2022 Pacific Northwest Sports Top 10: Number 10 – John Schneider

Chris Phillips   |  

Jun 5, 2022

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In our ongoing Pacific Northwest Sports Top 10 series, we move on to Number 10, John Schneider.

John Schneider is a Wisconsin native who played football collegiately at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. It’s here that his football playing career ended, due to injuries, and his life as a non-football player started. During his junior year, he wrote a letter to then Green Bay Packers GM, Ron Wolf, asking if he could join Wolf’s scouting department. He interned that summer. 

Football Career off the gridiron

From there he worked his way up the ranks. Leaving Green Bay for Kansas City’s Director of Pro Personnel. Then leaving Kansas City to join Ted Thompson’s staff in Seattle. Next, he left Seattle to become VP of Player Personnel with Washington. After that, he returned to Green Bay where he eventually became the Director of Football Operations. Finally, in January of 2010, Schneider returned to Seattle where he is currently the Seattle Seahawks GM and Executive Vice President.

Start of something special

Schneider joined forces with Pete Carroll and the two are responsible for the turnaround of the Seattle Seahawks. In their first year, they completed a staggering 284 transactions to overhaul the roster. Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has to be jealous. One of Carroll and Schneider’s moves was acquiring Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch. Lynch and the Legion of Boom led Seattle to their only Super Bowl victory under this duo’s leadership. 

Of course, the Legion of Boom is regarded as being one of the best defenses of all-time in the NFL. They introduced the NFL to the full potential of the Cover-3 defense. Part of what made the defense so special was the fact it was built with not high-profiled players. This defense was built with players who were drafted in the third round or later, or undrafted or free-agent signings. 

Non-Football Activities

Schneider and his wife Traci founded the Ben’s Fund in 2012 in honor of their son Ben who is diagnosed with Autism. Ben’s Fund is to provide financial support and guidance and support to children and young adults with autism in Washington State.

Currently

Right now John Schneider and Pete Carroll are currently working on re-building the Seattle Seahawks. They moved on from the faces of the franchise Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner. Time will tell how well Schneider and Carroll are doing but they are helping the Seahawks to be one of the ‘Most Innovative’ sports teams in the world.