The Seattle Seahawks have more or less taken a sledgehammer to their roster in an effort to restore their past luster in this post-Legion of Boom era.
But don't call it a rebuild. At least, that's not how general manager John Schneider would describe it.
"It's a constant reset every single year, it doesn't stop," Schneider told ESPN 710 AM in Seattle on Friday. "When I say 'reset' people are like, 'Well it's a rebuild.' We're not rebuilding; it's just a reset."
Schneider is right when it comes to the ever-churning carousel of NFL roster management. Still, it's hard to overlook what has been the biggest renovation project of the Schneider-Pete Carroll era in Seattle. Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett, Sheldon Richardson, Jimmy Graham, Jeremy Lane and Paul Richardson are among the notable players who've left over the last month. Cliff Avril's neck injury has jeopardized his career, and it remains to be seen if Kam Chancellor's neck injury will continue to be an issue moving forward.
With the team parting ways with some highly valued veteran talent, can the Seahawks improve on last year's 9-7 mark in the highly competitive NFC West? It's hard to say, but Schneider will be leaning on a new generation of players to make it happen.
"We've got some pretty good players on this football team," Schneider said. "And there's a lot of young players that people don't necessarily -- they haven't heard their names yet ... Tedric Thompson was one of our best special teams players this last year. He didn't get to play much at strong safety. Kam was one of our best special teams players the first year he played. He didn't get to play strong safety because Lawyer [Milloy] was here. Trust the process, man."
Keeping together a nucleus of talented players capable of leading a franchise to a Super Bowl title, six playoff appearances and four division crowns is no easy feat -- and Schneider managed to do that over the last eight seasons. Seattle's drop in the standings in unison with its aging defensive corps and salary-cap issues spearheaded many of the changes deemed necessary by the "process."
Whether that requires a "reset" or "rebuild" depends on how well the Seahawks perform in 2018.
