March 5, 2025 • 28 mins
Welcome to Unbreakable! A mental wealth podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. Ever wonder what really goes on behind the scenes at the NFL Combine and behind closed teams’ doors? Well, you are in luck, because on today’s episode, Jay welcomes Seattle Seahawks General Manager John Schneider back in for his second visit on the podcast. Schnied’s shares some amazing combine tales and paints an incredible picture of the entire process from the general managers perspective. Truly fascinating!!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental wealth podcast
build you from the inside out.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now Here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Welcome into Unbreakable mental Wealth podcast with Jay Glazer. I'm
Jay Glazer, and my vacation's over. Went to the Combine
this past week, and I was like, you know, who
could I have on to really explain what the NFL
scount and Combine is, what the intricacies are, how you
really kind of figure out who you want to invest in,
how you get in between the six inches between.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Your ears of these players.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Who better to bring on than the first general manager
I ever had on the show ever, Seattle Seahawks general manager,
My little buddy, Josh Sneider.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
How are we doing? Stuts?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How the going, buddy?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
It's so funny, Shines.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I became friends in like ninety seven, and when you
have your friends out here you've been friends with forever, you.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Just do not introduce them.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, it's weird, Right's kind of weird.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
US TV hosts have a very high time with that shit.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
But those of you who can't see this, you're listening
in audio before even start. Those who can't see this,
right behind Schneider's head is this big painting that his
son bended right.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
And all over the wall, all over the wall.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
And his son bend is autistic. Tell people real quick
before we even start on this podcast about that, how
you figured it out and what he's doing now, because
his I have I think what five of his paintings
something like that.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, yeah, you have a bunch.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
So he's a genius.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It's incredible and so twenty three years old and they're
supposed to look kind of like Jackson Pollock ish and.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, he loves it, and so you had.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
No idea he was like this until about four years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He always loved art and then when we hired Nicole
his mentor, full time, they really just dove into it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And it's been great.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So yeah, he has his own company, Small Ego art
dot Com. And he does shoes too, so like, uh,
it's like Air Force ones and stuff. So yeah, yeah,
the majority of it goes to help families that can't
afford treatments for autism, which you know, as you know, Jame,
my wife Tracy has been doing it for since twenty
eleven here and she's raised with everybody's hell perio at
(02:16):
the Seahawks she's raised you know, probably over six million
dollars for families so grant so for iPads and heavy
blankets and you know, retreats and counselors and anything.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
And then that's one of the.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Things to you and I have talked about it, like, man,
when it first happened, You're like, man, why did this
happen to me? And then you realize, wow, it happened
to me, so it could happen for others that I
could help them.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, It's one of those things.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
God, you know, gives you what you can handle, right,
so yep, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
You know I never have to.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
You know, what was your reaction the first time you
saw this first painting like this?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
I know my reaction was oh.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. There was a lot of
crying involved.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah, of a lot of proud tears and
and uh would take me to and then and then
the it's the excitement of it, and then okay, what
are we gonna do?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
How are we gonna do it?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So then he's able to live on his own, so
you know, gett him into his house and like getting
his own studio set up, and you know, having you know,
Tracy run the business and then.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Answer my question.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
My question was tell me like, I don't know when
you first saw it or like how when I first
saw it?
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Like did she bring it into show you? Like, oh
my god, look what's happened to her? Did he bring it?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
No, I think I think they basically just sent me,
you know, a pictures and showed up on my iPhone,
you know, and when it was done. And then she
showed me, you know, in fast time, the process of
it and how they got to that point. So yeah,
it was like, holy cow, this is amazing. I can't
believe he's doing this. Yeah, and then the wall. The
wall was basically like I didn't know if he'd want
(03:51):
to do it, and and uh, my assistant Sarah asked
Tracy about it, and they both talked to him and
he was he was into it.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So yeah, it took him about four hours, so he
was to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Folks, small ego Art go to small ego art dot
com or go to Instagram small ego Art. All right,
So we just got back to the company and back
of the day. He used to be able to just
tearing the guys when you're interviewing them, right, say the
most hateous shit, and see who's going to crack, who's
not going to crack, who's going to respond certain guys
(04:22):
who get a reaction of you can't do that anymore.
Now you gotta be real sensitive to you know, what
you say to these guys. And I was talking to
guy down there or the other I said that if
I had one question to ask these guys, it would
be what's the biggest adversity you've overcome? He said, Jane,
it's a great thing, but these guys have been so
coached up on it, it's so.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Hard to get a real answer. That's where our work
really begins.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Our first when I started with the Packers, that was
our first question. That's the biggest to obscleen that I'd overcome, really,
And you know, we used to we used to pull
guys to the side. And so there was a I
almost said his name, I can't can't say. It was
the defensive tackle from Notre Dame that I was interviewing,
and I hadn't gone into the school that year, so
I didn't know his full story. And I was like,
it was the biggest obscle've had overcome. And he said well,
(05:08):
you know for the opening game. You know, my parents
were both killed and had on collision, you know, and
I was able to get through the season and I
was like, holy cow, man, like I'm so sorry, and
I hugged him and he's like, oh man, I'm just fucking.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
With you, dude, that none's mess with No really. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
So then I'm like, I'm going back to these guys
like we're not gonna we are definitely not drafting this guy.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
There's so much more to it.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And you remember sitting next to you know, like all
the questions you can and cannot ask now, and you know,
sitting next to Ray Rhodes as like a twenty two
year old young man like I can't believe we're this
guy gonna come across the table and kill us.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Like I can't weave.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
He's staring into this guy right now.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Did you ever see a guy jump over to tack,
get physical to coach?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
No, no, but get up and leave, Get up and leave.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, So it is interesting. How do you get the
answers you're looking for now? And look, I coached guys
right I was trending guys with a combine and I
would be like, hey, listen when the answer comes up.
