Yesterday I published an interview with Senior Bowl Executive Director Jim Nagy. Don’t forget to check it out. Today, here’s a conversation with Louisiana-Lafayette offensive lineman Robert Hunt.
We talked about how he’s handling the draft process during the Covid-19 crisis. He confirmed he had a formal meeting with the Seahawks at the combine. He discussed what it’s like to do a FaceTime ‘visit’ with teams. Plus he described the impact he intends to have in the league.
You’re going to love this guy. Have a listen below. He could very well be a key target for the Seahawks in the 2020 draft.
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Excellent interview Rob, as always. Year in and year out this blog is incredible but you have out done yourself this year with these interviews and video mock drafts, Love hearing that he met with the Seahawks. All we need now is a comprehensive list of everyone on the Seahawks draft board, a personal secretary to set up all of the interviews for you, and enough celery juice to keep you healthy and productive through the draft!
Thanks Murphy. Got another interview in the pipeline that people will enjoy… plus a few other requests. And I’ll ask Tony P as usual down the line.
Terrific Interview. Huge fan of his tape and more so after this interview. He is physical as hell, got good lateral movement and a he’s a DOG. Do you think he sticks at tackle or kicks inside?
Thanks again Rob for all the high quality content!
Nice interview Rob. Engaging confident personality. What’s not to like about Hunt?
Thanks for the endless content Rob… Be safe. The best to you and yours.
The best thing about watching their OL film is how much that left side of the DL gets washed out on a play by play basis. If they wanted yardage, they went to their right side and it was usually pretty effective. I think with some coaching, he’s a Right tackle. As I’ve said before, his hand usage in pass sets is pretty strange. I don’t think he’s been challenged, really. He can definitely stay at tackle, though.
Awesome, he wants to get mean for sure.
Thanks Rob!
OK i’ll say it… Permanent ban for any Clowney signing April Fools shenanigans?
I wouldn’t say that, but I’d caution everyone to look at the twitter handles closely before posting something. Please no Adam Schmefter or Ian Rapppapert tweets.
Haha good call. Josina Anderman as well
Stop it, you’re making me spit out my celery juice.
Bob Condottta always gets me
As soon as I posted this comment I knew today would be the day
Great interview! I like his description of “Dot”, “he’s an animal, man among men.” My fear is that someone picks him before the Hawks do @ 133.
He will be long gone by pick 133. I think he’ll go somewhere in the late 2nd or early 3rd, honestly.
I was referring to Kevin Dotson, “Dot,” not Hunt.
Nice, can’t wait to listen.
In the meantime, there’s an interesting conversation going on about player grading:
Great discussion. I think there is a definite disconnect between fan expectation and team expectation when it comes to the draft.
Particularly in the first round. Fans often expect a top 10-15 pick to be a 10 year All-Pro/HOF type player. A 16-32 pick to be a regular Pro Bowler and franchise fixture. A guy who carves out a solid career but doesn’t meet those expectations can get tagged with a “bust” label by fans, and that’s unfair.
Excellent thanks!
Absolutely brilliant Rob. Both interviews. If this sort of thing can become a regular staple then your site will have no rival in draft content. (It already is unrivalled tbh) Really rooting for Hunt to succeed now after listening to him speak, would be great for him to end up in Seattle.
Thanks EP. If people enjoy these interviews I’ll keep trying to set them up. One interesting one is in the pipeline. I’ve got some other requests out there too. I’ll keep working on setting them up.
Rob, I would be interested in hearing you talk with Brock Huard in one of these interviews about Seahawks and NFL related stuff. If you ever get the chance, I think he would make a great interview to go over the Seahawks, NFL and draft…
I’d love to.
100% agree on that!
Rob
Yes, please keep the interviews coming.
In general, receptive are players to doing interviews with you?
More player and “expert” interviews would be great for the blow and I think also for you professionally.
Your verbal communication skills are just so far above most out there it makes the experience of hearing your football thoughts in any medium possible (videos, interviews, commentaries, podcasts, etc.) an even better experience for our community.
Also, would be great to get some more interviews from our SDB draft favorites!!
Be Safe – GO HAWKS
Thanks 👍🏻
I loved that interview! I’m rooting to see him in Seattle now.
Can you interview Dotson too? Hearing Robert talk about him led me to imagine both of them as Seattle rookies continuing their journey. The existing synergy might help the early development of both if they played together.
Thanks for keeping us distracted and entertained Rob. I agree that an interview with Brock would be a great exchange of ideas (pass rush). Stay safe.
The only issues are I’m not sure how to contact Brock and he seems like a very busy person. But if it was possible he’d be a great person to talk to.
Rob, I know you hate twitter but you might be able to message him or it might be easier to message one of his
former producers on twitter. BTW the interviews are great!
Good stuff again Rob.
👍🏻
Great Interview!
This is my latest PFN mock. I Traded with Chargers for 2nd and 3rd picks, then swapped with Buffalo so they could jump up for their first pick being that they gave the 1st away for Stephon Diggs.
I shored up SAM, added 2 Big boys for the DT / run stuffing. Got 2 OL for development / competition. also was able to get Chinn and CEH for great value picks in the middle.
In my assessment getting a Solid RB with pass catching ability and shoring up the Oline will continue the RW Offensive ascenson to above top 5 Offenses.
And hopefully the Defensive additions will be enough. My biggest concern would be the Lb’s if we got injuries we would be relying on BBK/ big suit.
SEA 54.
Joshua Uche
OLB Michigan
SEA 59.
Raekwon Davis
DT Alabama
SEA 64.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
RB LSU
SEA 71.
Jeremy Chinn
S Southern Illinois
SEA 86.
Jonathan Greenard
OLB Florida
SEA 101.
Robert Hunt
G Louisiana
SEA 133.
Davon Hamilton
DT Ohio State
SEA 144.
Saahdiq Charles
OT LSU
SEA 214.
Jonathon Garvin DE Miami
I always take Hunt at 101 if he is there
Good depth & possibly some home runs good draft!
The amount of trades I think we’ll see in this draft, especially in the 1st round, is going to be staggering. There’s just enough info on all these guys for teams to feel comfortable investing in them. IMO of course.
* not enough
Clowney now apparently is asking for 17-18m a year.
https://twitter.com/diannaespn/status/1245406393127108609?s=21
I’ll say it again. Either sign him or move on.
You don’t get an award for saving $2m on the cap.
Per Jim Wyatt on Twitter:
Robinson said the @Titans have been in contact with the agents for free agents Logan Ryan and Jadeveon Clowney.
Titans have been rumored for a bit.
Really. If it’s 17-18 million-ish, just get it done. Don’t quibble and haggle over a million here or there. Clarity provides relief. Clears the mind.
Thanks for the content, by the way.
Alright Seahawks. You’ve won. You waited him out. You got him to move his stance on a contract.
Now finish the job. Lock him up and let’s get on with things.
