Has Pete Carroll Been Tipping Draft Picks On Twitter?

On Thursday, before the draft started, Pete Carroll fired off a series of tweets with the hashtag "SeahawksDraftClues." Included within the tweets were videos from relatively famous comedy bits or movies, with the idea being that followers could find a clue to a Seattle draft pick somewhere within the clip. It's like The Da Vinci Code meets Draft Day. Or something.

Field Gulls broke down the tape and was able to crack the code for most of the picks. The first clue was the famous "Van Down By The River" Chris Farley skit on SNL. Seattle traded down (by the river) with it's first pick.

Now, this is sort of like pointing out how those clouds over there look like a duck. Once you have that in your mind, you're looking for the duck. Otherwise innocuous fluffy weather becomes a duck. But still, some of it is pretty on point. Carroll's done it before, too. A few years ago he posted a Hangover clip and they went on to pick Russell Wilson (Wolfpack was the common, though subtle, link between the two).

Here's a representative sample, followed by some interpretation from Field Gulls:

So much to dissect there. But, for me, in hindsight the part of this we need to key in on is John C Reilly's mention of Muhammad Ali. Ali was formerly known as Cassius Clay…our 4th round pick at #108 overall is Cassius Marsh.

Field Gulls broke down every clue—there were seven clues—and tied six of the seven to actual picks. The first clue was theoretically a clue that they'd be trading down, so the other six are the picks they knew they'd be making before acquiring any new picks.

Heading into the draft, the Seahawks held 6 draft picks. Pete Carroll gave 7 clues. Assuming the 1st clue was in fact to tip off the trade down, the other six clues would represent the 6 draftpicks the Seahawks held at that time. And those six clues end up representing picks: 2a, 2b, 4a, 4b, 4c, and 6a. The only players not represented by clues were pick 5b (Jimmy Staten), 6b (Eric Pinkins), and 7 (Kiero Small). But, like I suggested, those weren't necessarily players they knew they could get on Thursday.

It seems kind of nutty to think that a team would willingly publicize any clues to possible draft selections but, again, these are more often than not confirmed in hindsight, rather than predicted before hand.

[ Field Gulls]