The question comes up, and this sounds hard. The question
was and I think I got.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
I forget what.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Team's questions I got, but one of them was like, hey,
do you want to be an NFL player because you
want to be rich, you want to be famous, you
want to buy your mom house or something else.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Almost every one of the four answers like I want
to buy my mama house. I'm like, nope, no one
gives a fuck about your mom. You want to want
to shoot?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That is it?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Like, well, that's not what the answer that's going to
be your answer, right, So you know my answer is
not on here.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
When the guys when they say, hey, you don't want
to be you know, I want to be the you know,
pro bowler and be the highest paid player at my
position in four or five years, it's kind of like, okay,
well that's great. What about the championships and the yeah yeah,
but yeah, no, it's it's definitely, it's definitely. It's it's
changed a ton, Jay, So like that fifteen minutes is
(06:53):
really our coaches didn't go last year. So last year
we were hyper focused on the character and how like
the background and the person, and we've really concentrated on
that over the last several years, like who's the person,
who's the competitor and the nil stuff and the trade
portal has actually really helped us with that. So the
information you're getting from the guy's been to three different schools,
like what are the sources? All the scouts have to
(07:14):
really be working as one and working as a team
to collect all the information.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
This year, going down with the coaches, we were able.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
To get like, look, let's get right to the football
because we feel like our scouts do an amazing job
of figuring out who the person is throughout the process
and we'll continue to do that all the way through
the spring. So it's hard to get to know somebody
in fifteen minutes. And to your point, they're kind of
they're pretty much coached up right and usually gotten their
best behavior. But it's really more about spending as much
(07:44):
quality time as you can when that's the thirty visits
or going through the informals, or you know, having the
scouts spend time with the guys at the produce.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
You're talking about the fifteen minutes and again you and
I know it, but for the fans that are. I
think most fans don't understand the process. Talk about that
process fifteen minutes and then the fight for it.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So we used to we used to have a vague
rule where it was like, you know, you had to
One of my first jobs was standing outside the Raiders
room waiting for Prospect to come out, and we basically
get in line like it'd be you know, Detroit, Chicago.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'd be third with.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
The Packers, right, and then you'd wait for the player
to come out. So we tried to keep him like okay.
It was kind of a vague rule like twenty to
thirty minutes, but then people would go over time. Soud
be like knocking on the door trying to like come on,
you know, let's get going, like let's.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Get this guy. I gotta I gotta get going.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And so there'd be a lot of like arguments, fights
number two guys like going into the pool fighting one
night over a player, you know, like like from two
helps from different teams. Yeah, and now the Jeff Foster's
did an amazing job of of uh really, I'm sorry, yeah,
really organizing it where the interview process, you know, we're
(08:53):
primarily there for the medical The Jets drafted receiver you
know named Wesley Walker, famous receiver you know, ended up
like very talented, great player, but ended up being blind
in one eye. And so there's really the jets that
were like, I got all the teams together and we're like, hey,
let's let's combine this. Let's get all all our docks
here and check people out. And then from that came
(09:14):
the interviews and the you know, the workout portion. Instead
of just having a tryouts that you know, the pro
days in the spring, let's get her together and have
them go through like back to back so we can
watch them go through all the same drills and everything.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So that's really you know why it started with.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Jeff's done a great job of like streamlining everything the medical,
we interviews, the workouts, and then you know the media
time that the.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Guys have to.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, so now now instead of going standing at a
door waiting for a prospect, you basically schedule the interviews
ahead of time, and.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
There's you know, sixty guys.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You schedule it out, and then the combine goes through
and makes the schedule for you, Jeff and his group,
and then just you know, we have a big, a
big clock in there just to count down from fifteen minutes,
just starts hitting and then once it hits Once it
hits one, you're up and they're up and gone.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And then the next that's where it comes in.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
The guy.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
How they have like a date card, they have a
scheduled card with them. Maybe that's just you.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
That's cool how it is. Yeah, it's not just this league.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And usually you know you will because you know the
majority of teams have an area guy in the room.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So usually you'll have an area guy. I still go
outside and wait, like, hey, this guy's gonna get next.
I know he's down at the Raiders. He'll come down.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I'll go get them and walk them down our room
so they know where to go.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
People off. When do you start preparing? How far in
advanced do you start preparing for the combine?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
For the combine, Well, the whole process starts about a
month after the draft, you know, at the national meetings.
So we say that, yeah, so you sort through that,
and and everybody sorts through those grades, the grades the
national scouts have given guys or blessed oh you know,
the other scouting group. We go through that and then
the team, the guys, the scouts with the players, I'm sorry,
(11:08):
the scouts that are responsible for their areas. They'll put
grades on guys and then they kind of know how
to sort, you know, how they're gonna prioritize their fall,
how they're gonna schedule their area. You know, how how
many times they're going to go into Ohio State or
Michigan and you know basically what it's going to look like,
right like scheduling my scheduling a week of where I'm
gonna go.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Okay, I'm gonna go Notre Dame and Purdue Indiana. You
know what I mean? Like, how am I going to
schedule my fault.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
One is it starts right after the draft for.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
The about month, yeah, about a month after and then
you know there's a there's a selection committee, right that
that ends up, you know, deciding okay, here we go.
And then now you know that usually that that you
know intensifies probably like you know, maybe around December and
they call them like there's winter meetings, so they'll go
back and have you know, some more winter meetings, and
then you're going on that and then and then they
(11:59):
have to do a really good job with Okay, the
guys that are declaring and not clearing and then who's
going to get in and who's not going to get in.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So uh yeah, but I.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Think people don't really.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It's not like you guys start getting ready for the
draft right after your previous draft.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
I don't think anybody.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Realize, Yeah, it's a month. Yeah it's a month.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So really really, our area, guys, the way we do it,
and every team does it differently, the way we structure
it is, you know, as soon as the national meetings
are over at the end of May, as soon as
we get those grades, and then you know, we go
the area. You guys go through their schools as soon
as they turn their grades in their summer begins so
they can have that as much time with their family
as they possibly can as they organize themselves for the fall.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
What's the let's say, coolest thing you heard one of
the coolest things you heard in an interview with one
of those kids.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Doesn't have to be this year?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Oh doesn't that to do this year? Oh man? Two amazing,
two amazing ones that always come to mind as you know, as.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
A running back that our coaches were asking them, Hey,
do you feel like you're like a more comfortable inside runner?
Or outside runner and he's like, you kidd me, you
guys been doing our new door facility.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
That's a good one.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
I know exactly what I love.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Then there was then there was a running back that
you know, get kicked out of a school for you know,
too many positive marijuana tests and had transferred to another
school and then had another positive tests. I had to
miss four games, and you know one of our one
of the people in the room was like kind of
getting down on him, and one of the older gentlemen
in the room was like kind of like, I don't
understand it sounded like why would you do that? Like
(13:27):
I don't, I don't get it, and kind of panicked.