“Alright Seahawks. You’ve won. You waited him out. You got him to move his stance on a contract.”
Clowney…”Now it’s too late, you’ve made me look bad so screw you”
She was just on ESPN and unless I misunderstood, it seemed like she said Seattle was going to let Clowney go. Maybe she meant they were prepared to let him go test the market. She then says Seattle is involved NOW.
Good news, I guess. Hawks probably going to wait for his price to drop another $3m, and Tennessee will swoop in and grab him. Pete/John will be dumbfounded how this could have happened!!
But he wants $17-$18m for one year it appears, not on a long term deal. Otherwise he would have just accepted out 4 year $74m deal. Seahawks wants that first year cap hit around $13m.
Well, it wasn’t defined as his demand is 17-18m for one year. It was defined as he wanted about 20 and it’s now 18-17m. There was no mention of contract length.
Your right but we are just putting the pieces together. We already offered him $18.5 apy.(reported)
I have been frustrated that none of the reports on salary demands/offers have talked about the number of years. I suspect that has more to do with the impasse than yearly average.
Early reports were that Clowney wanted 5 years with guarantees into the 5th year. That would be more than Seattle did for Wilson and Wagner. Seattle apparently offered 18.5 over 4 years.
Clowney apparently then changed his preference to a short-term deal – 1 year 18M- but that means it all hits the cap immediately.
Seattle apparently wanted a 2-year deal to spread the cap hit a bit.
But the salary cap moves yesterday signal they are working on something now; hopefully Clowney.
This had better get done, like, NOW.
I was just at a park bench, being socially distant, and a jooger ran by and she dropped her phone, I think I startled her and she dropped her phone, tt must have been Josina cause on it clowney just texted that he’s nearing a 2 year deal with SEA. So it’s all good.
Could it really be a matter of guaranteed instead of APY? Along with the fact RW and BW are both owed parts of there signing bonuses today? I think I read it was 35 mil for RW and 8 for Wags.
I truly believe that the Seahawks have budgeted a cap hit of $13m for Clowney in 2020. If they sign him to a 4/$74m deal his first year cap hit would probably be $13m. I think they would give him $40m guaranteed at signing. Since they only guarantee the first year they would have to give him a $36m signing bonus and a $4m base salary which would make his 2020 cap hit $13m. If its a one year deal they wont want to go to $17-$18 because the cap hit would be over there budget. They may stretch to $14m. Im just an idiot who doesnt know anything but if I had to guess this is what they are thinking.
totally agree. if they indeed get him in that range – they’ve won the negotiation. don’t f–k around with it at this point.
of course who knows how accurate information is . ..
I keep thinking if it was meant to happen, it would have by now. I think the Seahawks are being as stubborn on their price as they were with Richardson and that didn’t end well. Very penny wise and pound foolish to be sure.
My expectation is that they will sign Everson G., perhaps Marcus Golden and fo a one year prove it deal with Davonta Freeman.
I hope the Seahawks prove me wrong but it’s feeling like they really only have mild interest in Clowney now and may be factoring in that potential comp pick iv he signs elsewhere.
That doesn’t make any sense though.
There’s absolutely no reason why any team would think Griffen, Irvin and Golden would be ‘fixing the pass rush’. And if they only have ‘mild’ interest in Clowney, they wouldn’t have called him a ‘huge priority’ at the combine.
The situation is clear. They correctly anticipated a cold market. Have tried to get Clowney to agree to terms on a cheaper deal than he expected/wanted. And now, having got him to drop his demand, it’s time to get a deal done. Otherwise the whole off-season is a farce. If he drops his price and goes somewhere else and you weaken your pass rush, a terrible unit to begin with, at the same time your QB is asking for stars, it will be the complete opposite of always compete.
Devonta Freeman??? You kidding me. That dude is done like dinner. He would have to pay us to let him play.
Rob, I agree it doesn’t make sense. As you noted previously, it seems as if they’re quibbling over a few million dollars for s as player they’ve identified as a key component. Some players may be able to keep the perspective that it’s “just business” but why would you do this to a key player and take the chance of driving him to another team or souring the relationship? It’s puzzling and frustrating to be sure.
Well, when we lose him out of spite and bow out early in the playoffs – at least they’ll be able to rest well knowing how smart they were about his market value.
Maybe his injury problem is bigger than we thought.
They’re not. It’s simply that teams can’t give him any kind of medical exam.
The Seahawks are the only team with the details.
This could be importan…
Wow, this kid looks fast. Anyone watched him? Had a back injury in 2018 and converted from CB to S to get on the field his final year. I was looking for possible day 3 slot CBs, but it looks like he will probably have to stay at S if anything with his 29 1/2 arms and 69 7/8 wingspan.
https://twitter.com/LevontaTaylor/status/1244675906091843585
Read a little bit about him and watched his Pro Day video. Made me pick him in a mock some days ago.
Pro Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODO9DF_i1W0
Interview: https://www.canalstreetchronicles.com/2020/3/27/21194855/interview-saints-fsu-db-levonta-taylor-nfl-draft-tyrann-mathieu-michael-thomas-florida-state
Good footwork and fluid movement. According to ESPN, 42.2 vertical and a 4.03 SS.
His interview also sounds like he’s got the right attitude for PC (He said compete two times in three sentences and mentioned the importance of playing in special team).
Would give him a try with a lte day 3 pick. In the worst case you’ve got a nice weapon for ST
So much for social distancing, I guess…
https://twitter.com/Primetime_jet/status/1245405615482179584
Let the AB to Ravens rumors commence.
Indeed. If LJ and HB aren’t careful some of AB’s crazy will infect them. It’s highly contagious.
His cousin is Hollywood. Makes sense Lamar would train with them.
We can speculate/voice our opinions all we want but we simply are not in the inner circle here. I’m sure the FO knows what they are doing.
Not interested in blind faith as a counter to point to arguments. Sorry.
April Fools! Y’all are in the inner circle.
You mean we arent in the circle of trust? If I axed Gaylord Focker would he say other wise?
You are extremely good at what you do. Thanks for all the effort you put into this community.
Thanks Matt
MOCK DRAFT SIMULATIONS
Rob-
IMO, the problem that exists with our mock drafts is that the big boards being used include unrealistic rankings and some of the players, like Wilson as a current example, are ranked so low we include them in our drafts at point where they would never be available. You comments in the video drafts about not selecting players that are below a specific point because they would never really be available there is confirmation of the situation.
The fix is just to have a bette big board. Easier said then done, I believe until now. Fanspeak has a simulation there that has been running for years and that I and many others used in previous years. The difference there is that they have a selection of big boards you can review and select from to use in your simulation. Most currently suffer from the same problem and are no real help with better drafts.
However, I just had a communication with Fanspeak about the issue our community is having with the simulations and they are open to posting a SDB big board if we just provide it in the excel format they require. We could then fix the problem with Wilson and many of the other players and get some really nice mock drafts. Would you have interest in making the positional changes to the big board from say a pre-existing board if someone from the blog could handle the rest of the details and getting Fanspeak to load it?
