2017 Seahawks: Wilson the Magician

DanoooME

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With Free Agency about to begin, I guess it's time to get started. I personally don't expect much activity by the Hawks because they don't have a lot of cap flexibility, but they also don't have a lot of needs going into 2017. SLB, CB, OL, general depth seem to be the priorities.

DeShawn Shead and Brock Coyle were not tendered contracts. They will probably re-sign Shead on a cheaper deal, given that he'll miss at least half of 2017 with his torn ACL. Coyle is too slow and too small to be really effective; I was kind of surprised he'd made it this long.

There was some speculation that Adrian Peterson had Seattle on his short list, however, unless he was willing to play for the veteran minimum, he's not going there. They already have 2 good backs with health concerns (Rawls, Prosise), so rather than make a big splash, I think they find someone on a cheap deal that stays healthy and gives them something they don't already have (goal line offense ability).

The Hawks have also been tied to many FA OL, since the line was such a disaster last year, but I think they give most of the line another year to jell. Garry Gilliam was an RFA and was given an original round tender, which I think is $1.79M. If somebody wants to pay him more, he'll be gone. The only guys with sure jobs on the line right now are Britt at C and Ifedi at either RG or RT.

They have $25.9M in cap space per OTC and Field Gulls.

They also have the #26 pick in the draft. They'll likely deal out of that spot for more picks, since they traded away a 4th rounder to NE and a 7th rounder to Oak. They did pick up two 3rd round comp picks so they have 5 picks in the first three rounds.
 

DanoooME

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FA has gotten off to a less than auspicious start.

Outsiders:
Luke Joeckel, OT, 1 year $8M, $7M guaranteed. Ridiculous amount of guaranteed money in there for a guy who's done nothing but flop since he came into the league
Eddie Lacy, RB, 1 year $5.5M, $3M guaranteed. I'm not thrilled. They already have two talented backs coming off of injury. It's one thing if he's coming in to fill a goal line role or something, but then that's too much money. I like the weight clause, but think more money should have been tied to it. It's tied to specific weights at specific times (255 by May, 250 by June and August, 245 for September-December), so at $55K per month, it's a total of $385K.

Re-signings:
Neiko Thorpe, CB/ST, 2 years, $3.5M, $600K guaranteed. Excellent special teamer and improving at CB, could be a significant piece of the LOB next year.

They were rumored to be in on Packers G TJ Lang, but he went to Detroit. They've also had plenty of visits from RBs (Charles, Peterson), and others (Francois, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Jared Cook)
 

DanoooME

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And then the latest stupidity, Michael Lombardi shooting his mouth off on a podcast saying the Seahawks would trade CB Richard Sherman "for the right deal". Here's the quote:

“For the Saints, if they were to call the Seattle Seahawks and say, ‘Look, we would be interested in obtaining Richard Sherman, would you be willing to do it?’ I truly believe, based on what I hear around the National Football League, that the Seahawks would in fact, for the right deal, trade Richard Sherman. He has two years left [on his contract] at around $11 million a year. He’s two years older than Malcolm Butler, and that’s all he is. He would come in and fix their defense in a style that they want to play. They want to emulate the Seattle defense in New Orleans. So could that be a trade that they make? To me, that’s an option. I’m not saying that they’re going to do that, but that would be an option.”
Um, the Seahawks would trade anyone for the right deal, Captain Obvious. But the right deal for them isn't going to work for the team trading for him. And with the other CB slot basically Neiko Thorpe, an enigmatic Jeremy Lane and pretty much little else, I highly doubt he's going anywhere. Maybe the Saints entire draft, they'd do it. Maybe Ditka could take over again.
 

Marciano490

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What does the "and that's all he is" line mean? That he's no better than Butler, just a couple years older?
 

DanoooME

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What does the "and that's all he is" line mean? That he's no better than Butler, just a couple years older?
Who knows? Lombardi is a blowhard.

In other FA news, Seahawks sign LB Arthur Brown, formerly known as the replacement for Ray Lewis.

Hopefully he plays as crazy as this guy

 

Super Nomario

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What does the "and that's all he is" line mean? That he's no better than Butler, just a couple years older?
In context it sounded like he was saying "all Sherman is is two years older than Butler" because you'd think there's a greater age disparity between the two since Butler just finished his third season and Sherman has been established for a while. His larger point was that Sherman fits their scheme better than Butler, and being only two years older should still have plenty of good football left. And his larger, larger point was that the Saints should be considering other options instead of just whether or not to get Butler. Sherman was kind of just throwing something out there.
 