At the end, He's like I was, I was sitting
in the middle of the couch.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And I was next. I never heard that one really, Yeah, yeah,
so it's funny of those. Yeah, yeah, pretty famous player. Yeah,
oh my.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
God, that one is hilarious. I yeah, I've heard some
beauties over the years, but give.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Me the guy.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Then who had an interview where you're like, oh, this
so impressive and.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh man, when yeah, when I met Troy Polamalu, who
I felt like I was meeting a disciple really.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
He was my interview and it was you know, maybe
the fact that he was like wearing birks and you know,
had the long flowing hair, and it's like, hey, brother,
you know, like I'm like, this is the same guy
that I saw make fourteen straight tackles and start.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Did you see LA game? You know, like wow, I
couldn't believe that.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
They're like really such an impressive human being and communicator
and leader and like knew what was important to him.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
He always stands that out to me. You know, his uncle,
you know, Kenny is a running back coach. I was
keep telling about it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
He's like, Okay, you've told me the story enough, you know,
so yeah, no, great guy. You know, Jay, The week
is really the interviews are a huge portion of it.
But it's really like like the week is very structured,
you know, so like I have league stuff, you know, Monday, Tuesday,
part of Wednesday, you know, all the media stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The majority of general managers don't.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Do a ton of media stuff, and that's like the
biggest kind of media day for you know a lot
of my colleagues in the league.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
And we're not all that fired up about it, as
like we're.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Well look speakers as the as the head coaches are
because they have to speak so much every week, you know,
so there's a lot of us that you know, I
think Jason.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Would say you the same thing.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
We were talking the afternoon, right Like, once you kind
of get through that portion, you're like, Okay, now I
can get on to.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Meeting, meeting with all the agents, meeting with.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
As many teams as he possibly can, you know, getting
to the workouts, uh, you know, going through the uh
you know, just figuring out like who the cap catl
the guys are going to be, and what free agency
is going to look like. Really just trying to get
like a global feel for what the landscape's going to
look like throughout the spring.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
It's all look it also folks, to be honest with Also,
he is like our family reunion. We all get to
see our friends. You got my brothers.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
It's like, it's funny because I used it's so funny.
I used to get ripped in the early days. But
when I was doing this for not being objective, because
I was friends with the players and coaches and gms,
and when the truth was I just needed you guys
for my mental health, Like I need teams.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Like it wasn't like doing anything to take care of like, oh,
I'm not gonna be objective.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Well you've noted out of a little less aggressive with
the approach. I would say.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
They used to be, no doubt, but it's but it
really was I needed, I need my teams.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
The family part of it, the family reunion part is
really cool because you don't you know, like you know
the coaches.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You can see guys on the road and you're scouting.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We had a really cool late night uh you know,
toast for the late Regie Cob and then was really
close with a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And and then Tommy Hecker one of the nights.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You know, really late night like get together with all
and that that that's cool like that that that what
you're talking about, that brotherhood.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So we need to combine here, take us down the
next steps from now to what happens you get pro
dage like basically leaned.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Up to the week of the draft.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You know, we just got back last night, so we
got back in the office this morning, kind of meeting
getting with everybody.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Hey, what did you learn? What did you learn? Whether
you know coaches scouts, pro guys, you know, everybody like,
what did we learn this week? And then from what
what what? What do we learn?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
How do we can'd of form our spring, not kind
of how do we form our spring? And what are
the what are the questions that we need to still
get answered? How do we strategize for free agency? You know,
do we you know, from a trade standpoint, do we
really think about considering you know, working with that team?
Are we you know, how do that player going to
fit in that this team wants to trade for with
(17:27):
what free agency looks like or can compensate.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
In a draft?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And and then you know, taking this week before free
agency starts to really get organized for you know, how
you're gonna account for your spending. You know, you want
to be able to Ted Thompson wuld say, right, you
want to be able to keep your powder dry as
you come all the way around the corner into the
uh you know, to the trade deadline, so you can
still be able to improve your team at the at
(17:51):
the latest possible moment with trades you know, during the season.
So it's really like, okay, how do we how do
we figure out you know, like an extension standpoint what
does that look like on restricted free agency going out
and trying to fill some needs trades and then at
getting all the medical information. I just came from a
meeting where you know, we went through all the medical
(18:13):
information you talk about, you know, a kick to the growing,
Like you have all these guys that were like you
can't have that guy, can't have that guy. I can't
have that guy.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
We're gonna have to do more research on those guys.
So the football these guys over is about like, you know,
I got it right now.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
We got about like say one hundred and sixty guys
on our board, and we probably had like one hundred
and eighty. We probably had like about forty of them,
Like they're like the of those forty to fifty, Okay,
you know, we'll go with the medical staff and figure out, Okay,
who do we need to bring in on a thirty
visit and have our docs spend more time with and reevaluate.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
So yeah, you know, my other part of that question
was like the schedule going up to the draft.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
The reason why I say it because I try and
tell people all the time, like if there's reports out
there right now that this is such a nuch team
has this guy in the top ten. They're so full
of ship because your boards are nowhere near sets no
or even put up no no.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I think I think last year, I think I freaked
out Mike McDonald out, you know, like first time head coach.
You know, you come like, oh, cool, Yeah, the Seahawks
are supposed to be pretty good at drafting and stuff,
and you walked into the draft room after after the comp.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Basically the gap to the comment.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
What we do is we were like, if they had
a good combine, how they worked out, so we slide
them up, slide the tags up or down, and then
we just know, like to okay that we're going to
spend more time just evaluating the combine to we really
seen the right thing, you know, just from studying the film,
from the workouts, and then you know, so it looks
like it's a total disaster.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
He started, he's I think he was kind of looking
at us like, oh my god, this is going to
be a nightmare. You know.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
This now what happens.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
The other thing happens to JA when when you're talking
about that is you know you go through that week
and you're like, you know, oh yeah, you know you
meet with people, and you meet with teams and stuff,
and and then you know you've never trade for whatever
call whatever the position is, No, no, no, we like
our guys there. And then you talk to a team
and they're like hey, or you know, throughout the week.
