Seahawks Offseason Goals Include Focusing On Identity And Recapturing Homefield Advantage

“We want to be a smart, tough, physical, fast football team,” Schneider said. “And we want to be able to get our homefield advantage back, and win multiple championships for our fans.”

Unlike last year when Macdonald and his newly-formed coaching staff stayed back in Seattle, coaches are at the combine this season, which should only help with the evaluation process.

“It helps a lot,” Schneider said. “We didn’t have the guys in the interviews last year, so having the position coach, defensive coordinator, head coach, having those guys in the room is a big deal to get the players going on football knowledge. Yeah, it helps a lot. They were implementing all their systems last year, so this is an opportunity for these guys to get down there and get rocking.”

Schneider is especially excited about what the new offensive coaches, all of whom have a background in the Mike Shanahan/wide zone scheme, will bring to the offense.

“When we got here in 2010, Alex Gibbs was here for a minute with us, and I had a little bit of exposure in Green Bay with the wide zone stuff,” Schneider said. “Alex and Mike Shanahan, those guys were going to Super Bowls with it in Denver. So watching that over the years, that system, a proven system, and Rick Dennison was there, he’s been involved with it, so to have a number of people, especially with our offensive line, John Benton, Rick Dennison, Klint’s focus on running the football, and Justin Outten played center and was a tight end and run game guy for the Packers. It’s fun, it’s good. It’s a really cool group, and it’s cool to kind of have things settled too, because last year through our offseason process, we were late with our hire, then Mike was hiring a staff and getting people together throughout the draft meetings.

“So this year, to be able to keep talking the same language, having the position coaches come in and present to us now before we start each position, like, ‘Hey, this is what I want, this is what I’m looking for.’ It really helps. We’re constantly talking about that holistic approach of acquisitions, sports science, player development, just bringing that whole thing together, and obviously coaching is the No. 1 priority, especially on that side of the ball the way we finished.”