Free agency doesn't hurt Seattle. (updated)

I've been reading a lot about the belief that Seattle will have difficulty holding onto players as they begin to come up as free agents.  They're missing the point.

Seattle built the program with free agents willing to take a pay cut to join an up and coming program, and 21 of the 53 players on the roster were undrafted.  This isn't a program that fears free agency; this is a team that embraces free agency and looks for a certain competitive character.  If a player wants to take the money and leave, that's their prerogative; Seattle will just find some other free agent out there who wants a SB ring badly enough to take a pay cut, and meets the qualifications of being a Seahawk under Carroll.

DE Michael Bennett is a free agent.  You know who else is a free agent?  Jared Allen.  DTs Clinton McDonald and Tony McDaniel are free agents.  You know who else is a free agent?  Jason Hatcher.  There's plenty of top talent around who've never gotten to the Super Bowl, and they know full well that Seattle is their best bet.  But I'll venture to guess that most of the current players don't mind taking a pay cut, to establish themselves as members of a dynasty.

But let's say these guys leave for the money.  Go back to Carroll's days at USC and you'll find a bunch of #1 recruiting classes and a string of big victories in bowl games. Pete's got his system tuned to find the kind of talent he wants: Guys who compete every day on every play, even in practice.  Those undrafted players are the diamond in the rough that no one else found -- that's a testament to the work Carroll and his coaches put in into evaluation and tracking of players in college.

No, I'm not worried about the future of Seattle.  And now that all the vacant head coaching positions have been filled, you know that Pete's OC and DC will be around for at least one more year.

Two-Pete in 2015.

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Update: I thought maybe I should show just how good Pete Carroll's recruiting and coaching was, back at USC.  Here's some of the big names from the 2008 roster, just on defense:

• Clay Matthews; 
• Rey Maualuga;
• Kaluka Maiava; 
• Brian Cushing;
• Malik Jackson;
• Michael Morgan;
• Taylor Mays;
• Nick Perry;
• Shareece Wright;
• Fili Moala;
• Jurrell Casey.

Now that is WOW.  So talented, this defense would have put a lot of pro teams to shame.  And as they say, USC is an NFL factory.