RENTON, Wash. -- The Seattle Seahawks drafted tight end Nick Vannett out of Ohio State in the third round of this year's draft.
General manager John Schneider said in the spring that the team loved Vannett's ability as a blocker.
Vannett battled through injuries in the first part of the year but is healthy now. He's played 40 snaps on the season, but with Luke Willson dealing with a knee injury, Vannett could rotate in more on Sunday.
I caught up with him this week for a Q&A.
Let's start with an easy one. You’ve played for Urban Meyer and Pete Carroll. Compare those two guys for me.
Nick Vannett: They’re on the complete opposite ends of the spectrum from each other. Coach Meyer’s more like the business coach, and he expects a lot out of you. Not that Coach Carroll doesn’t. But I think Coach Carroll does a better job of forming relationships with the players here. He just makes it a fun atmosphere. Since I came here, I’ve really enjoyed my time here.
How do you think Carroll does that -- builds relationships well with his players?
NV: He’s just himself. He encourages that throughout the whole team. He lets everybody be themselves and go about their business as long as they’re doing their job. He’ll make it a loose environment and just lets everybody have fun. At the end of the day, this is a fun game that we get to play. We’re all happy and blessed to be where we are. He’s just one of the coaches that understands that. There’s not too many of them out there like that.
When you got here and met everyone, who was the guy that was a lot different than what you were expecting?
NV: Probably Richard Sherman. Just because the way social media portrays him, it portrays him to be this jerk, this a--h--- or whatever. But I think he’s one of the coolest guys on the team. He really goes out of his way to talk to the rookies. We’ve had a lot of good talks, me and him. But it goes for everyone. There’s a lot of vets here who really respect guys like us. I walked in thinking, 'I’m going to have to earn my respect. Hopefully one day, they’ll say something to me.' But as long as you show you’re willing to put the work in and contribute to this team, they’re going to help bring you along. I think that’s what’s really cool with this team.
I caught part of your interview on 710 ESPN Seattle with "Danny, Dave and Moore." You were talking about the house you’re living in here and some weird stuff that’s going on. Tell me about what was happening.
NV: Just some weird, paranormal stuff going on. It’s honestly unexplainable. You want to blame it on the window being opened and the wind blowing it in, but --
Well, what happened exactly?
NV: I was laying in bed, and I had my bedroom door six inches open, just kind of cracked open. And it just slammed out of nowhere. It just slammed. I thought it was my roommate [Tanner McEvoy]. I thought he came upstairs and might be just messing with me or whatever. But he was downstairs the whole time. He had a friend over. They were playing video games. That’s when I was like, ‘OK, something ain’t right here.’ And I noticed some other stuff along the way. I haven’t noticed much recently.
Will Tukuafu [from the next locker over]: What? You see ghosts?
NV: Yeah, at my crib. This has been going on since a month or two ago.
WT: The joint is haunted?
NV: I think so. I haven’t noticed anything recently, but there’s some s--- going on.
What else other than the door closing?
NV: I’ve had bathroom lights and fans turn on.
Lights turn on?
NV: Yeah.
WT: Don’t say too much. They’ll categorize you as crazy.
NV: You’ll hear knocking and stuff. It’s little stuff. It doesn’t really bother me too much. As long as they’re not messing with me, I’m cool with it.
When you get here as a rookie, who sets you up with housing?
NV: They have recommendations, but my agent took care of all that. I got a realtor, and we just checked out some places, and this was one that I liked.
Had this kind of stuff ever happened to you at a previous residence?
NV: No, never. Never really experienced it. Before then, if you would have told me that ghosts were real, I would have been like, ‘Get your mic out of my face. There ain’t no way.’ But once you actually experience it, it’s like, ‘OK, I believe you now.’
What do rookies have to do here? Buy food for road trips?
NV: Yeah, exactly. I haven’t had to do it a lot. I’ve done it a few times. I did it last week. They’ll just give me their order to go pick up the food. I guess there’s going to be a rookie dinner coming up where we’ll go to some super expensive place and they’ll just order everything off the menu, and I’ll have to cover that bill. But other than that, there’s no hazing or any slimy stuff going on. They pretty much treat you with respect.
