In the aftermath of the 2015 NFC title game, which sent the Seattle Seahawks back to the Super Bowl after a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Green Bay Packers, NFL agent Doug Hendrickson celebrated at the home of Lynch, Hendrickson’s client and the Seahawks’ mercurial star running back.
During the festivities, Lynch got serious, then gave Hendrickson a mandate: Negotiate a new contract with Seattle. Immediately.
Hendrickson left Lynch’s house around midnight and headed to a victory party hosted by Seahawks general manager John Schneider, the man he’d been sparring with over Lynch’s deal. All seemed forgotten when the agent arrived at the GM’s house. The pair hung out, shared drinks and enjoyed the night, but before leaving, Hendrickson broached the topic of a contract extension for Lynch … preferably before Super Bowl 49.
The good vibes vanished. Schneider was incredulous.
“He looked like he was going to kill me,” Hendrickson said.
They went back and forth, hurling profanities into the night until they were the last ones left. No deal was reached. By then, Hendrickson was having some trouble getting a ride. He needed a place to crash for the night. So he slept on Schneider’s couch.
When Hendrickson woke up, there was his unexpected host. Hours after a heated debate that at times sounded as if they might come to blows, the pair hugged it out, apologized and agreed to hammer out an extension. Eventually.
The good vibes were back.
“You need a ride home?” Schneider asked.
Schneider is a small-town Midwesterner whose entry into the NFL began with cold calling the GM of his hometown Green Bay Packers after some “courage beers” and advice from friends in 1992. More than three decades later, he’s the top architect in America’s most popular sport.
“I don’t even care if we talk about football,” said Wyman, a former linebacker who played six of his nine NFL seasons with the Seahawks. “It’s really interesting to see how his mind works, but more than anything he’s just like your best buddy.”
Schneider’s adversaries don’t turn him down, either. Some of the most contentious negotiations in his 17 years running the Seahawks came via Mark Rodgers, the former agent for quarterback Russell Wilson. One day, during the middle of Wilson’s 10-year run with the franchise, Schneider invited Rodgers to Dino’s Pub, the dive bar near team headquarters. That rainy afternoon was unlike any of their many spirited debates over guaranteed money, no-tag clauses, franchise tags or trade destinations.
“We didn’t talk about football a lick,” Rodgers recalled. “We just talked about life. He wanted to know a little bit more about me, and I enjoyed getting to know a bit more of him.”
With the Seahawks’ win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60, Schneider, 55, became the first NFL GM to secure multiple championships with the same franchise despite zero carryover between the rosters or coaching staffs. Since Schneider was hired in January 2010, Seattle has the league’s fifth-highest win percentage, three conference titles and two Super Bowl wins. In that time, he has become someone other Super Bowl-winning GMs admire, players appreciate, agents respect — and the guy everyone in the league wants to grab a beer with.
Knowing Schneider, they probably have.
“He manages to be one of the smartest minds in the league, but he’s also the guy that’s most likely to convince you that one more round is a great idea,” said Tampa Buccaneers GM Jason Licht.
Schneider’s longevity stems from an impeccable scouting eye and the premium he puts on the people part of the business. Some of the key moves that led to Seattle lifting the Lombardi Trophy — including the hiring of head coach Mike Macdonald — were products of Schneider’s strong relationships with his peers. In a hypercompetitive NFL landscape, his relationship-based approach to the job is a unique and underrated part of his success and one of the defining elements of the team’s culture.
“We’re all under intense pressure, stress to perform every single day, and to be able to have someone like John that you can lean on — that you trust like that, you can talk to, can help you work through things — it just goes a long way,” said former Tennessee Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker. “It’s rare. It’s not like that all around the league. John is different. He is. And that’s why he’s been in that chair 17 years.” [...]
He is the last man standing from what was once the league’s best Big Three, with Schneider at GM, Pete Carroll at head coach and Russell Wilson at quarterback. Schneider’s success independent of Carroll and Wilson has buoyed his case to join mentor Ron Wolf in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“He’s a gold-jacket GM,” Brinker said. “That’s the way we view him.”
by Michael-Shawn Dugar, The Athletic | Read more:
Images: Steph Chambers; Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
