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Richard Sherman claims Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll lost their way

By The Sports Xchange
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks with former defensive back Richard Sherman before the Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game on October 23, 2016 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Photo by Art Foxall/UPI
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll talks with former defensive back Richard Sherman before the Seahawks-Arizona Cardinals game on October 23, 2016 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Photo by Art Foxall/UPI | License Photo

Cornerback Richard Sherman thanked the Seattle Seahawks and their fans on the way out when he was released this week, but now he is saying that things have gone wrong in the organization.

Sherman, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers a day after being cut loose, said he believes coach Pete Carroll is making a mistake by moving away from veterans who led the Seahawks to success.

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"I think it was kind of philosophical on [Carroll's] part," Sherman said on Uninterrupted's "The Tomahawk Show," hosted by retired NFL players Joe Thomas and Andrew Hawkins. "A lot of us have been there six, seven, eight years, and his philosophy is more built for college.

"Four years, guys rotate in, rotate out, and so we had kind of heard all his stories, we had kind of heard every story, every funny anecdote that he had. And honestly because he just recycles them. And they're cool stories, they're great for team chemistry and building, et cetera, et cetera. But we had literally heard them all. We could recite them before he even started to say them."

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The Seahawks also traded defensive end Michael Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles, and free safety Earl Thomas reportedly is on the trade block.

Sherman also said it "felt kind of disrespectful to me in a way," because the Seahawks were quick to let him go following a season-ending Achilles injury after the team was willing to wait for Thomas and tight end Jimmy Graham to recover from injuries.

"It's just unfortunate," Sherman explained. "At the end of the day it just seems like -- I don't know how to say it -- they've kind of lost their way a little bit in terms of how they see players and how they evaluate players.

"It was kind of an odd situation because we've obviously had players injured multiple times, multiple years, and this was the first time that anyone who has been injured of the core players has been cut.

"I think at the end of the day it just became an issue of devaluing core players, players that are playing at a high level and really being curious about younger players and curious about the unknown."

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Carroll is entering his ninth season with the Seahawks after leaving USC, where he spent a decade getting to know the top college prospects and admittedly used that knowledge to draft and acquire the players needed to lead the Seahawks to the Super Bowl in 2013 and 2014.

A dozen of those players made either All-Pro and/or the Pro Bowl.

"I probably would say that we did have extra insight into some players coming out of college back then," Carroll told The Sports Xchange.

"Football is ever-changing and you just need to stay on top of things. You need more than hard work, you need to be effective. So we will work hard and expect to be effective and we'll see how it goes when that time comes."

The question would seem to be whether Carroll has learned enough in his years with the Seahawks to rebuild the team into the power it was without that advantage he once had.

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