Thanks much!!!
Can I venture a guess your next interview might be… Rashard Lawrence?!
Love Hunt, and might as well bring his buddy to Seattle too! Highest-graded run blocking among Guards per PFF, btw.
Curious how you were able to set it up with him. Did you just hit him up directly on Twitter or have to go through his agent or something? And what was your pitch, then? Just give him some more exposure?
I just asked him and he said yes straight away — and then thanked me for showing interest.
Couldn’t have been more polite and helpful.
Get him in Seattle.
great outside shooter . . .still surprised he fell so far on draft day . . .
Jurell Casey replacement?
Casey was a Titan.
DOH!
Think u meant DJ Reader
Ravens and Texans really improving. Too bad our main need still unresolved. If Clowney looking at 17-18M for 1year deal that pretty much puts them out. They really need to step up with a 5year deal at 20M and just get it done.
Them meaning Seahawks
Texans? All their moves seem like band aids on the massive head wound that is trading away Nuke
Texans not close to fielding a team that blew a 24-0 at Kansas City.
The fact that Clowney’s camp put it out there that he is now looking for $17-18 mil tells me that the reports of Seattle’s offer being in that range have been wrong. Otherwise, wouldn’t he have just signed? There were other reports of the Seahawks offering around $13 mil. Maybe that is more accurate. If so, the difference has never been a couple million. It’s been much larger. Maybe it’s just now getting down to finding a middle ground.
I believe Seahawks offered 18.5 for multi year deal and the lower amount for a 1 year deal.
Why would Clowney’s people let it be know he’s willing to accept $17-18 if the Seahawks offered more. That’s my point. The Seahawks offered less. How much less, I don’t know. But what he says he’s willing to accept must be more than what’s on the table. Right?
The rumored $18.5 mil deal says nothing about guarantees, which could be a big sticking point. Injury concerns probably make the guarantee closer to the $13 mil that was then offered for short term deal.
My guess is the negotiations started w ‘4 yr. /$18.5mil but only modest guarantee’. Clowney then asked for more guarantee or $20mil or short term commitment. Seattle then countered with a short term 2 year deal but fully guaranteed $13mil. Clowney, disappointed w the numbers then asked to sleep on it and talk to other teams. Now that other teams have also given similar numbers he wants to talk again.
Those other ‘reports’ were from random people on Twitter.
There’s absolutely no way the Seahawks were offering as little as $13m a year. That would be offensive. And Clowney quite rightly wouldn’t sign that deal.
What is actually going on here, I would say, is the Clowney camp are trying to flush out other offers before potentially signing with the Seahawks. But we’ll see.
Or, it is what Greg Haugsven has been saying: they want the year 1 hit to be 13, but have offered significantly more on a multi-year deal. Clowney may not want a long-term deal, with the cap expected to skyrocket over the next couple of years.
I’m not a cap guru, but OTC has us at right around $15M in space right now. From what I’ve heard, we need about $8M for draft class, practice squad and IR.
We cut Britt and we’re back to $15M… then what? The only way to get Clowney’s 2020 cap number down is a long-term deal.
I’ve thought for awhile that trading for YN was a bad idea, as we would need to give up draft capital AND pay a big salary. The thing is, he’s young and open (maybe prefers?) to a long-term deal. You could potentially get his cap hit to look like Clark’s last year, which may be the only palatable choice at this point. It certainly has its problems going forward though.
They probably don’t want to sign Griffen to a 3-4 year deal to lower his cap hit, but that might have to be an option. It could be a really ugly looking contract for a 35 year old DE in a couple of years though.
It seems like the ONLY way to get two guys signed is by doing long term deals with low year one cap hits. Which, by extension means YN is a more likely option than EG…. Is this how others are reading it?
They also have a couple more avenues.
* they have about $9.5m committed to the RFA’s. They can release them from their tenders (save $9.5m) or negotiate a lower salary (more likely)
* they can extend Britt and lower the 2020 cap hit.
* they can ask RW to convert some salary to bonus. Not the best option, esp when the player hasn’t even started his contract extension yet, but two reasons why: 1-the cap is going to grow, and given they signed RW to what will increasingly be a good value contract, they can push some cap $ out, 2-if they (and RW) truly believe the SB window is open, this is an easy call to make.
Not the greatest options, but a little flexibility I guess.
I’m getting the feeling we’re all going to be extremely disappointed or extremely impressed by what the end result is.
In theory, we could still trade for Yannick, sign Clowney, draft CEH, an exciting OL, and be going into the 3rd round with no glaring holes on our team.
Also in theory we could miss the boat on Clowney, sign Griffen and Clay Matthews to “fix” our DL. Be forced to draft DL and ‘reach’ in the 1st round for a DL that makes a Collier-like impact as a rookie.
How is Clay Mathews a fit in this defense? Nah on that.
That’s why it’s part of my ‘worst case scenario’
I’ve been reading it that way myself, but you explained it much better than I could have! I don’t even see how it’s possible to get them both with low one-year cap hits and expect to compete down the road with the massive cap hits they would have in years ahead. I’d hate to give up the 27 pick and strangle us cap-wise too.
If anything I would use the 27 to trade UP and go for a possible game-changer like Simmons. You give up hopefully the 32 pick in next year’s draft and some change this year and then use the remaining picks to fill the holes. Much better on the cap and you get a possible game changer. As for Griffen, I’m not sure the Hawks even want him.
Ya, in order to fit them both, you kind of need to do what KC did with Clark but for both of them. Another contract I saw that is probably more in line with what the Hawks are offering is what Tre Flowers got last year, 5 years/$90M with $50M guaranteed. Cap hits are: $6.4M, $16.7M, $20M, $23M, $23.6M
Going by John’s history of 4 year deals vs 5 year though, it creates something more like Bobby’s deal where the cap is more spread out, and wouldn’t allow for much more than the one big contract.
I think they’d like to sign Griffen, but at something like 2/$14M with a $5-6M year one cap hit. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for the other guy without diving into the long-term scenario above.
Trading up for Simmons would be entertaining, but it wouldn’t help our DL unfortunately.
OR, I guess we could sign Mayowa and invest in opposing teams’ voodoo dolls?
Color me confused
If we can get Clowney, I would take Griffen under the scenario you mention or someone else at a similar price to team up with Irvin. I n that scenario, you have Griffen and Clowney and a potential game-changer in Simmons. I think he would help the DL more than you think, in covering the stud TE’s and I’m sure he can rush as well. I know it’s probably unrealistic and even it’s someone other than Simmons, anything’s possible! Thanks for the response.
Can anyone more knowledgeable about the cap say whether signing both Clowney and Griffin remains possible/feasible?
Theoretically, yes.