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I caught a good bit of NFL radio yesterday. They had the one of the Seattle beat writers on and he specifically said he doesn't believe that Seattle is shopping Sherman, but that they are fielding calls and listening. He made out a pretty good case why he believes the Seahawks are open to trading him. I don't recall all the details, just remember thinking the compensation he speculated it would take was low IMO.
 

j-man

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FA has gotten off to a less than auspicious start.

Outsiders:
Luke Joeckel, OT, 1 year $8M, $7M guaranteed. Ridiculous amount of guaranteed money in there for a guy who's done nothing but flop since he came into the league
Eddie Lacy, RB, 1 year $5.5M, $3M guaranteed. I'm not thrilled. They already have two talented backs coming off of injury. It's one thing if he's coming in to fill a goal line role or something, but then that's too much money. I like the weight clause, but think more money should have been tied to it. It's tied to specific weights at specific times (255 by May, 250 by June and August, 245 for September-December), so at $55K per month, it's a total of $385K.

Re-signings:
Neiko Thorpe, CB/ST, 2 years, $3.5M, $600K guaranteed. Excellent special teamer and improving at CB, could be a significant piece of the LOB next year.

They were rumored to be in on Packers G TJ Lang, but he went to Detroit. They've also had plenty of visits from RBs (Charles, Peterson), and others (Francois, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Jared Cook)
its better than denver's

while Leary was a outstanding pickup denver has done little else should still be 5th or so in the AFC i just have the feeling elway is punting this year for brady to age and to see if lynch can play
 

DanoooME

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Seattle might be the only non pats team that can stop NE from 6 rings
Things can change quickly, so I don't think this is necessarily true. Pittsburgh's still got a loaded offense, Denver has a loaded defense. Dallas will be strong. Atlanta will be back as long as they don't have a SB hangover. And the Pats could get hit with the injury bug badly too.

its better than denver's

while Leary was a outstanding pickup denver has done little else should still be 5th or so in the AFC i just have the feeling elway is punting this year for brady to age and to see if lynch can play
FA isn't the be-all, end-all of improving your team. Seattle invests a lot more in the draft than FA every year since Pete and John came to town. Have faith on your personnel department to put together a good draft. Seattle's dealt a couple of picks and lost one, so I'm pretty convinced unless they have someone in mind that blows them away and slips to #26, they are trading down yet again. The good news is they do have 5 of the top 105 picks, so they have a chance to get better talent in this draft. Maybe they can make it 6 by trading down.

Speaking of Broncos, Ryan Clady came into Seattle for a visit. I wonder if he's got anything left to be worth burning most of the rest of their cap space on him.
 

j-man

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Clady wouild be great for u if he stays on the field


wouild be u best pass blocker since walter jones but he will never be the 08-11 clady again but the 12 and 14 Clady was a top 10 LT
 

j-man

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and u are right about FA but i am worryed about Denver Off aga teams like NE ' OAK for denver to make the playoffs they need a top 16 off
 

DanoooME

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Seahawks sign DE/OLB Dion Jordan, formerly of the Dolphins. Theoretically taking the role of Bruce Irvin as a SLB for rushing downs and pass rushing DE on passing downs. I'm sure it's not for much money, so he might be worth a gamble.
 

DanoooME

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Marshawn Lynch is being sent to the Raiders for a swap of late round picks in 2018. Hey, at least they got something for him since he certainly wasn't going to be playing in Seattle.

Good luck to Marshawn, he was one of my favorites here.
 

Reggie's Racquet

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So why would the league allow a trade like this? Lynch is clearly worth more than a swap of late round 2018 picks. Doesn't the compensation have to be fair? Isn't the NFL all about integrity? This trade strengthens a direct adversary of the Patriots.
 

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The compensation is low because if Seattle started upping their demand, Lynch could very well say "Screw it" and stay retired. Seattle has obviously moved on without him and thus has no real reason to ask for a lot, particularly as the Raiders are not in their conference.

There's no reason for the league or anyone else to be remotely concerned.
 

Stitch01

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He actually could hurt the Seahawks more by saying "actually Im coming back" because his $9MM salary goes onto the cap (not quite given rule of 51, but close enough for this purpose) and Seattle is like $8-$10MM under the cap currently..