Later in the week you're like hey, I you know,
(20:12):
what do you think about this guy? And you're like, man,
maybe maybe we should do that, you know. And then
so then you know, you end up making a trade
that you just told people you would never you wouldn't do, right,
So then you know, so there's just a lot of
there's just a lot of uncertainty at this time of
the year, and it's really like, okay, it feels like
it really feels like you're like in between home plate
in first place.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yeah, no, it's it's again. I think the process is
well through it and I can't say enough like a
goat folks. Draft wise, these guys, even when they do
set their board, they reset it the Monday of the draft.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Right you guys. You guys then have mock draft to
see what they want to do.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
And it I mean for some teams goes rap till
the data draft where they're just changing the order of
things and they and I think there's a huge misconception
because a lot of it is what's up, oh Seahawks
of this guy in the top ten, Like Seahawks don't.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Even have ten guys there yet, Like we don't do
Monck drafts. I hear you say Monck drafts.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Like one of the worst drafts we did was we
did like a rehearsal mock draft, like where everybody had
a team, right and so, and then he was kind
of it was like, I'm like, okay, We're never ever
doing that again.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Why what happened?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
What you just your brain's all over the place.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Then you're like, okay, well that's really not the way
I view it coming off right, And you have to
be so pliable throughout the draft weekend, like where you're
going to try to acquire people in what areas? It's like,
holy cow, we were just we were a little too
scattered that year.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So yeah, we will we will do that.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
The uh again.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
We were talking about having then with Chasing Light and
there's a couple of questions that came up. Come on
to hit a couple of these, and one of them was,
what's the thing about being a general manager that you
you weren't expecting, Like if you knew then, well, you
know now it would be a lot easier for you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Oh man, what for you as a GM.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
We're getting the first sixteenth draft, so really blessed in
Washington too.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
So you know, I think, maybe not from a draft standpoint,
but I think the job, the job, Yeah, yeah, I think.
I think. I think the behind the scenes stuff that
people don't see, the personal things that you can't talk
about publicly that you go through personally with players, coaches, staff,
that we're not necessarily prepared for.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
You know, coaches go to a lot of you know,
coaching clinics and they share a lot more you know,
coaching information, you know schematically, you know, we we we
tend to not do that as as going up in
the scouting industry and you try to kind of, you know,
keep things much.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
More to the best.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And there's things that when you're in that position and
there's things that come up every single day and we're
builda polly and tell me and make sure to make sure,
you know, when you show up for work, you don't
let people keep putting those monkeys on your back because
all of a sudden if every keeps coming in your
office and giving you their monkeys by noon, you're gonna
have twelve monkeys on your shoulders and you're gonna have
to work your tail off fall out.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You're needing to fix it.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You got to be able to learn to delegate and
not try to fix everything yourself, and help people grow
and and just lead. And I think just like your
communication skills and have never changed, and you know as
a person, or do things, do things the way you
know other people would do them. I mean, I think
the world of obviously Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson and
(23:22):
Terry Bradway and people would have been my direct bosses.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
But I'm not.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I know I'm not them, and I've always when we
got fired in Washington, I always thought like, hey, if
ever get back in this, I'm not going to try to.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Do it a specific way.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
If I was able to get into that role again,
and then hooking up with Pete, he just made it
so evident because he went through you know himself haven't
been fired twice, you know, in the NFL, and then
having all that success, you'd like, hey, we're just going
to make us the best marriage we could possibly make it.
And we're going to lead the way we lead as
as the people we are. So that part of it,
(23:54):
and then I would say, you know, the heart the
hardest thing really is the contractual part, and you know,
the casually part like every year like kind of resetting
and every.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Year the new year, and you have to make decisions
to like, you know, move on, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I mean everybody's human, right, you know, these guys you
become so close like I don't want to say personally
close with the guys, but you care so much about them.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
It's not as that's the now eighty to ninety per
of the job is amazing and we're all like it's
it's we're all very very blessed to be doing this.
And Jason and I were talking about today, like the
longevity that's been amazing and we feel very thankful for that.
But that that stuff is, like that human element is
still very hard.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Well.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
It's interesting because I whatever coach you get in there,
I was telling him, man, you have no idea what
to come about to come across your desk, right the
stuff because you're playing because everybody in your building's messed up.
It's just the bottom line, you can't be great and
not have some crazy and to everybody.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Right, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
But then there's family, and then you have agents and
baby mine and this and that, and all these people
are taking all this stuff and it all comes on
your plate across your desk, whether you're the head coach
or general manager, and there's no there's no schooling anybody
can go to to deal with it because you're dealing
with mental health issues, you're dealing with cheating issues, family stealing,
(25:17):
I mean, just really tough stuff, you know, violence, things,
things that you didn't No one went to school for it,
for this stuff. It's just like and all of a sudden,
now everybody suddenly has become a psychologist. Everybody has to
be a psychiatrist. Everybody has to be a therapy and
you have to learn on the fly how to do that,
which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah, I think that maybe the first or second year
we were playing down into Alice and one of us
starting offensive. Lineman's uh like his loss's best friend, and uh,
you know he's in my room and I'm sitting there
hugging this big guy, trying to help him out, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
And yeah, to your point, you're not trained for that.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Yeah, no, there's no. And even we did go to
school for it, we're still not trayed for it. It's
not no what's normal in this lot of work?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Right?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I mean you should see the resumes. I get those there,
like I have my doctorate in sports management and I'm like, well,
where where did you get that?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I mean, you know when we were in college, they're
like the sports management stuff didn't didn't exist. And there's
so many there's so many talented people out there that
just you just need that op to.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Get in the door.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Last person I got for you, what's I wore.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
A colored shirt for you today? By the way, No,
thank you very much. When when was the last time
or something the color.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Comfortable with it? To be honest with you. Last question
got for you?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
What traits you think you learned from being a GM
or let's say the GM hash but you think could
equate to anybody trying to run a business.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
For me, personally, it's pretty easy. It's it's a communication
and empathy.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Always trying to put yourself in somebody else's promission and
how are they feeling? And you know, how are you,
you know, doing what's best for the club, Like first
and foremost, like what's best, what's what's best for the
for the organization, whether it's employees or agents, or players
or coaches or doctor and the trainer and their fields crew.
Like having that like direct communication and level of empathy
(27:15):
and appreciation for what everybody and then you can take that,
you know, anywhere you want. You know, you know Mike Gerva,
doctor Gervey pretty well right and he you know, work
with Microsoft and Satia and everything and they you know, Satia,
I built a whole, you know, I want to say
it's like two hundred and you know, sixty thousand people
basically that you know, he's in charge of that.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
He runs you know, the organization through empathy, like first
and foremost. So that's that's it.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Love it, Snods. I appreciate your brother.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Get small Ego art dot com or on Instagram. Thanks
for that, Jay, absolutely brother, Love you man, and uh
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Thanks thanks for having me, man,
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental wealth podcast
build you from the inside out.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Now Here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Welcome into Unbreakable mental Wealth podcast with Jay Glazer. I'm
Jay Glazer, and my vacation's over. Went to the Combine
this past week, and I was like, you know, who
could I have on to really explain what the NFL
scount and Combine is, what the intricacies are, how you
really kind of figure out who you want to invest in,
how you get in between the six inches between.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
Your ears of these players.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Who better to bring on than the first general manager
I ever had on the show ever, Seattle Seahawks general manager,
My little buddy, Josh Sneider.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
How are we doing? Stuts?