I think the big issue, is that in order to fit Clowney plus another, we need Clowney to do a long-term deal that lets us manipulate the first year cap number. Unfortunately I don’t think he wants that, unless it’s on his terms (the $20M/APY rumor). The bigger his contract, the less help we can afford.
Another issue, as I see it, is that signing Griffen to a one or two year deal doesn’t let you do much with creative.
Dreams scenario as I laze in bed:
Sign Clowney and Griffin, then
R2 Raekwon Davis
R2 JK Dobbins
R2 Robert Hunt
I’m trying to read the tea leaves… If we assume that JS is not an incompetent idiot, what does all this mean – FA signings, re-signing players, look at upcoming draft picks, limitations of salary cap situation? I think he is prioritizing signing JC until it becomes impossible. This is a money issue, and his replacement can’t be found in the draft. He can’t be happy with the RB situation, given what happened last year, and that is the identity of the team foundational ethos. So trading his 1st round pick into the 2nd (and change), and picking a very good RB seems the highest priority (Taylor/CEH). Rookie RBs can also contribute right away. If this happens we might consider trading Penny. The picks in the 2nd and 3rd rounds are where the real quality and value are in the draft in my mind. There is also value late in the draft, but we don’t have as much ammo there. We should end up with 5-6 picks in the #30-100 range. Hopefully, we can find 2 pass rushers, 1 good OL, and the rest best players available.
I think they must have identified players in the draft that can meet those needs. That’s why they signed Reed, Irvin, and Dorsett, and all those veteran OL. One very good rookie OL may be able start right away, but a lower pick is just for the future/depth. If Clowney isn’t signed, and we sign Everson as a consolation, the defense will not be improved. Unfortunately, maybe the best bet under that scenario is to build for the next year. You do what you can do. Not everything works out the way you want it to, as disappointing as that will be.
BTW, Rob I love those interviews. In addition to Brock, consider interviewing Dave Wyman. He has great insights into defensive players, and knows how the SEA defense works.
I’ve interviewed Dave before, check it out: https://seahawksdraftblog.com/an-interview-with-dave-wyman
Agreed. More Dave please!!!
I forgot about that. Great interview. I remember him commenting on the air about you, something about really enjoying meeting you – the English chap who was really knowledgeable about the Seahawks. i would definitely love another one in the lead up to the draft.
You cant trade Penny, we couldn’t even trade Sherman when he was hurt.
I was thinking of trading him later in the year, after his health is completely established.
Nothing specific here, but it’s at least interest. As Breer pointed out, Clowney’s four years of experience with Vrabel in Houston would make Nashville a logical landing spot.
Hope we lock him up soon since there seems to be movement.
And the leak about him dropping his asking price seems like a last-ditch attempt to bait out any other team’s best offer before he accepts what the Seahawks have on the table. Maybe the Seahawks did give him a deadline after all: beginning of April? (I’ve learned by now and won’t be staying up waiting…)
I want him. I hope SEA drafts him and Dotson and pairs them at RT and RG respectively.
Great interview Rob. Same with Nagy. Truly great stuff.
Sincere gratitude for all you’re doing to keep us informed and entertained.
How you been feeling? Any better?
My pleasure. Hope you’re feeling better.
Been on my mind. Hope all is well and you’re feeling better.
Wow, what a story. Well written, too.
http://www.nfl.com/labs/cfb247/davion-taylor/davion-taylor
That was a great story. I hope his dream continues.
Awesome get, awesome interview – awesome content!
Thank you!
SEA 32.
Julian Okwara
SEA 59.
Raekwon Davis
SEA 64.
Marlon Davidson
SEA 96.
Matt Peart
SEA 101.
Cam Akers
SEA 133.
Devin Asiasi
SEA 144.
Bryce Hall
One more mock where I decided ahead of time that I wouldn’t do any trades at all, and try to fill both DT and DE within the first four rounds. Here’s what I got:
#27 Jalen Reagor, WR, TCU
#59 Jabari Zuniga, DE, Florida
#64 Jonathan Greenard OLB Florida
#101 Rashard Lawrence DT LSU
#133 A.J. Dillon, RB, Boston College
#144 Logan Stenberg, G, Kentucky
#214 Kevin Dotson, G, Louisiana
Is Kevin Dotson really going to last that long?
Always a pleasure to see more interviews here. I was curious if you had any impressions of Antoine Brooks Jr, S from Maryland?
I’ve not studied him. To be honest safety is down the watch list this year, they have too many needs elsewhere.
While I agree… if we play with the hypothetical that Clowneybis re-signed prior to the draft, and the rumors of Grant Delpit sliding are legit, do you take him over some of the Edge defenders and Wilson/Ruiz?
No.
They have Quandre Diggs and Bradley McDougald plus they only drafted Marquise Blair in round two a year ago.
Even signing Clowney only puts you back at the status quo from a year ago.
Hehe…
https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/1245468273669558272
Rob: I am a major tennis fan. Wimbledon was cancelled for 2020. As a tennis fan I am very sadden by the fact that wimbledon is cancelled. Just curious. How bad is the coronavirus in London.
Well it’s bad everywhere in the world, isn’t it?
Well I think its worth it now to wait for Clowney right? If we can get him for that much less?
4 Mil APY saved is a pretty big amount.
Did I miss an announcement that he’d signed for $4m less than he wanted at the start of free agency?
Oh, no. That hasn’t happened. They’ve signed Benson Mayowa instead.
And he’s still unsigned.
And our pass rush still sucks.
And the Mayowa deal might mean they’re moving on.
Oh sorry I should have meant, if they signed him.
I am just playing a hypothetical.
Sure.
But the point is… no, it wasn’t worth waiting for Clowney because he’s unsigned and they’re signing Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa instead.
I’d rather pay Clowney a bit more and live without those two players and Cedric Ogbuehi. But that’s just me.
Clowney is probably just asking for too much more than we are willing to pay for his production value and injury concerns. They know Irvin and Mayowa and I assume they have an idea of what they will contribute. I actually think this is a decent hedge. Mayowa had 7 sacks last year and I think Bruce had like 8 or something. I guess they are thinking in terms of multiple pass rushers instead of spending a massive amount on 1 or 2. Not saying I agree but lets see what happens.
My guess is they draft Madebuike and another rusher like Uche or something now. Perhaps Davis but I’m not on board with him.
In JS/PC we trust right? Or is that motto obsolete now?
John Clayton just mentioned that because of the signing of Mayowa the Hawks could be moving on from Clowney. Clayton says that they maybe moving in the direction of Emerson Griffen.
Just for the record last year Mayowa had 7 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.
He’s really gone out on a limb there.
All those people who send me grief for talking negatively about this off-season better get ready. Because if the plan to fix the pass rush is swapping Clowney and Jefferson for Griffen, Mayowa and Irvin — you’re not going to enjoy my next piece.
I was giving you grief based on the fact that eventually Clowney would be back. This is terrible news.
