Richard Sherman signed with the 49ers earlier this month after the Seahawks released him following seven seasons, four Pro Bowls and two Super Bowl appearances. Sherman's departure is part of a defensive overhaul that included trading Michael Bennett, and Earl Thomas might be next. But the cornerback, who thanked the organization and its fans on his way out the door, also said that coach Pete Carroll's message had grown stale with some of the veterans.

Sherman's remarks came up at the NFL owners meeting in Orlando this week, and Carroll sounded remarkably unsurprised.

"So what else is new?" the coach said, via the Seattle Times' Bob Condotta. "Sherm has been saying stuff his whole career, so this is nothing different. I've been through so much of what he has said, I take it all with a grain of salt. He's just battling. He's just trying to figure it out."

Two weeks ago, days after he joined San Francisco, Sherman said this about his former coach.

"I think it was kind of philosophical on [Carroll's] part. A lot of us have been there six, seven, eight years, and his philosophy is more built for college," he said during an appearance on Uninterrupted's "The Tomahawk Show," which is hosted by retired NFL players Joe Thomas and Andrew Hawkins.

"Four years, guys rotate in, rotate out, and so we had kind of heard all his stories, we had kind of heard every story, every funny anecdote that he had. And honestly because he just recycles them. And they're cool stories, they're great for team chemistry and building, et cetera, et cetera. But we had literally heard them all. We could recite them before he even started to say them."

Sherman also said it "felt kind of disrespectful to me in a way" that the Seahawks were quick to move on from him following a season-ending Achilles injury after the team was willing to wait for Earl Thomas and Jimmy Graham to recover from injuries.

Carroll, meanwhile, sounds legitimately excited about the 2018 season, even if the Legion of Boom has been dismantled, several key offensive players are gone (Graham, Paul Richardson and Luke Willson have signed elsewhere) and the offensive line remains a huge question mark. But that's a challenge the 66-year-old coach welcomes.

"There's no question, there's no question, I think more than ever," he said. "I am fired up about [restocking the roster], yeah. I'm fired up. We've been through all kinds of transitions (in past years). We've lost coaches, we've lost players, that's kind of what always happens. So every year you've got to kind of recapture it and all that. But I'm just a little bit more jacked. I think I'm maybe still pissed about the way we ended the season and didn't finish the way we wanted to. I think that's fueling it as much as anything."

As it stands, the the Rams are the favorites in the NFC West, the 49ers and Jimmy Garoppolo are a dark-horse playoff team, and the Cardinals could be in the mix if they can keep Sam Bradford healthy. Put another way: There's a chance the Seahawks are the worst team in the division so Carroll will have his work cut out for him in the coming weeks and months.