Speaker 2 (00:47):
How the going, buddy?
Speaker 4 (00:50):
It's so funny, Shines.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I became friends in like ninety seven, and when you
have your friends out here you've been friends with forever, you.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
Just do not introduce them.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, it's weird, Right's kind of weird.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
US TV hosts have a very high time with that shit.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
But those of you who can't see this, you're listening
in audio before even start. Those who can't see this,
right behind Schneider's head is this big painting that his
son bended right.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
And all over the wall, all over the wall.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
And his son bend is autistic. Tell people real quick
before we even start on this podcast about that, how
you figured it out and what he's doing now, because
his I have I think what five of his paintings
something like that.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, yeah, you have a bunch.
Speaker 4 (01:32):
So he's a genius.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
It's incredible and so twenty three years old and they're
supposed to look kind of like Jackson Pollock ish and.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, he loves it, and so you had.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
No idea he was like this until about four years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
He always loved art and then when we hired Nicole
his mentor, full time, they really just dove into it.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
And it's been great.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
So yeah, he has his own company, Small Ego art
dot Com. And he does shoes too, so like, uh,
it's like Air Force ones and stuff. So yeah, yeah,
the majority of it goes to help families that can't
afford treatments for autism, which you know, as you know, Jame,
my wife Tracy has been doing it for since twenty
eleven here and she's raised with everybody's hell perio at
(02:16):
the Seahawks she's raised you know, probably over six million
dollars for families so grant so for iPads and heavy
blankets and you know, retreats and counselors and anything.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
And then that's one of the.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Things to you and I have talked about it, like, man,
when it first happened, You're like, man, why did this
happen to me? And then you realize, wow, it happened
to me, so it could happen for others that I
could help them.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, It's one of those things.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
God, you know, gives you what you can handle, right,
so yep, yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
You know I never have to.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
You know, what was your reaction the first time you
saw this first painting like this?
Speaker 4 (02:51):
I know my reaction was oh.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. There was a lot of
crying involved.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah yeah, yeah, of a lot of proud tears and
and uh would take me to and then and then
the it's the excitement of it, and then okay, what
are we gonna do?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
How are we gonna do it?
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So then he's able to live on his own, so
you know, gett him into his house and like getting
his own studio set up, and you know, having you know,
Tracy run the business and then.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Answer my question.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
My question was tell me like, I don't know when
you first saw it or like how when I first
saw it?
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Like did she bring it into show you? Like, oh
my god, look what's happened to her? Did he bring it?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
No, I think I think they basically just sent me,
you know, a pictures and showed up on my iPhone,
you know, and when it was done. And then she
showed me, you know, in fast time, the process of
it and how they got to that point. So yeah,
it was like, holy cow, this is amazing. I can't
believe he's doing this. Yeah, and then the wall. The
wall was basically like I didn't know if he'd want
(03:51):
to do it, and and uh, my assistant Sarah asked
Tracy about it, and they both talked to him and
he was he was into it.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So yeah, it took him about four hours, so he
was to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Folks, small ego Art go to small ego art dot
com or go to Instagram small ego Art. All right,
So we just got back to the company and back
of the day. He used to be able to just
tearing the guys when you're interviewing them, right, say the
most hateous shit, and see who's going to crack, who's
not going to crack, who's going to respond certain guys
(04:22):
who get a reaction of you can't do that anymore.
Now you gotta be real sensitive to you know, what
you say to these guys. And I was talking to
guy down there or the other I said that if
I had one question to ask these guys, it would
be what's the biggest adversity you've overcome? He said, Jane,
it's a great thing, but these guys have been so
coached up on it, it's so.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
Hard to get a real answer. That's where our work
really begins.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Our first when I started with the Packers, that was
our first question. That's the biggest to obscleen that I'd overcome, really,
And you know, we used to we used to pull
guys to the side. And so there was a I
almost said his name, I can't can't say. It was
the defensive tackle from Notre Dame that I was interviewing,
and I hadn't gone into the school that year, so
I didn't know his full story. And I was like,
it was the biggest obscle've had overcome. And he said well,
(05:08):
you know for the opening game. You know, my parents
were both killed and had on collision, you know, and
I was able to get through the season and I
was like, holy cow, man, like I'm so sorry, and
I hugged him and he's like, oh man, I'm just fucking.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
With you, dude, that none's mess with No really. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
So then I'm like, I'm going back to these guys
like we're not gonna we are definitely not drafting this guy.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
There's so much more to it.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And you remember sitting next to you know, like all
the questions you can and cannot ask now, and you know,
sitting next to Ray Rhodes as like a twenty two
year old young man like I can't believe we're this
guy gonna come across the table and kill us.
Speaker 4 (05:44):
Like I can't weave.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
He's staring into this guy right now.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Did you ever see a guy jump over to tack,
get physical to coach?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
No, no, but get up and leave, Get up and leave.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, So it is interesting. How do you get the
answers you're looking for now? And look, I coached guys
right I was trending guys with a combine and I
would be like, hey, listen when the answer comes up.