I hope that’s not the case, our run defense will suffer without him. His ability to take over games would be sorely missed
Mayowa stats for 2019.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MayoBe00.htm
I can’t even be arsed to look at them.
Well, he had twice as many sacks as Clowney last year, I guess… 😂🤷♂️
I like Mayowa and didn’t like when we released him to begin with.
I am sure a lot of you guys already know about this.
But I found this site to be great when looking at athletic numbers.
It tells you the testing percentiles of each player
https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/benson-mayowa/
Man if we roll with Mayowa, Girffin, and Irving for pass rush, what is our ceiling for our defense?
Im thinking top 15, cause our secondary should be really good if we can figure out Nickel. I just don’t see any way we can be a really good defense tho.
Top-15!?!?!
They’ll be lucky to crack the top-25.
Dang, man that would suck if we are that bad.
Is that a joke?
I don’t know what to say guys.
I can’t even be bothered to write about the Mayowa signing. You know what I’m going to say anyway.
The Seahawks are failing the test of the 2020 off-season. They needed to make a jump. They’re going backwards if the plan is to sign guys like Bruce and Mayowa to try and fix the pass rush, while losing Clowney.
And if he goes somewhere else — whatever the price we’ll be able to add up the cost of Bruce, Mayowa, Ogbuehi, Shell, Finney and others and you’re going to have a really hard time telling me that ‘depth’ is worth more than just going all-out for a couple of quality pass rushers.
So frustrating man.
Definitely a moneyball type offseason.
Tell me this is an April Fools joke.
This is rapidly turning into worst case scenario. No one should be happy with junk role players taking cap space instead of actual star players taking you to the next level. Always compete is turning into just good enough.
Mayowa is 1 year, 3 mil.
Not bad at all, we should still be able to sign Clowney right?
Who knows?
But they’re giving Ogbuehu and Mayowa about $6-7m. And yet they won’t just go and get Clowney back. I just don’t get it.
Perhaps they have a medical reason they were unwilling to go to 17M / year.
Or they believe he won’t last 2-3 more years without a significant or persistent (think arthritic knee / micro fracture surgery issue) occurring. They had him 6 months or more, so they would know the best out of any team besides the Texans about his current medical condition. This is the only major red flag that I could see as to why they were playing hardball on the cap number / price……
The problem with this is if they were aware of all these medical issues. Then why didn’t they go after the other pass rushers on the market?
I’m just going to keep repeating myself.
If there’s a medical issue… move on. Sign someone else.
There clearly isn’t a medical issue because they reportedly offered him $18.5m a year.
But if there was, dont sign him. You don’t offer a cheap deal, wait three weeks, put your eggs in his basket then panic and sign Benson Mayowa because you’re running out of time.
His agent or a reporter who is parroting for his agent said he is willing to take a deal at 17.5M now…. so that doesn’t jive with Seattle offering 18.5M. Sadly I’m not on twitter right now, to see everyone’s heads explode.
No, they said he’d come down to around 17-18 which is reportedly where Seattle was at.
And that’s still doesn’t justify waiting three weeks for him instead of moving on, then signing journeymen to try and fix a massive need.
You can keep trying to gloss this dude. I’ll have a response every time.
I think Charlie has a point on this one: there’s no way Seattle offered $18.5 and Clowney hasn’t taken it yet.
Or maybe there is, and that’s why maybe they never were willing to give him that much, or tie up as much guaranteed as he might want. And the lack of offers from any other team has only confirmed that they are right about that. They want him back, but at the right price. What’s wrong with that?
But who should they have signed? Who? Give me names, please. Campbell clearly had his sights set on BAL, as did Fowler on ATL. You didn’t like the Robert Quinn option at all. The Jags are holding out for a fortune for Yannick, without even mentioning that would back the Seahawks into a huge contract with him and he doesn’t even have their preferred athletic profile. Vic Beasley and the other re-treads weren’t likely to make any more impact than Mayowa might. Everyone knows Von Miller, Bosa, Garrett ain’t getting traded. Who would you have signed? First and last name, please?
I’m just as eager as anyone to sort out the pass rush, but the options just weren’t there in FA this year. This is just like the DL class: there are little to no truly appealing options, so you move into a range you’re comfortable with and take a shot on the best option out there. Since there was nobody else to jump at in FA, that best option might be just waiting it out to get Clowney on their terms so that if someone does become available at the trade deadline, they are able to make the move.
Not buying it. If there was a medical issue, the Seahawks would have been busy in the first wave of free agency. Today Clowney’s group announced he dropped his salary demand from $20 million to 17. So when Seattle was offering 18.5, Clowney was holding out for 20 0r 21. That was a while ago. We burned through cap space and haven’t been able to offer 18.5 for a while. After cutting TT and Dickson, the Hawks had about 16 million, and Clowney’s new number is 17. I think they’d had enough and moved on. That’s what Mayowa symbolizes. I think the next move is signing Griffen.
There’s plenty of players they could’ve signed. Plenty.
Pelissero:
“The door isn’t closed in Seattle on Jadeveon Clowney, but the #Seahawks couldn’t wait any longer to start adding potential replacements. Clowney had three sacks last season. Mayowa had seven for the #Raiders.”
Straight from the Seahawks front office…
Why do you say that just curious. Is this resporter known for getting stuff from front offices?
I mean, when they feed Pelissero the exact details of the Mayowa deal, then he follows up with a tweet like this, he’s clearly getting it from a source that wants him to put that out.
Deducing who might have interest in letting Clowney know the door is still open for him in Seattle, it’s them.
Then you just look at the way it’s worded. They’re clearly letting him know they need a decision from him now. “Couldn’t wait any longer” and comparing their sack totals to send another message that he should be glad to take the offer he has from them.
I agree with this. It’s all coming to a conclusion soon. Lots of “negotiating” in the media going on right now by both sides. If I had to guess I think it ends with Clowney getting a deal done with Seattle and sticking around. The leak of him willing to accept $17-18MM was an attempt to try and get another team involved. From the quotes from the Titans and Jets FO people it doesn’t sound like it worked. My 2 cents.
One other thing here that we havent talked about is precedence. If they have a number in mind and they end up caving then players will continue to do this in the future. Im not saying Im on either side of it but it is something to consider.
Interesting side note, guys who are familiar with the scheme might be better suited to playing in 2020 than any rookie,. since their is a lack OTAs, might be a truncated min camp and training camp. A team with as few additions as possible will be poised to hit the ground running, while teams with big changes of personnel… could really stumble the first 3-4 weeks of the season.
A team with a crap pass rush will also struggle to create pressure (again).
$3 mil fully guaranteed! That’s ridiculous so even if he underperforms the $3 mil is still on the books
Rob, back away from the edge. John Clayton (at 4 PM cross talk on 710) is now convinced the next move after signing Mayowa will be signing Everson Griffen (within the next 48 hours) to a deal around 10M / year. The Clowney fun bus has sailed.
