Before we dive into the specifics of what the Seahawks have done over the past couple of days, let's remember one thing: being a Seattle Seahawks fan is great right now. As we dive back into training camp next week, remember that. This is all great. Every single move the team makes fits with a philosophy that has proven itself to be a winner. It's great.

And this off-season in particular could have been really rough. The team ended last season on a down note, lost some very talented defensive pieces, had Marshawn Lynch retire, and potentially was staring down lame duck seasons from both the head coach and general manager. But that isn't where we are now. Now things are good again.

In honor of Pete Carroll's new contract (which is hopefully for as much of Paul Allen's money as he wants), let's break down the four biggest pieces of business the Seahawks have gotten done heading into Training Camp in order of importance:

Locked up head coach Pete Carroll through 2019

There is exactly one better coach in professional football than Pete Carroll, whose contract was set to expire after this coming season, so the Seahawks had to lock him up. Had to. So they did through 2019. Because this organization is being run at a really high level (by the standards of Seattle sports) there was a move that had to be made and it got made.

Pete Carroll is old for an NFL head coach at 64, and this contract allows him to see out the primes of the Seahawks defensive core, and then decide whether to keep coaching or take a VP of football operations type job either here or his former home in Los Angeles. The important thing is that he isn't leaving now and is still as good as it gets without turning to the dark side and becoming Bill Belichick.

Locked up general manager John Schneider through 2021

Schneider has been an incredible personnel man, and has worked simpatico with Carroll to redefine the Seahawks roster and roster building philosophy. And whereas Carroll is old for his job, Schneider remains preternaturally young for his. Despite some misses in the trade market, there's a fairly straightforward case to be made that Schneider is the best salary cap minded general manager in football, and the sort of GM you want your football team to have for at least the next five years. And hey, look! That's how long he signed for! Cool!

The length of his extension suggests that he's going to be around Seattle not just through this core's prime, but potentially through the entirety of Russell Wilson's run with the team. As long as the Seahawks have Wilson their window to be competitive remains open, which must be an appealing situation for a GM like Schneider, who thrives on finding creative solutions to other problems on the roster. Solutions like, "spend no money on the offensive line so everyone else on offense can get paid." Who else would think to do that? No one.

Doug Baldwin got paid

Doug Baldwin has been a very good receiver for the Seahawks for the entirety of his career, but went absolutely supernova in the second half of last season. While he's shorter than a prototypical number one wide receiver, every other aspect of his game (speed, hands, catch radius, route-running) is top notch. And the Seahawks are now paying Baldwin like he's a top receiver, as he signed a deal that made him the highest paid slot receiver in the NFL.

Is this a good deal? Well, counterintuitively, it's always a bit scary to pay a guy coming off the best stretch of his career. You run the risk of overpaying for recent performance. But with Doug, the league is moving towards elite threats out of the slot playing a bigger and bigger role in certain offenses. And Doug is amongst the best in that position in the game (only New England's Julien Edelman has been at his level over the past few seasons). So it's possible that the Seahawks are in some ways getting ahead of the market by paying big bucks for a slot receiver now, rather than letting another team set that market at a potentially higher price.

Regardless of whether or not they overpaid though, the Seahawks had to lock up the guy who did this:

And also tweeted this:

Doug Baldwin is great.

Replace Brandon Mebane with Jarran Reed and reup Ahtyba Rubin

For all the hype that the Legion of Boom gets for their pass defense, the Seahawks were significantly better at defending the run than the pass last year. A lot of that comes down to a linebacking corps that is fast and disciplined, and the versatility of Michael Bennett, but run defenses start with your defensive tackles and for the Seahawks that meant Brandon Mebane and Ahtyba Rubin. And heading into this offseason both were free agents.

The Seahawks solved this problem in the most rational way imaginable. Rubin got locked up to a good deal, Mebane was allowed to ply his trade in San Diego (as he's the significantly older player), and somehow the team was able to get Alabama run stuffer Jarran Reed about 40 picks later than he was expected to go in the draft. (To be clear, and because we're talking football sadly we have to be, Reed slid because other team's don't value run defense as much as the Seahawks, not for anything nefarious). The run defense promises to be back amongst the league's best this year while getting younger and cheaper. Great job!

Training camp is coming and there is still much to be done. Well, primarily three things to be done. The first one is easy: PAY MICHAEL BENNETT. Michael Bennett is a great dude, an indispensible part of both the Seahawks pass and run defense, and a vastly underpaid player. While Bennett made noises about being made about his contract last year, he didn't hold out as the team has made it very clear they will not renegotiate a contract with three years left. Now, however? There is no precedent to be broken, and Bennett overachieved even his own high standards last season. Pay. The. Man.

Second, and far more challenging is rebuilding a somehow yet more depleted offensive line. There's a lot of talent, but literally no one slated to start has proven themselves at the position they're slated to start at. We'll be following the developments on the line all training camp, preseason, season, and (hopefully) insufferable run through the postseason all the way to the Super Bowl.

Third and finally? Get Russell Wilson to stop being a doof.

Ah, who am I kidding? Russ, you can stay a doof forever if you keep outrunning defensive ends while doing admirable charity work during the off-season.