It didn't take long for Richard Sherman to lob some haymakers at his former franchise.
The new San Francisco 49ers cornerback joined Uninterrupted's ThomaHawk podcast with Joe Thomas and Andrew Hawkins and discussed the reasons he believed he was cut by the Seattle Seahawks.
Sherman said he thinks part of the problem in Seattle is Pete Carroll's message might be getting stale for veteran players.
"His philosophy is more built for college, you know," Sherman said, via Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. "You get four years, guys rotate in, rotate out."
Sherman noted that part of the Seahawks' teardown could be to find new ears for Carroll's message. The veteran corner said the players who have been in Seattle for the past six or seven years had heard all of Carroll's motivations and "every kind of funny anecdote."
"We had literally heard them all," Sherman said. "... We could recite them before he even started to say them. So I think that kind of went into it."
Sherman added that he believes the Seahawks' brass botched how they valued their veteran core.
"I think they've kind of lost their way a little bit in terms of how they see players and how they evaluate players," Sherman said.
Sherman who will turn 30 years old this month was cut this offseason. Michael Bennett, 32, was traded. The futures of Kam Chancellor (soon to be 30) and Cliff Avril (31) are up in the air. And star safety Earl Thomas (28) is reportedly on the trade block.
"It just became an issue of devaluing core players that are playing at a high level and really being curious about younger players and curious about the unknown," Sherman said. "They say, 'Maybe this guy is going to be the next guy' instead of saying, 'Hey, you have Hall of Fame talent in your secondary, how about you ride this out?'
"It would be like Pittsburgh saying, 'Troy Polamalu is great but let's figure out what this guy behind him has.'"
Sherman could be viewed as having an ax to grind after being cut, but in the context of Seattle's moves, that stowed bitterness doesn't make him wrong.
The Seahawks brass saw an aging corps that had heard Carroll's message a zillion times and felt like an overhaul was due. That's the business of the NFL, for better or worse.
As for signing with the 49ers, Sherman insisted it wasn't a move aimed at facing his former team twice a year.
"(The 49ers) were the first team that called, the team that showed the most interest, offered the most money," he said.
Relishing the chance to face the Seahawks is just a bonus, especially for the viewers.