Pelissero is saying Clowney is still in play. Not sure who is right.
1. I’m not at any edge. It’s perfectly acceptable to review the off season the way I am without any need for suggesting I’m about to jump off a cliff. I tell it how I see it.
2. Not good enough. Sorry. Two 33 years olds and a 29 year old journeyman.
We still could get Clowney and Griffen, but 3 transactions are needed. Cut Britt, Restructure Wilson, Remove RFA tender on B. Jackson
We might finally get clarity about everything by the end of this week. 3 weeks too late, but better than dragging it out until the week of the draft.
And I agree with the 2nd statement, not how I envisioned the offseason going, but this is the hand they might have been dealt (through negotiation error by all sides).
Hopefully, when JS is old and gray, he puts out a “tell all” book about the making of the Seahawks from 2010 onward. There have to be some awesome stories we have never heard.
With the Mayowa signing you have to think the Clowney/Griffen combo is probably out the door. Its one or the other at this point you would think. Right now they have six guys on the DLine. Green, Collier, Ford, Reed, Irvin and Mayowa. You know they will sign that cheap DT for a total of seven. You add Clowney or Griffen then you are at eight. Then they will most likely draft two guys for a total of ten. Most years they keep nine defensive lineman but could keep ten.
I forgot Branden Jackson as well.
I like Clayton but to say he’s been all over the map during this whole ordeal is an understatement. He has no idea what is going to happen.
I would agree Brett. He is probably just throwing darts and thats the answer that landed.
This has been the most frustrating off season in my 39yrs as a Seahawks fan so far.
We went into the off season with one clear and glaring need if team wants to be a legit SB contender. For the first time in years they had the cap space to actually do something in order to address this need. So everything looked perfectly aligned.
So instead of signing 2 impact pass rushers we have signed some old TEs and a bunch of journeyman OL. I find it mind boggling really. I am sure they must have a plan I just don’t get it.
Thankfully the offseason is not over. Perhaps there is a chance they can redeem themselves, I am holding onto that hope lol.
Nothing is going to top the Hutchinson fiasco for me especially in the wake of ‘that’ game. Talk about getting bat s#!t Furious!!! Steam coming out of the ears for years… Really until we won the Super Bowl.
They’d be building a nice little pass rush if they had Clowney locked up or could get still get a deal done. If not? Boy howdy.
Agreed, these cheap signings that pair with a big name are great business, but on their own the look like desperation.
JS hit on Avril & Bennett for what, $11 mil combined? $13 mil? He struck gold diggin’ in the crates. Does he think he can duplicate that?
If he does he better go and find some actual good pass rushers first.
Probably weren’t any cool guys that PC/JS were fired up about to add to their program.
Exactly. Who?
Moneyball.
They replaced Clowney(3.5 sacks) with:
Irvin 8.5 sacks
Mayowa 7 sacks
Griffin(perhaps) 8.5 sacks
That’s 3.5 compared to 24 sacks…..just sayin’
That’s not moneyball.
It’s box score scouting.
Thats the positive way to look at it. You can have pass rush by committee, look at the Panthers this last year. They were second in the league with 53 sacks and no one had double digits. Obviously things would be much better with Clowney on board but the season isnt over before it starts if we dont resign him.
This has been beyond frustrating lol
For our depth players, we have spent around 14mil….
The fact is that none of those players will matter if we can’t create pressure, we need to build around a player like Clowney and not lose him.
The fact is we may go into the season with an even worse pass rush, with ageing players that will have to be replaced all over again. Honestly, I would of just retained Ifedi, and see what I could of gotten later in the draft. At TE, Olsen is more of a luxury. If we give Griffen a 10mil apy deal I will lose it.
Oh yeah, Big-time Benson bringing the house down!!!
Pass rush woes: SOLVED
Super Bowl: BOUND
We can finally relax . . .
One thing to look at with Irvin and Mayowa. Irvin had 8.5 sacks playing in 55% of the panthers snaps. Mayowa had 7 sacks playing in 29% of the Raiders snaps. Just adding good rotation right now.
Which would be perfectly fine.
But the solid depth are currently your two starting ends.
And the difference between a horrible pass rush and a good pass rush is not Mayowa and Irvin.
They needed so much more than this, even if Clowney returns.
The secondary should be vastly improved this year too with Dunbar and a full year of Diggs. That will help improve the pass rush as well.
Now go get the Clowney deal done and add one or two more pieces in the draft and we’ll be in good shape on paper.
Mayowa reminds me of Chris Clemons. Hope we get the same level of production out of him next year we did the year we inserted Clemons as the LEO.
Mayowa’s last 8 games in 2019 were abominable. 1.5 sacks, 5 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 FF, 4 QB hits.
He had 4 games where he didn’t record any counting stats. None.
I’m sure I could string an 8 game strand for many players who are better and have worse stats
What the flying F@&% are the Hawks doing getting a bunch of depth but no superstars??? If Clowney leaves over a difference of a couple million I’m gonna lose my freakin’ mind!!!
+12 Trillion
After the Nagy interview I created a list of players to target. I ran 5 simulations with no Hawk trades with Seattle taking the top player on the board at their pick. I noted the range of all the players on the target list and grouped them as follows.
Range 40 to 50; J. Jones, Okwara, Madubuike, Baun, Uche
Range 51 to 60; Dugger, Hennessey, R. Davis, Anae
Range 61 to 70; CEH, Cushenberry, Zuniga, Chinn
Range 71 to 80; Peart
Range 81 to 90; Strowbridge, Duverney
Range 91 to 100; C Akers
Range 101 to 110; R. Hunt
Range 111 to 120; K. Ismael
Range 121 to 130; Bruce Hall. A. Robinson
Trade 1: Seattle 27 for Green Bay 30 and 94
Trade 2: Seattle 30 and 144 for Bengals 33 and 107
Trade 3: Seattle 33, 101, and 107 for Chargers 37 and 71
Trade 4: Seattle 37 and 133 for Houston’s 40 and 111
Trade 5: Seattle 40, 71, and 94 for Chicago’s 43 and 50
Trade 6: Seattle 64 for Raider’s 80 and 121
43: J. Jones
50: J. Uche
59: R. Davis
80: D. Duverney
111: R. Hunt
121: B. Hall
214: K. Dotson
Great picks but DANG! If Hunt and Hall last that long it’d be a miracle!
I’d be so bummed if we picked Jones with the first selection. That’s the one guy I hope they don’t pick up in the early rounds with all the talent around him. Any of your other 40-50 group I’d be real happy with.
Uche is my favorite prospect for us but we need to prioritize DE, Uche projects as a SAM.
Davis is my second favorite prospect for us, nice draft overall.
Three more drafts with the same trades.