They were never getting much compensation for Lynch and I dont have any earthly ideal how this is an integrity of the league issue.
 

DanoooME

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I'm pretty confident the Seahawks are trading down today. I'd give it a 90% chance they trade down, 8% they trade up for someone that falls, and 2% they stay where they are and pick at #26.

And a lot of mocks have them going OT or CB in the first and I don't see either. The CB class is allegedly pretty deep this year, so I think Pete will want to wait and take advantage of that in the later rounds (although they don't have a 4th or a 5th, but that's where the trade down comes in). I don't think they are confident that any of the OL available early are going to be worth picking up at #26 despite their needs there. I think they take the best available player, whether that's Melifonwu or someone else. They need general depth, so I don't think position isn't going to matter, although I'm sure they'll skip QB and likely RB as well.
 

DanoooME

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An absolute crusher to me, HOF DT Cortez Kennedy dead at 48.

He was one of my all time favorites, so dominant in the middle of the DL. He won the Defensive POY in 1992 for a 2-14 team (that somehow was #3 in DVOA in defense that year). Can't believe he was only 48.
 

wibi

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Tez was the guy who got me into the Seahawks ... This one hurts more than I can explain
 

DanoooME

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Seahawks sign a back-up QB. Sadly, it's Austin Davis and not Colin Kaepernick. Money was the issue with Kaep and it's no surprise since he really is good enough to start for at least some teams in this league. I'm sure Davis will not be making much more than the vet minimum.

I never summarized the Seahawks' draft, but they ended up trading down 3 times and picking up an extra 4 picks in the process.

They traded #26 to Atlanta for #31, #95, #249
Then they traded #31 to San Fran for #34, #111
Then they traded #34 to Jacksonville for #35, #187

They finally picked DT Malik McDowell with #35, which will help them greatly with the interior pass rush
Pick #58 was Ethan Pocic, who was a C, but had experience at all positions on the line, and he's a favorite to start at either RG or RT (with Ifedi at the other spot)
Pick #90 was Shaquill Green, who will compete for a starting CB job opposite Richard Sherman
Pick #95 was Delano Hill, a safety who may play in their 4-2-5 Cover 3
Pick #102 was Nazair Jones, a DT who hopefully makes the rotation
Pick #106 was Amara Darboh, a WR who should make the team and may be a special teams ace
Pick #111 was Tedric Thompson, a FS who could be the long term Earl Thomas replacement (not likely, but we'll see)
Pick #187 was Mike Tyson (no, not that one), yet another safety who is a hard hitter
Pick #210 was Justin Senior, OL who, with this line, has a shot to make the team if he shows something, but is likely a PS candidate
Pick #226 was David Moore, a WR out of a small college in OK. Probably another PS candidate
Pick #249 was Christopher Carson, RB to add depth there and will likely end up on the PS
 

DanoooME

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It's been a couple of months, but here's a quick summary of things that happened

Continue to sign failed first round picks by picking up ex-Eagle Marcus Smith. He played OLB in Philly's 3-4, so I'm not sure how he fits here in the 4-3, probably LEO depth
Traded LB Kevin Pierre-Louis to Kansas City for LB DJ Alexander. Seems like a serious upgrade on ST, since Alexander made the Pro Bowl for that after Slater bowed out.
Rookie DT and top pick in the 2nd round Malik McDowell wrecked himself on an ATV and suffered a concussion. He has reported to camp
SS Kam Chancellor signs a 3 year extension for $36 million with $25 million guaranteed. So now the entire starting defense is signed through 2018.
Sign LB/ST Mike Morgan again, waiving The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, no contract details, but it's likely for the vet minimum
Sign FB Marcel Reece again, waiving FB Algernon Brown, for the vet minimum
Defense and offense get into a bunch of fights in training camp, ending with DE Frank Clark punching helmetless OL Germain Ifedi in the face. Ifedi wasn't seriously injured, but Pete was pissed about it.
S Kenny Easley was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, becoming the 4th Seahawk inducted (not counting Franco Harris and Jerry Rice), after Steve Largent, the late Cortez Kennedy, and Walter Jones.
 

DanoooME

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Heading into cut day, there's something up, since the Hawks converted almost $7M of Doug Baldwin's guaranteed salary into signing bonus, giving them an additional $5.23M of cap room. Maybe the Sheldon Richardson rumors are true? I mean, he'd definitely help, but the O-Line still really needs the most help.

