The caliber of Teasley’s entrée to team-building has few, if any, matches. His stint in Seattle ended with him acting as the right-hand, if you will, to Schneider, who is an elite evaluator and connector of people.
One line in particular jumped out to us from Teasley’s comments about working under Schneider and being prepared to lead a building: “I was raised in this league by seeing it done the right way,” he said.
O’Connell added of Teasley and Schneider, “I think I’ve known of Nolan for a long time through John.”
“I have all the respect in the world for him,” O’Connell said of the Seahawks GM. “We’ve shared some similar folks that we work with for a long time. But what makes John Schneider so unique is the times, the touchpoints throughout the football calendar when he never misses an opportunity to shake your hand. He never misses an opportunity to connect with people. And you can see the way he does that with people outside his organization (so) you can only imagine what he’s done inside that organization.”
O’Connell referenced meeting Teasley “maybe three years ago at the combine” and feeling impacted by him through a quick and casual interaction. “Our league is a small circle in many ways, and I just always had so much respect and admiration [for him],” O’Connell continued. “And then when you start really pairing the information we’ve heard with getting a chance to be a part of the process, it became pretty clear exactly not only the type of person and leader that we were hiring, but just the football background, understanding the college [scouting] side, the pro [scouting] side, how it all works together. … That’s all part of his DNA of his football life, his football journey, and obviously was [key to his hiring].”
Evidently excited for Teasley, O’Connell and Wilf were also extremely complimentary of Brzezinski.
“His leadership and his selflessness to attack [the past four months] for the greater good of the organization, and for ownership to entrust him during that time, I think speaks for itself,” O’Connell said.
He added, “Rob is a pivotal part of not only this organization, but he is a pivotal part of my four-plus years being the head coach here. [I] couldn’t have felt more comfortable [working with him] every day.”
The coach noted that Brzezinski, who started with the team in 1999 as Director of Football Administration, chuckles when he refers to himself as “the cap guy.” He is so much more, though.
“To have Rob Brzezinski as part of the livelihood of the Minnesota Vikings is how I look at it. He bleeds Purple. He loves this organization, he loves our fans, he loves our ownership, he loves our players, loves our coaches. And you feel that from him every single day. And just his ability to already form that with Nolan [is significant], and Nolan made a point, as almost all the candidates did, of Rob’s value.” …
“I know Nolan’s going to lean on him (and) I will continue to lean on him daily,” O’Connell commented. “He’s got so much experience and so much knowledge, and I’m just really excited about the opportunity to get to work daily with not only those two guys and with Nolan as our leader, but everybody in our organization. And now we [will start going] through the process to see what that in totality will look like.”