The question comes up, and this sounds hard. The question
was and I think I got.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
I forget what.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Team's questions I got, but one of them was like, hey,
do you want to be an NFL player because you
want to be rich, you want to be famous, you
want to buy your mom house or something else.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Almost every one of the four answers like I want
to buy my mama house. I'm like, nope, no one
gives a fuck about your mom. You want to want
to shoot?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That is it?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Like, well, that's not what the answer that's going to
be your answer, right, So you know my answer is
not on here.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Right. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
When the guys when they say, hey, you don't want
to be you know, I want to be the you know,
pro bowler and be the highest paid player at my
position in four or five years, it's kind of like, okay,
well that's great. What about the championships and the yeah yeah,
but yeah, no, it's it's definitely, it's definitely. It's it's
changed a ton, Jay, So like that fifteen minutes is
(06:53):
really our coaches didn't go last year. So last year
we were hyper focused on the character and how like
the background and the person, and we've really concentrated on
that over the last several years, like who's the person,
who's the competitor and the nil stuff and the trade
portal has actually really helped us with that. So the
information you're getting from the guy's been to three different schools,
like what are the sources? All the scouts have to
(07:14):
really be working as one and working as a team
to collect all the information.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
This year, going down with the coaches, we were able.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
To get like, look, let's get right to the football
because we feel like our scouts do an amazing job
of figuring out who the person is throughout the process
and we'll continue to do that all the way through
the spring. So it's hard to get to know somebody
in fifteen minutes. And to your point, they're kind of
they're pretty much coached up right and usually gotten their
best behavior. But it's really more about spending as much
(07:44):
quality time as you can when that's the thirty visits
or going through the informals, or you know, having the
scouts spend time with the guys at the produce.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
You're talking about the fifteen minutes and again you and
I know it, but for the fans that are. I
think most fans don't understand the process. Talk about that
process fifteen minutes and then the fight for it.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
So we used to we used to have a vague
rule where it was like, you know, you had to
One of my first jobs was standing outside the Raiders
room waiting for Prospect to come out, and we basically
get in line like it'd be you know, Detroit, Chicago.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
I'd be third with.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
The Packers, right, and then you'd wait for the player
to come out. So we tried to keep him like okay.
It was kind of a vague rule like twenty to
thirty minutes, but then people would go over time. Soud
be like knocking on the door trying to like come on,
you know, let's get going, like let's.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
Get this guy. I gotta I gotta get going.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
And so there'd be a lot of like arguments, fights
number two guys like going into the pool fighting one
night over a player, you know, like like from two
helps from different teams. Yeah, and now the Jeff Foster's
did an amazing job of of uh really, I'm sorry, yeah,
really organizing it where the interview process, you know, we're
(08:53):
primarily there for the medical The Jets drafted receiver you
know named Wesley Walker, famous receiver you know, ended up
like very talented, great player, but ended up being blind
in one eye. And so there's really the jets that
were like, I got all the teams together and we're like, hey,
let's let's combine this. Let's get all all our docks
here and check people out. And then from that came
(09:14):
the interviews and the you know, the workout portion. Instead
of just having a tryouts that you know, the pro
days in the spring, let's get her together and have
them go through like back to back so we can
watch them go through all the same drills and everything.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
So that's really you know why it started with.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Jeff's done a great job of like streamlining everything the medical,
we interviews, the workouts, and then you know the media
time that the.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Guys have to.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Yeah, so now now instead of going standing at a
door waiting for a prospect, you basically schedule the interviews
ahead of time, and.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
There's you know, sixty guys.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
You schedule it out, and then the combine goes through
and makes the schedule for you, Jeff and his group,
and then just you know, we have a big, a
big clock in there just to count down from fifteen minutes,
just starts hitting and then once it hits Once it
hits one, you're up and they're up and gone.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
And then the next that's where it comes in.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
The guy.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
How they have like a date card, they have a
scheduled card with them. Maybe that's just you.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
That's cool how it is. Yeah, it's not just this league.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And usually you know you will because you know the
majority of teams have an area guy in the room.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
So usually you'll have an area guy. I still go
outside and wait, like, hey, this guy's gonna get next.
I know he's down at the Raiders. He'll come down.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I'll go get them and walk them down our room
so they know where to go.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
People off. When do you start preparing? How far in
advanced do you start preparing for the combine?
Speaker 1 (10:47):
For the combine, Well, the whole process starts about a
month after the draft, you know, at the national meetings.
So we say that, yeah, so you sort through that,
and and everybody sorts through those grades, the grades the
national scouts have given guys or blessed oh you know,
the other scouting group. We go through that and then
the team, the guys, the scouts with the players, I'm sorry,
(11:08):
the scouts that are responsible for their areas. They'll put
grades on guys and then they kind of know how
to sort, you know, how they're gonna prioritize their fall,
how they're gonna schedule their area. You know, how how
many times they're going to go into Ohio State or
Michigan and you know basically what it's going to look like,
right like scheduling my scheduling a week of where I'm
gonna go.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Okay, I'm gonna go Notre Dame and Purdue Indiana. You
know what I mean? Like, how am I going to
schedule my fault.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
One is it starts right after the draft for.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
The about month, yeah, about a month after and then
you know there's a there's a selection committee, right that
that ends up, you know, deciding okay, here we go.
And then now you know that usually that that you
know intensifies probably like you know, maybe around December and
they call them like there's winter meetings, so they'll go
back and have you know, some more winter meetings, and
then you're going on that and then and then they
(11:59):
have to do a really good job with Okay, the
guys that are declaring and not clearing and then who's
going to get in and who's not going to get in.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
So uh yeah, but I.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
Think people don't really.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
It's not like you guys start getting ready for the
draft right after your previous draft.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
I don't think anybody.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Realize, Yeah, it's a month. Yeah it's a month.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
So really really, our area, guys, the way we do it,
and every team does it differently, the way we structure
it is, you know, as soon as the national meetings
are over at the end of May, as soon as
we get those grades, and then you know, we go
the area. You guys go through their schools as soon
as they turn their grades in their summer begins so
they can have that as much time with their family
as they possibly can as they organize themselves for the fall.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
What's the let's say, coolest thing you heard one of
the coolest things you heard in an interview with one
of those kids.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
Doesn't have to be this year?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Oh doesn't that to do this year? Oh man? Two amazing,
two amazing ones that always come to mind as you know, as.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
A running back that our coaches were asking them, Hey,
do you feel like you're like a more comfortable inside runner?
Or outside runner and he's like, you kidd me, you
guys been doing our new door facility.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
That's a good one.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
I know exactly what I love.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Then there was then there was a running back that
you know, get kicked out of a school for you know,
too many positive marijuana tests and had transferred to another
school and then had another positive tests. I had to
miss four games, and you know one of our one
of the people in the room was like kind of
getting down on him, and one of the older gentlemen
in the room was like kind of like, I don't
understand it sounded like why would you do that? Like
(13:27):
I don't, I don't get it, and kind of panicked.
