I joined Stu and Adam from the Pedestrian Podcast this week to pick through a number of Seahawks topics, have a listen below…
Month: November 2021 (Page 3 of 3)
Take a chance, Seahawks
According to Mike Florio’s sources, the three teams to monitor when Odell Beckham Jr is released on Friday are the Saints, Seahawks and 49ers.
One of these teams is not like the other two.
The Seahawks have Russell Wilson. The Saints, currently, have Trevor Siemian or Taysom Hill. The 49ers have Jimmy Garoppolo or Trey Lance.
If Beckham Jr is released — and if the financial offers are somewhat even — the Seahawks would have a big advantage there, as Wilson prepares to return from injury.
Personally, I think it would be a good move.
For starters, if it wasn’t abundantly clear prior to his absence, the Seahawks are totally dependant on their franchise quarterback.
The running game is all over the place and the defense isn’t going to scare a serious offensive opponent.
Seattle needs to be able to throw punches in the passing game. Lots of them.
Adding Beckham Jr to D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett would create a potent trio capable of challenging any opponent. It would take the pressure off needing to rush Dee Eskridge back from his concussion and guard against further issues if it becomes a recurring problem this year.
The Seahawks need to do whatever it takes to find a dynamic strength where they can be consistent. With Wilson’s return and with extra weapons thrown into the mix, this would give them the best chance to find that strength — via the passing game.
Take the shackles off and let it rip.
You never know, having a brilliant passing attack might even open up some running lanes.
It’s also possible, whisper it quietly, that it could make the Seahawks ‘fun’ again.
Some might argue it’d be too much risk or be too many mouths to feed in the passing game. Let’s not forget that this team tried to sign Antonio Brown a year ago, despite already having Metcalf and Lockett. That was much more of a ‘risk’ than ODB. If you’re willing to go there for Brown, you better be willing to go there for Beckham.
It’s also worth noting that Brown eventually joined Tom Brady in Tampa Bay despite the Buccaneers already having Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Rob Gronkowski and others. Having lots of weapons helped Brady, it didn’t hinder him.
This franchise still needs to prove to Wilson it means business and that it’s taking his concerns seriously from the off-season.
They have $13,382,838 in available cap space (the 49ers have $3,469,988 and the Saints just $998,752). What have they got to lose by taking a chance on Beckham Jr rejuvenating his career and finding his best form?
The Seahawks always say they’re in on everything but increasingly it’s other teams making the big moves. It’s time to take one last meaningful swing in 2021.
***Update***
With Beckham Jr now released, we wait to see if he’ll be claimed off waivers or reach free agent status. The Seahawks are ninth in the waiver list.
Florio has offered the following update:
“Some believe he prefers to go to Seattle, which makes sense given the presence of quarterback Russell Wilson and other receivers who attract plenty of attention.”
Please consider supporting the blog via Patreon (click the tab below)…
According to Over the Cap, the Seahawks have $13,382,838 in available cap space at the moment.
Only three teams have more cap space — the Jaguars, Broncos and Eagles. All three have cheap starting quarterbacks.
The next three teams on the list are Carolina, Washington and the LA Chargers.
It’s curious why the Seahawks haven’t used their money — especially given the importance of this season after everything that happened earlier in the year.
Further adding to this is the way they’ve handled injured reserve.
Marquise Blair suffered a broken kneecap against the Saints. Pete Carroll confirmed the injury after the game, then confirmed he was having season-ending surgery.
Yet Blair wasn’t placed on IR. He was on the official list of inactives against Jacksonville.
It’s not the first time this season that a player has been injured and faced going on IR but didn’t until another week had passed.
It doesn’t mean a great deal in terms of the game-day roster. It’s not like someone plucked off the practise squad is necessarily going to be active anyway. Also, you can call up a player from the practise squad for an individual game. Tanner Muse played against Jacksonville despite not being on the active roster.
Yet it was particularly head scratching this weekend with Blair’s situation.
Jake Luton has been the backup QB for the last two weeks, having been elevated from the practise squad. The Seahawks can only do this for a player twice, then they have to add them to the 53-man roster.