43: Okwara Okwara Okwara
50: Madubuike Uche Chinn
59: Hennessey Cushenberry Uche
80: R. Hunt CEH Hunt
111: A. Gibson R. Hunt Akers
121: B. Hall B. Hall Hall
214: Dotson Dotson Dotson
Throw in Griffin, Okwara and R Davis and baby you’ve got a stew going
“I did just give you my last $1100”
Just thinking about a rotation if Clowney does re-sign.
5-tech: Clowney, Green, Collier
1-tech/nose: rookie/FA, Poona or vice versa
3-tech: Reed, Collier (would they move him inside on passing downs)
LEO/rush end/9: Irvin or rookie, Mayowa
SAM: Rookie or Bruce?
Or does Reed play the 1 and they add an early down run stuffer at the 3 like they usually do?
* would Pete ever take advantage of the mismatches you can create w/ Clowney? I kinda think he’d use him more traditionally.
Pete isn’t exactly known for adapting his system to his players. BB is the master of that.
I think it’s about the best we can do if Clowney does re-sign: let him draw attention/disrupt and the other guys clean up.
And pretty much anyone who can run is an upgrade over Ansah.
Clowney would probably play Leo as well. Personally I thi nk we would be fine with that. Would we lead the league in sacks? No, but you dont have to.
Mayowa had 7 sacks in just 316 defensive snaps.
What a loser
Mayowa had 7 sacks and 12 quarterback hits in 316 defensoive snaps.
Ngakoue had 8 sacks and 17 quarterback hits in 803 snaps.
Do the math
Yep
This was the first thing I noticed when looking at his game log. I think this is an underrated signing. I understand some of the frustration but there is no reason to be critical about Mayowa or the front office’s decision to sign him.
Agreed
I totally agree that this has been a very disappointing offseason. I had higher hopes than maybe I should’ve, but I really expected Clowney plus a guy like Griffen to be Seahawks next year. There has been no long term help. That being said, I think it is quite reasonable to expect a better defense next year.
Last year our pass rush was:
Clowney- disruptive player, great against the run, not a dynamic edge guy, but someone you can move around to rush from different places
QJeff- Solid as a rotational guy, but not a big time pass rusher in any way
Green- Showed some growth in year 2, but wasn’t consistently disruptive
Jackson, Griffen…it’s easy to see why the pass rush was anemic last year
Now let’s assume we sign Griffen. He becomes our best pass rusher, and while he’s not the player Clowney is all around, he’s probably his equal as a pure pass rusher (maybe even slightly better). Going from QJeff to Mayowa is a legit upgrade. Bruce is easily better than any backup edge guy last year. And we still have Green and there is reason to expect continued improvement out of him (he was young for a rookie, then showed growth in year 2).
Our secondary is better with a full year of Diggs, and the Dunbar addition.
If we get some contributions from guys like Collier and Blair that could make us a league average defense.
This isn’t a top flight defense, and this isn’t the way I would’ve “attacked” the offseason, but I think there is a clear path to improvement. We will obviously need to address some longer term options than Bruce and Mayowa, but we have the draft and plenty of cap space next year to try and shore that up. It seemed like there was the chance to shore it up this year, which we all would’ve liked to see, but they chose a different route (or just had a plan that didn’t come together). In the short term though, these small upgrades could be enough to keep us in contention.
Good post Dan
Well said.
Can only agree with the others, great post!
I totally agree with your observation. I think expecting much more than a solid upgrade was unrealistic in first place. The only way I could have seen that happening was by a splashy trade and for those it always takes two.
I personally prefer paying little money to guys like Mayowa and Irvin to have a good rotation than going all in on an overpriced FA.
No, expecting more than a ‘solid upgrade’ was not unrealistic. Not unrealistic at all.
They had the capacity to be aggressive. They simply weren’t. Fact.
I think we disagree here because I think the depth signings were necessary. I think you wanted them to leave those out to spend big on stars then right? I think that is not a realistic approach to build this team. But I might be totally wrong here you have a long history of following this team with a good track record so you have more expertise on that field for sure.
No. I have no issue with depth.
What I have an issue with, as I’ve said time and time again, is acknowledging your biggest need, talking about huge priorities, having cap space and picks — and then when the time comes to deliver, you’re inactive for two weeks, waste most of your cap space on journeymen and don’t have the scope to bring in the kind of injection of talent this team badly needs.
Furthermore, it’s going to end up impacting them in the draft. This is a class dominated by WR, OL and RB in the first two rounds. They’re going to have to target defensive linemen in the weakest D-line class for years instead.
If they don’t fix the pass rush and get more impact players on defense — they’ll continue to struggle to create consistent pressure, they’ll still struggle to handle the perimeter run and they still won’t be a contender. If people are content with being a 10-11 win team every year who gets knocked out in the wildcard or divisional round — fine. I’m not one of those people though.
Hard to argue with that since you identfied the weaknesses really well. The perimeter run thing is more important than many realize.
However, I think the judgement of last years Defense is not really fair. How many games did we have with a lineup of:
Diggs – McDougald
Griffin – Flowers
KJ – Bobby – Kendricks
Clowney – Reed – Poona – Ziggy
?
Our defense for most of the last year was a mix of:
T2 (worst safety play I have seen)
Branden Jackson
Quinton Jefferson
Lano Hill (not very good neither)
Al Woods (good against the run but not nearly the passrusher Reed can be)
Shaquem Griffin looked like our best pass rusher for some time..
I think our injury/suspension issues were way more impactful than people realize. Clowney and Diggs came in during the season so lets count them as offseason signings for fun.
This leaves us with additions of: Irvin, Mayowa, Clowney, Diggs, Dunbar.
I think that is a fair list of proven NFL talent to adress a weak defense. Remember, getting a healthy Clowney/Diggs for ~16 games would be like an offseason addition.
Now add some talent with our draft picks (we have a lot of them for a reason!) especially to deal with the perimeter run and I think this could be a defense that is not fantastic but could be good enough.
It’s still not good enough.
They didn’t accidentally fall into being a bottom five team in every pass rush category.
Thanks for the interview, he sounds like a smart kid that is confident in his abilities to be great at the next level & what it’s going to take to get there. Is he gonna be an NFL Tackle or kick inside to Guard?
If this is it, and they don’t make any effort to secure a fixture player for the foreseeable future, they need to go. It was really cool when they got incredibly fortunate that they walked in with two first round picks, and hit on some late round guys for two years. Signing Avril and Bennett when they weren’t in demand was also fortunate. What all of this did was two-food: It set them on a path to sustained winning the franchise has never seen. It also gave them the impression that they could fake the system every year. Not so easy to do when the league has had 10 years to catch on and emulate you. So yeah, I’m saying something irrational that I never thought I’d say. If this is it, and they don’t kill it in the draft, we are cooked as a legitimate contender for a long time.
Man, no live sports for as far as the eye can see now totally sucks.
There. I had to say it.
The Masters is an event that I have looked forward to for 40 years. It is the rites of spring! Now no Wimbledon. Saints preserve us!
