AP

On Wednesday, Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman faced the media for the first time since a rocky offseason that saw him on the trading block. On Thursday, coach Pete Carroll gave Sherman high marks for his performance.

“Are we over that?” Carroll told reporters regarding the ESPN The Magazine article that recently stirred up plenty of talk about dysfunction and resentment and the inability to get past a devastating loss in Super Bowl XLIX. “Yeah, we’re over that. I don’t think that in any way dictated the offseason or we wouldn’t base our offseason accomplishments based on that. I think [Sherman] spoke very well to the points and he answered your questions and did a really admirable job of making things clear to you guys.

“I think you should know where we stand right now. If you didn’t, and you were uncertain, I think you should know where we’re coming from. Sherm and I in particular have had an incredibly profitable, beneficial offseason getting ready. His mind is ready to go after it in a huge way this season coming up. His focus in these practices was excellent. What he added in all that, I couldn’t have been more happy. Him, Kam [Chancellor] and Earl [Thomas] coming back — those guys — you could really feel their factor in the locker room and on the field and it’s great to have those guys functioning at that level. I’m really proud of Sherm, the way he handled himself. I thought it was really well done.”

Whether it’s real or not, everyone is currently saying the right things in Seattle. The question becomes whether everything will be positive and upbeat privately, if/when the team encounters adversity during the regular season. If nothing else, Seth Wickersham’s article gives reporters good reason to think that there’s plenty of potentially juicy nuggets to dredge up — along with plenty of incentive to find them.

Unless the anonymous sources who spoke to Wickersham have a sudden epiphany or otherwise lose their ability to communicate, they’ll likely give in to the persistent efforts to get to the truth, if/when the team conceals it from the public eye. Like most teams do.