Putting Blair on IR would’ve allowed them to put Luton on the roster to be the backup, or at least the #3. There seemed little point in not doing this. They could’ve made that move and still activated Muse, after all.
Maybe it’s nothing and Jacob Eason is just that much better than Luton? It does seem a little bit strange, though, to essentially operate with a 52-man roster on more than one occasion this season. They did this with other players too, including Russell Wilson. I can’t imagine they simply preferred to save a paycheque.
If I had to guess, they simply see the current NFL roster rules as flexible enough to not need to immediately IR Blair. Maybe other teams have done this too, I haven’t checked. I did think it was slightly interesting though that a player who is definitely out for the season wasn’t put on IR and they named him inactive vs the Jaguars.
Not spending their available $13m though clearly is money-saving.
It could be part of a plan for next off-season. You roll forward any money you don’t spend.
When they adjusted Quandre Diggs’ and Duane Brown’s contracts, they pushed money into 2021. By not spending all of their cap space this year, they perhaps saw it as a way to reward two pending free agents without needing to extend them. Rolling over money cancels out the cap space used in 2021.
Yet even still, you’d have to think Seattle would want to keep both players. And given this team entered the 2021 season very much in ‘win-now’ mode — it’s still surprising they didn’t make further additions (or simply sign better, more expensive players in March).
A more dramatic suggestion would be they’re saving money because it’s possible they’ll trade Russell Wilson and want to soften the blow of a $26m dead cap hit (they would save $11m on his salary).
Who knows? I do think it’s an interesting discussion about why they’ve made certain moves recently and why they’re carrying so much unspent cap space. They’ve never had so much money to spend during a season before. It’s unusual for Carroll and Schneider to be in this position and I think it warrants a conversation, if nothing else.
Thoughts on the big Rams trade for Von Miller
It’s a bold move which will have fans salivating in LA (well, the few that actually follow the team).
If they win the Super Bowl this season, it’ll be difficult to criticise this trade.
Yet the problem with this deal is it essentially reduces the Rams to one shot at goal. It’s now or never for them.
Look at the state of their 2022 draft:
1st: Traded for Matthew Stafford
2nd: Traded for Von Miller
3rd: Traded for Von Miller
4th: Traded away in Brandin Cooks deal to Houston
6th: Traded for Sony Michel
For half a season of Miller, they’ve given up two high picks.
Big trades can bring success. Yet ultimately, Championship teams are often built through the draft. They’ve brought in a lot of expensive players, some ageing.
If they don’t win it all this year, they’ve set themselves up for trouble in future seasons.
Again, that won’t really matter much if they get a ring in the coming months. It’s also interesting to see them basically write-off the 2022 draft — which, as we’ve discussed, isn’t set up to be a great one.
It’s still a strategy that carries a high degree of risk though. I’m not sure we’ve ever seen such a short-term focus from a team before. If nothing else, it’ll be intriguing to see how it plays out.
The trouble with O-lines…
I talk a lot about the Seahawks refocusing their resources on the trenches. So it’s only fair I highlight how tricky that can be.
The Miami Dolphins O-line is getting extreme criticism at the moment. It’s no surprise — it’s struggling badly.
Yet this is a team that has prioritised the offensive line in the draft.
They spent a first rounder on Austin Jackson and a second rounder on Robert Hunt in 2020. I was a big fan of Hunt and at least appreciated Jackson’s physical profile.
They also took Solomon Kindley in round four, a favourite among some fans and pundits (I wasn’t a big fan personally).
This year they took Liam Eichenburg in round two. Again, not one of my favourites but many people rated him.
They traded for the once highly touted Greg Little and signed Austin Reiter too.
Yet they’re struggling.
Of course, an O-line can’t solve all your problems. You can’t be a bad team across the board and be bailed out by one unit.
This isn’t a well-performing line though. And it’s indicative that as much as I’ve called for Seattle to move resources from linebacker and safety to the lines, it’s no surefire guarantee that you’ll get it right.
Please consider supporting the blog via Patreon (click the tab below)…