At the end, He's like I was, I was sitting
in the middle of the couch.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
And I was next. I never heard that one really, Yeah, yeah,
so it's funny of those. Yeah, yeah, pretty famous player. Yeah,
oh my.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
God, that one is hilarious. I yeah, I've heard some
beauties over the years, but give.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Me the guy.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
Then who had an interview where you're like, oh, this
so impressive and.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Oh man, when yeah, when I met Troy Polamalu, who
I felt like I was meeting a disciple really.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
He was my interview and it was you know, maybe
the fact that he was like wearing birks and you know,
had the long flowing hair, and it's like, hey, brother,
you know, like I'm like, this is the same guy
that I saw make fourteen straight tackles and start.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Did you see LA game? You know, like wow, I
couldn't believe that.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
They're like really such an impressive human being and communicator
and leader and like knew what was important to him.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
He always stands that out to me. You know, his uncle,
you know, Kenny is a running back coach. I was
keep telling about it.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
He's like, Okay, you've told me the story enough, you know,
so yeah, no, great guy. You know, Jay, The week
is really the interviews are a huge portion of it.
But it's really like like the week is very structured,
you know, so like I have league stuff, you know, Monday, Tuesday,
part of Wednesday, you know, all the media stuff.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
The majority of general managers don't.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Do a ton of media stuff, and that's like the
biggest kind of media day for you know a lot
of my colleagues in the league.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
And we're not all that fired up about it, as
like we're.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Well look speakers as the as the head coaches are
because they have to speak so much every week, you know,
so there's a lot of us that you know, I
think Jason.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Would say you the same thing.
Speaker 1 (15:11):
We were talking the afternoon, right Like, once you kind
of get through that portion, you're like, Okay, now I
can get on to.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Meeting, meeting with all the agents, meeting with.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
As many teams as he possibly can, you know, getting
to the workouts, uh, you know, going through the uh
you know, just figuring out like who the cap catl
the guys are going to be, and what free agency
is going to look like. Really just trying to get
like a global feel for what the landscape's going to
look like throughout the spring.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
It's all look it also folks, to be honest with Also,
he is like our family reunion. We all get to
see our friends. You got my brothers.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
It's like, it's funny because I used it's so funny.
I used to get ripped in the early days. But
when I was doing this for not being objective, because
I was friends with the players and coaches and gms,
and when the truth was I just needed you guys
for my mental health, Like I need teams.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Like it wasn't like doing anything to take care of like, oh,
I'm not gonna be objective.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Well you've noted out of a little less aggressive with
the approach. I would say.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
They used to be, no doubt, but it's but it
really was I needed, I need my teams.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
The family part of it, the family reunion part is
really cool because you don't you know, like you know
the coaches.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
You can see guys on the road and you're scouting.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
We had a really cool late night uh you know,
toast for the late Regie Cob and then was really
close with a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
And and then Tommy Hecker one of the nights.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
You know, really late night like get together with all
and that that that's cool like that that that what
you're talking about, that brotherhood.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
So we need to combine here, take us down the
next steps from now to what happens you get pro
dage like basically leaned.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
Up to the week of the draft.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
You know, we just got back last night, so we
got back in the office this morning, kind of meeting
getting with everybody.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Hey, what did you learn? What did you learn? Whether
you know coaches scouts, pro guys, you know, everybody like,
what did we learn this week? And then from what
what what? What do we learn?
Speaker 1 (17:06):
How do we can'd of form our spring, not kind
of how do we form our spring? And what are
the what are the questions that we need to still
get answered? How do we strategize for free agency? You know,
do we you know, from a trade standpoint, do we
really think about considering you know, working with that team?
Are we you know, how do that player going to
fit in that this team wants to trade for with
(17:27):
what free agency looks like or can compensate.
Speaker 2 (17:29):
In a draft?
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And and then you know, taking this week before free
agency starts to really get organized for you know, how
you're gonna account for your spending. You know, you want
to be able to Ted Thompson wuld say, right, you
want to be able to keep your powder dry as
you come all the way around the corner into the
uh you know, to the trade deadline, so you can
still be able to improve your team at the at
(17:51):
the latest possible moment with trades you know, during the season.
So it's really like, okay, how do we how do
we figure out you know, like an extension standpoint what
does that look like on restricted free agency going out
and trying to fill some needs trades and then at
getting all the medical information. I just came from a
meeting where you know, we went through all the medical
(18:13):
information you talk about, you know, a kick to the growing,
Like you have all these guys that were like you
can't have that guy, can't have that guy. I can't
have that guy.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
We're gonna have to do more research on those guys.
So the football these guys over is about like, you know,
I got it right now.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
We got about like say one hundred and sixty guys
on our board, and we probably had like one hundred
and eighty. We probably had like about forty of them,
Like they're like the of those forty to fifty, Okay,
you know, we'll go with the medical staff and figure out, Okay,
who do we need to bring in on a thirty
visit and have our docs spend more time with and reevaluate.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
So yeah, you know, my other part of that question
was like the schedule going up to the draft.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
The reason why I say it because I try and
tell people all the time, like if there's reports out
there right now that this is such a nuch team
has this guy in the top ten. They're so full
of ship because your boards are nowhere near sets no
or even put up no no.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I think I think last year, I think I freaked
out Mike McDonald out, you know, like first time head coach.
You know, you come like, oh, cool, Yeah, the Seahawks
are supposed to be pretty good at drafting and stuff,
and you walked into the draft room after after the comp.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Basically the gap to the comment.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
What we do is we were like, if they had
a good combine, how they worked out, so we slide
them up, slide the tags up or down, and then
we just know, like to okay that we're going to
spend more time just evaluating the combine to we really
seen the right thing, you know, just from studying the film,
from the workouts, and then you know, so it looks
like it's a total disaster.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
He started, he's I think he was kind of looking
at us like, oh my god, this is going to
be a nightmare. You know.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
This now what happens.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
The other thing happens to JA when when you're talking
about that is you know you go through that week
and you're like, you know, oh yeah, you know you
meet with people, and you meet with teams and stuff,
and and then you know you've never trade for whatever
call whatever the position is, No, no, no, we like
our guys there. And then you talk to a team
and they're like hey, or you know, throughout the week.
Later in the week you're like hey, I you know,
(20:12):
what do you think about this guy? And you're like, man,
maybe maybe we should do that, you know. And then
so then you know, you end up making a trade
that you just told people you would never you wouldn't do, right,
So then you know, so there's just a lot of
there's just a lot of uncertainty at this time of
the year, and it's really like, okay, it feels like
it really feels like you're like in between home plate
in first place.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Yeah, no, it's it's again. I think the process is
well through it and I can't say enough like a
goat folks. Draft wise, these guys, even when they do
set their board, they reset it the Monday of the draft.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
Right you guys. You guys then have mock draft to
see what they want to do.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
And it I mean for some teams goes rap till
the data draft where they're just changing the order of
things and they and I think there's a huge misconception
because a lot of it is what's up, oh Seahawks
of this guy in the top ten, Like Seahawks don't.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Even have ten guys there yet, Like we don't do
Monck drafts. I hear you say Monck drafts.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Like one of the worst drafts we did was we
did like a rehearsal mock draft, like where everybody had
a team, right and so, and then he was kind
of it was like, I'm like, okay, We're never ever
doing that again.
