The Seattle Seahawks don't do things like a normal football team. Pete Carroll and John Schneider think outside the box and act on those thoughts quite frequently.

The acquisition of Doug Baldwin is a prime example. As Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated revealed, Schneider was able to acquire his current top receiver through a rather unusual method, a two-page, handwritten letter he sent to Baldwin following the 2011 NFL Draft.

Baldwin went undrafted, but Schneider, fairly new on the job after being hired in January of 2010, wanted to let him know how much the Seahawks front office liked his game, so he hammered out two pages of detailed notes about the Baldwin's game and the plan for the Seahawks moving forward.

Everything he wrote about the way he and Carroll planned on building a team and crafting their club is 100 percent spot on. And it helped net him Baldwin, a receiver with a massive chip on his shoulder who has become one of the better (and still underrated) receivers in the game.

Transcription via Marc Sessler of NFL.com (you can view the actual letter on SI.com):

Dear Doug,

My name is John Schneider. I am the general manager of the Seattle Seahawks and I am writing you this personal note to inform you of our sincere interest in signing you as soon as we are able. I attended your Arizona [State] game (nice deep ball adjust by the way) and came away extremely impressed. We had you as a draftable [sic] player although we drafted a good receiver in Kris Durham earlier in the draft, we feel strongly that you could develop into a unique contributor with your specific skill set. Doug, trust me when I tell you that we are extremely excited about your upside.

I'm sure you are disappointed for not being drafted during the 2011 Draft, but I'm here to tell you that it doesn't matter where you start, but where you finish. Coach Carroll prides himself on providing open competition and we are still looking for a "move the chains" guy like Brandon Stokely [sic] did for us last season. Oh, and by the way there were 23 non-drafted players who played in this past season's Pro Bowl! So be confident in this fact.

We- our offensive staff and scouting dept. feels [sic] like you could come in and challenge for early playing time because of your intelligence, passing game savvy, quickness, burst, body control, hand, and in stout separation skills. We also love your ability to track the ball, go up and get it, and take it away/secure it in tight areas. Very impressive in this regard.

Most importantly Doug, you fit the bill for our young program as we are looking for smart, tough, competitive, and confident football players. Coach Carroll and I are trying to build this team with young players, like yourself, who can come in and grow together in order to be a consistently competitive, championship caliber football team. We think that you, along with Golden Tate and Durham would be core guys to build with. All three of you have different skill sets, but high levels of confidence and competitiveness.

I'm sure you are well aware of Coach Carroll's coaching style. We have a great time, but at the same time we are all about competition. Coach Carroll loves fun. Our mission is to get the most competitive group of guys together in order to compete and raise everyone's game. In this lockout year, we feel that this is a great time to go young and let it rip! I personally feel that we are going to be able to add a whole new draft class with the rookie free agents as we had about 18 players left on our draft board when it ended.

In summary we wish you the best with your decision, but we are coming hard after you! I am good friends with your agent Buddy, so we will be making you an offer as soon as we can!

Come join the Hawks!

Sincerely,

John Schneider