According to Rapaport, WR Jermaine Kearse, RB Alex Collins and CB Jeremy Lane are allegedly on the trade block. Lane wouldn't really be cut if he's not traded since they don't save anything by cutting him (and lose ground if he's not a post-June 1 cut). Kearse has some interest from Cleveland, but it's unsure how serious it would be. Collins is gone because of the RB logjam already there (Lacy, Rawls, Prosise as the top 3, Chris Carson dazzling the coaching staff and Marcel Reece likely to keep a spot). Even Mike Davis, who had a really good camp according to reports, isn't going to make the team, and he pretty much snuck ahead of Collins.

Seahawks finished their preseason at 4-0 with a comeback 17-13 victory over the Raiders. Alas, they were unable to get out of this one without a serious injury as CB DeAndre Elliott, who was in the mix for the job opposite Richard Sherman, broke his ankle and is done for the year. He joins LT George Fant on the IR after his own torn ACL, which was a major blow to the O-Line, as pretty much everyone was raving about his improvement after he put on 25 pounds of muscle in the offseason. CB DeShawn Shead will start the year on PUP and hopefully will return week 7 or so.

My guess is at least 10 of the Seahawks' cuts get picked up by other teams. The reserves have really played that well.
 

ThePrideofShiner

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Jermaine Kearse traded to Jets. Hoping that means Richardson is coming back.

Also, Seahawks picked up CB Justin Coleman from the Pats for a late-round pick.
 

sketz

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A 2nd rounder is pretty valuable, but I like this deal for the Hawks. If Richardson can stay healthy he should be a significant upgrade to the line (especially if Clark's wrist injury is serious)
 

DanoooME

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Cut day came and went.

DE Cassius Marsh traded to the Patriots for a 5th rounder and the 7th rounder Seattle sent to NE for Justin Coleman. So via the transitive property, Hawks trade Marsh for a 5th and Justin Coleman. I like that deal. Pats fans should like Marsh and depending on how he fits in, he might thrive in NE's defense. He's a lighter end rusher, so he's not really a guy to put inside at all, but he's got a great motor and was solid on special teams.

CB Traimaine Brock was sent to the Vikings for a 7th rounder. Not bad for a scrap heap pick-up from a couple of weeks ago that wasn't going to make the team

The rest of the cuts included the following notables:

Austin Davis won the backup QB job over Trevone Boykin. They may be signing Boykin to the practice squad to keep him close.
RB Alex Collins, 5th round pick in 2016, was cut due to the emergence of Chris Carson and the signing of Eddie Lacy; he initially committed to the Jets PS, but changed at the last minute to the Ravens PS.
CB Pierre Desir claimed by the Colts. I thought he had a good shot of making the team with his camp performance
C Joey Hunt, 6th round pick in 2016, signed to the PS.
DT Quinton Jefferson, another 5th round pick in 2016, was claimed by the Rams. Has tons of potential, but doesn't have the health skill.
WR Kenny Lawler, 7th round pick in 2016, another PS candidate
CB Mike Tyson, 6th round pick in 2017
WR Kasen Williams, UDFA from 2015, played sparingly the last two years, looked like he made a lot of progress this year, and was claimed by the Browns.
DT Ahtyba Rubin, decent run stuffer that took a step back last year, but they didn't have room for him with the Richardson deal.
FB Marcel Reece, likely to be re-signed after week 1, so they don't have to guarantee his salary.
LB/ST Mike Morgan, may end up the same as Reece

CB DeShawn Shead put on the PUP list, might be back when first eligible week 7.
DE Dion Jordan and DT Malik McDowell (their top pick #35 in the 2017 draft) put in the NFI list
OT George Fant (ACL), CB DeAndre Elliott (Ankle), S Marcus Cromartie (Undisclosed) put on IR and ending their seasons
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Hot take from Lombardi on the Ringer GM Street podcast that Richardson is such a contemptible teammate that he ruined practices and meetings and games for the Jets and they were smart to unload him. Also improved what would've been a compensatory pick at the end of the third round into Seattle's (presumably late) second-rounder, as well as Kearse.