Speaker 4 (21:19):
Why what happened?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
What you just your brain's all over the place.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Then you're like, okay, well that's really not the way
I view it coming off right, And you have to
be so pliable throughout the draft weekend, like where you're
going to try to acquire people in what areas? It's like,
holy cow, we were just we were a little too
scattered that year.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So yeah, we will we will do that.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
The uh again.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
We were talking about having then with Chasing Light and
there's a couple of questions that came up. Come on
to hit a couple of these, and one of them was,
what's the thing about being a general manager that you
you weren't expecting, Like if you knew then, well, you
know now it would be a lot easier for you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Oh man, what for you as a GM.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
We're getting the first sixteenth draft, so really blessed in
Washington too.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
So you know, I think, maybe not from a draft standpoint,
but I think the job, the job, Yeah, yeah, I think.
I think. I think the behind the scenes stuff that
people don't see, the personal things that you can't talk
about publicly that you go through personally with players, coaches, staff,
that we're not necessarily prepared for.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
You know, coaches go to a lot of you know,
coaching clinics and they share a lot more you know,
coaching information, you know schematically, you know, we we we
tend to not do that as as going up in
the scouting industry and you try to kind of, you know,
keep things much.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
More to the best.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And there's things that when you're in that position and
there's things that come up every single day and we're
builda polly and tell me and make sure to make sure,
you know, when you show up for work, you don't
let people keep putting those monkeys on your back because
all of a sudden if every keeps coming in your
office and giving you their monkeys by noon, you're gonna
have twelve monkeys on your shoulders and you're gonna have
to work your tail off fall out.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
You're needing to fix it.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
You got to be able to learn to delegate and
not try to fix everything yourself, and help people grow
and and just lead. And I think just like your
communication skills and have never changed, and you know as
a person, or do things, do things the way you
know other people would do them. I mean, I think
the world of obviously Ron Wolf and Ted Thompson and
(23:22):
Terry Bradway and people would have been my direct bosses.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
But I'm not.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
I know I'm not them, and I've always when we
got fired in Washington, I always thought like, hey, if
ever get back in this, I'm not going to try to.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Do it a specific way.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
If I was able to get into that role again,
and then hooking up with Pete, he just made it
so evident because he went through you know himself haven't
been fired twice, you know, in the NFL, and then
having all that success, you'd like, hey, we're just going
to make us the best marriage we could possibly make it.
And we're going to lead the way we lead as
as the people we are. So that part of it,
(23:54):
and then I would say, you know, the heart the
hardest thing really is the contractual part, and you know,
the casually part like every year like kind of resetting
and every.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Year the new year, and you have to make decisions
to like, you know, move on, you know, and.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
I mean everybody's human, right, you know, these guys you
become so close like I don't want to say personally
close with the guys, but you care so much about them.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
It's not as that's the now eighty to ninety per
of the job is amazing and we're all like it's
it's we're all very very blessed to be doing this.
And Jason and I were talking about today, like the
longevity that's been amazing and we feel very thankful for that.
But that that stuff is, like that human element is
still very hard.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
Well.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
It's interesting because I whatever coach you get in there,
I was telling him, man, you have no idea what
to come about to come across your desk, right the
stuff because you're playing because everybody in your building's messed up.
It's just the bottom line, you can't be great and
not have some crazy and to everybody.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Right, it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
But then there's family, and then you have agents and
baby mine and this and that, and all these people
are taking all this stuff and it all comes on
your plate across your desk, whether you're the head coach
or general manager, and there's no there's no schooling anybody
can go to to deal with it because you're dealing
with mental health issues, you're dealing with cheating issues, family stealing,
(25:17):
I mean, just really tough stuff, you know, violence, things,
things that you didn't No one went to school for it,
for this stuff. It's just like and all of a sudden,
now everybody suddenly has become a psychologist. Everybody has to
be a psychiatrist. Everybody has to be a therapy and
you have to learn on the fly how to do that,
which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah, I think that maybe the first or second year
we were playing down into Alice and one of us
starting offensive. Lineman's uh like his loss's best friend, and uh,
you know he's in my room and I'm sitting there
hugging this big guy, trying to help him out, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
And yeah, to your point, you're not trained for that.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Yeah, no, there's no. And even we did go to
school for it, we're still not trayed for it. It's
not no what's normal in this lot of work?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Right?
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I mean you should see the resumes. I get those there,
like I have my doctorate in sports management and I'm like, well,
where where did you get that?
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I mean, you know when we were in college, they're
like the sports management stuff didn't didn't exist. And there's
so many there's so many talented people out there that
just you just need that op to.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
Get in the door.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Last person I got for you, what's I wore.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
A colored shirt for you today? By the way, No,
thank you very much. When when was the last time
or something the color.
Speaker 4 (26:30):
Comfortable with it? To be honest with you. Last question
got for you?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
What traits you think you learned from being a GM
or let's say the GM hash but you think could
equate to anybody trying to run a business.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
For me, personally, it's pretty easy. It's it's a communication
and empathy.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Always trying to put yourself in somebody else's promission and
how are they feeling? And you know, how are you,
you know, doing what's best for the club, Like first
and foremost, like what's best, what's what's best for the
for the organization, whether it's employees or agents, or players
or coaches or doctor and the trainer and their fields crew.
Like having that like direct communication and level of empathy
(27:15):
and appreciation for what everybody and then you can take that,
you know, anywhere you want. You know, you know Mike Gerva,
doctor Gervey pretty well right and he you know, work
with Microsoft and Satia and everything and they you know, Satia,
I built a whole, you know, I want to say
it's like two hundred and you know, sixty thousand people
basically that you know, he's in charge of that.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
He runs you know, the organization through empathy, like first
and foremost. So that's that's it.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
Love it, Snods. I appreciate your brother.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Get small Ego art dot com or on Instagram. Thanks
for that, Jay, absolutely brother, Love you man, and uh
appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Thanks thanks for having me, man,
Host
Jay Glazer
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