA.

Thanks for the link after reading the article I am very excited about this guy. I was leaning toward Keim but now I think i prefer Decosta

Lack of a consistent pass rush makes our secondary look worse than it is.

I don't disagree that we need an upgrade at safety. I just think the need to bolster both lines is more urgent.

(Yes, BillT, I regret dithering last year about the need to take an o-lineman. You were right and I was wrong.)

What I don't like in Staton's latest mock is the Spiller pick. Here again, I don't disagree with the premise that we need a playmaker. I just think we have more pressing needs. Running backs have such short careers that I tend to think of them as the salt and pepper added to the dish when it's served at the table. But we have a lot of cooking to do in the kitchen first.

oops I meant mr fish

Mr. Fish,

I look at it as building a house. If you try and put the roof on before you have a foundation, it'll fall flat. If you build a strong foundation, the walls and roof don't have to be as strong to stand up.

If we have a strong offensive and defensive line, the players who depend on that foundation like the walls and roof don't have to be as good to succeed.

Right now to think of drafting a playmaker before we have protected our quarterback, given him time to throw, and opened holes for our running backs to run through is trying to erect the roof before the foundation is built.

It looks like Rob in his blog has finally come round to that thinking at least partially. He has us taking a LT (Davis) with our first pick. I disagree with his second pick too (Spiller) as I'd rather go for lupati and get that offensive line shored up first. Then, somewhere else in the draft or in FA we could go for a RB. With a good offensive line, I think we could get by with Forsett and Jones for another year and after having our offensive line gel for a year, draft that special RB to work behind an up and coming line in 2011.

I'd like to be first to start the Mark Ingram in 2011 movement. Theres just something about those Crimson Tide running backs...

BillT,

You read my mind. I don't think Iupati is a reach at #14, and that's who I want.

Yes BillT... You nailed it.

I like Rob's choice of Davis and Spiller. And I recognize the argument of going with a playmaker at 14 to put more pressure on opposing defenses. But if you go with Lupati at 14, then the left side of our line is solid. After watching high ranked guys like D Morgan and Dewyer fall flat on their face.. I'm even more impressed with the dominating bowl performance that Lupati put on. We need a foundation to build on.

Draft a Running Back in later rounds just don't take Dewyer....

and hurry up and hire Decosta, even the Raiders are moving faster than us.

Color me convinced: top LT at #6, and Iupati at #14. That should make everyone better: QB, RB, WRs and the defense.

...three of the four top OTs in the draft (in fact, the first three taken as I recall) have not done well: Jason Smith (is he even playing?); Andre Smith (the worst - held out for the big contract than came to camp overweight and out of condition and hurt himself); Monroe (how is he doing?). The only unqualified success is Oher - the man BillT would have taken at #4 (I think) if he had been GM.

Eric Berry won't be there for Seattle at 14, he probably won't be there at #6 either. I don't think Seattle's biggest need is a playmaker on offense. I think the defense needs to be addressed in the 1st round. Look at previous SB winners, defense won it for them, Giants, Colts, Ravens Pats played good defense. I would like to think that the line can be addressed in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

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