Importantly, Lombardi further added that the Seahawks clubhouse was one that would be well-suited to keep Richardson in line. Bennett, Thomas, Sherman, Chancellor, etc. not likely to tolerate his bad behavior, and Richardson would have to respect them more than the flotsam and Jetsam. You'd think.
 

luckiestman

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Hot take from Lombardi on the Ringer GM Street podcast that Richardson is such a contemptible teammate that he ruined practices and meetings and games for the Jets and they were smart to unload him. Also improved what would've been a compensatory pick at the end of the third round into Seattle's (presumably late) second-rounder, as well as Kearse.

Importantly, Lombardi further added that the Seahawks clubhouse was one that would be well-suited to keep Richardson in line. Bennett, Thomas, Sherman, Chancellor, etc. not likely to tolerate his bad behavior, and Richardson would have to respect them more than the flotsam and Jetsam. You'd think.

Maybe a hot take but Lombardi's son is a Jets coach.

I like Sheldon as a player a lot. But he was gone after this year (locker room cancer or not).
 

DanoooME

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Frustrating loss in many ways 17-9 to the Packers. Tom Cable better get to fucking work on that worthless OL. The defense played great, Richardson was fantastic as advertised, but when your offense only keeps the ball 20 minutes, no defense has a chance.

Next game at home vs. the 49ers, who got pounded at home by Carolina.
 

DanoooME

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Another dogshit offensive effort, barely beating the hapless 49ers 12-9. The defense is holding up their part of the bargain, but the offense is still firing on 4 cylinders in a V-8. Their only TD drive was highlighted by an up-tempo pace, which worked well in the pre-season (and evidently Russell is in love with), but has hardly been used so far. The line was supposedly better, but Russell still runs around like he's going to get killed at any moment. Chris Carson has pretty much locked up the starting RB job with Rawls ineffective and Lacy inactive. Lacy's future with this club is limited at best and fortunately they save $62,500 every time he doesn't play. At least the TOP was in their favor this time due to some long drives in the first half.

Next week, they travel to Tennessee to face the Titans and they need to get their shit together on offense to pull that one out.
 

edmunddantes

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As I'm in the bay area, I got to watch large chunks of this game.

Man, that Defense has to be pissed at the Offense.

I agree with whoever said it above, sometimes Wilson just has happy feet and abandons things long before he needs too. He still can make some great plays doing it, but it often looks like they lose out on some great plays because of it.

Right now, they don't scare me away from Century Link, and even at Century Link, they could be in trouble with decent teams. Not to mention the whole lockerroom might boil over before then if the D has to keep carrying them. Carrol is going to need all his happy go lucky tools to keep them together.
 

sketz

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Glowinski needs to be replaced at RG. He's letting DTs beat him too often and there's not much the offense can do with immediate pressure up the middle on a 4 man rush.
 

DanoooME

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As I'm in the bay area, I got to watch large chunks of this game.

Man, that Defense has to be pissed at the Offense.

I agree with whoever said it above, sometimes Wilson just has happy feet and abandons things long before he needs too. He still can make some great plays doing it, but it often looks like they lose out on some great plays because of it.

Right now, they don't scare me away from Century Link, and even at Century Link, they could be in trouble with decent teams. Not to mention the whole lockerroom might boil over before then if the D has to keep carrying them. Carrol is going to need all his happy go lucky tools to keep them together.
They've been pissed at the offense for years now.

And I can't blame Wilson much. The pass protection most of the time doesn't seem to even put up a fight and guys clearly get beat before Wilson can even set up to throw a pass. It shows in the games he has no confidence in them. And I can't blame him. When only one guy (Britt) shows he can block consistently (and he generally is just only assisting others on blocks), why wouldn't you get nervous back there?

Glowinski needs to be replaced at RG. He's letting DTs beat him too often and there's not much the offense can do with immediate pressure up the middle on a 4 man rush.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. I think I could block better than him right now and he has me by 50 pounds and years of HS, college and pro experience. He's clearly the worst starter on the line and maybe the entire league. Teams don't need to blitz against this line.
 

sketz

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Glowinski has been benched in favor of Aboushi & apparently Odhiambo is close to losing his starting role (no clue who they'd replace him with - Pocic?)
 

DanoooME

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It's Pocic or Tobin. I'd lean towards Tobin. Pocic has the higher ceiling overall, but not sure if he's really a T or not. They have 3 guys on the line that definitely need replacing (Glow, Joeckel, Odhiambo) and not enough replacements. They certainly don't have much to lose switching these guys out.