Yeah, The Masters is like my top 3 sporting events of the year. I thought that they would hold it, as no virus would be allowed on that sacred ground during that sacred week.
They are considering holding it in the fall. The course actually closes during the summer because of the oppressive heat…I totally understand that!
No azaleas blooming. Tears. LOL
I know! It just isn’t going to be the same. I love the Masters. It is my my most awaited event.
You got it right. It’s one of the rites-of-spring.
Nicklaus ’86. Couples finally gets a major. Tiger’s first. Tiger’s put on 16. etc, etc, etc…
I can believe Aldon Smith got $4m from the Cowboys after not playing for 4 years. He should be going right back to prison for stealing.
Greg, we’re talking about the NFL here. BTW, I agree with you.
Looks like $2m base and another $2m in incentives which is still stealing.
The dude is supremely talented. I think it’s a smart gamble. He’s a double digit sack guy and I’ve heard he’s still got it. great low cost high upside signing
We bringing the 2013 defense line back 7 years later (good luck). Chris Clemons available? Just kidding. Seriously not bad moves. You insert Clowney or Griffen. Is it not atleast same. Slightly better from last year. Obviously it looks like we rolling out the offense this year. Just improve defense to limit teams under 21 to 24 points .
Things are looking up finally with Seattle rounding out its rotational pass rush depth with Irvin and Mayowa. Those will support the starting lineup of…
(Checks notes)
Uh, Collier and Green?
Well at at least the abysmal run defense has been addressed with…
(Checks notes)
Nobody
Well at least there are still a lot of good options and cap space remaining
You would think Clowney and Griffin were off the market and there will be no draft this year.
The optimism is off the charts right now
I’m all in on drafting DL, but we aren’t getting a Day 1 difference maker at 27.
Sign Clowney and I’m feeling a little better, but that’s not looking too good. Griffey is solid addition, but he’s 33 right? That’s not a 3 down starter to me. It’s strong rotational value, a move that puts a good DL over the top. It’s going to fix a really bad DL
*not going to fix
We cut T2 and Dickson and spent that money on Mayowa.
We are at about 8mil cap space (2mil true-functional)…so if we hope to hear about signing some big name (8mil+ 2020 cap hit) we would need to hear about some cutting before that…and those cutting arent so obvious anymore…
True, not so obvious…yet
To be clear, I want Clowney back. However… I do like the rush by committee approach.
Requires growth by the young guys. But, that’s going to be true regardless.
Sign me up as intrigued.
Indeed
This. I’m pleased with this latest signing.
I like the mayowa signing as a low cost move. But this hodge podge of low cost signings are either great scouting and fits or a huge misplay of cheap players of a wasted offseason. Problem is with all these questionable signings is the lack of guarantee of talent. Only the dunbar move seems like legit potential. I’m all for potential low cost signings for a position here and there, but this is now OL, DL, TE. All a mix of players on decline years or non starting possible upside signings. Very underwhelmed that not one need was met with certainty.
So, low cost FA with GO BIG Draft? Now I am intrigued. Say, 4 picks total, all in 2nd round. That would be fun.
I feel like Seattle wants to be comfortable picking a RB high.
All pure speculation and thus, rubbish. But, a thought to share.
Addressing the pass rush like we address the TE position. /smh
I expected Reed + 1, but this is a bit ridiculous.
Thanks guys for asking. I still have a fever but it’s down to about 100ºF/37.8ºC and I don’t have sweats/chills anymore. Also still have a slight headache and fatigue but at this point I’ll take it. Gotta believe I don’t have CV19 since I’m on day 12 with no respiratory symptoms.
Robert Hunt comes across very well in your interview. He seems like a fantastic prospect and even though he might be better inside, he definitely can compete for RT. I’d love to see how he and Dotson would develop as pros side by side. Could be a monster right side to our OL.
WTH is going on with the Clowney situation? If he’s willing to take $17-18M then why haven’t SEA signed him? What could possibly be the problem from SEA’s perspective? Yeah I get he wants a 1 year deal at that amount and SEA don’t have the cap space at the moment to accommodate him, but there are things they can do to free up enough to make it happen.
Is Mayowa > Qjeff ?
Very different. Hoping Collier can step up and give us some of what we’re losing in QJeff.
Yes
Yes, but…he’s not as versatile. QJeff can play inside too.
I’m ok with the “swap” though because Mayowa is better at what SEA specifically need.
Could be the plan to get Collier some snaps inside.. Lots of DT snaps to replace between QJeff and Woods departing. Reed playing a full season will take care of some of that, and hopefully a DT in round 1-2. Here are the snaps from last year:
Jadeveon Clowney – 605
Quinton Jefferson – 589
Rasheem Green – 546
Branden Jackson – 418
Ezekiel Ansah – 338
L.J. Collier – 152
Poona Ford – 506
Jarran Reed- 479
Al Woods – 450
Bryan Mone – 89
Irvin had 608 snaps, Mayowa had 302 (which is less than he was getting in previous years – strange considering his production), but had over 500 with Dallas the year before.
Good info.
The thing that stands out to me is that we’ve lost QJeff & Woods, who both played mainly 3T and haven’t replaced those 1000 or so snaps via Bruce and Mayowa. The guys we’re hoping they still might sign (Clowney/Griffen/YN) don’t play there either.
Seeing it laid out like this makes me think that DT will be the priority in the draft. With Raekwon, Madubuike, Blacklock, Gallimore all likely to be there at #27 and possibly even after a trade back, I think that’s a distinct possibility.
I can see Collier kicking inside on passing downs, but he’s not a base DT.
There’s an awful lot of Pollyanna optimism here. The point going into this offseason was to take a substantial step forward defensively in order to match your offensive growth from last year. Plugging in role players from teams that chose not to prioritize or re-sign should tell you we have not solved that problem. The front office, whether designed or not, have chosen to use their cap money on players that have a history of being key pieces but merely depth. Yes, the draft may provide some hope but more likely in future years instead of this one. Every year the key players for this team grow older and your window with an elite quarterback closes. Yet people look at ordinary players and are as content as this front office is to just be ok and hope you get lucky. If things don’t change appreciably soon, we will be lucky to finish third in our own division. I’m not normally a negative person but this has been an extremely disappointing off season and doesn’t bode well for the future.
“Pollyanna optimism”
Nice one.
Would you rather have 3.5 sacks or 24? If we sign Griffin we will have spent as much money on 24 sacks than Clowneys 3.5.
Just running the numbers here.
Some of us actually think players like Matos, Okwara, Uche, Madebuike and others actually might be pretty good. Green and Collier may only God knows will improve. The FO we only can pray know how to improve the team better than we can.
Maybe JS/pc have the virus. That explains all.
I think those players might be good as well, but in a few years. I’m not counting on a rookie DL taken at the end of round 1 or 2 to lead this team to a super bowl. I don’t want to waste Russell’s prime years by not addressing a major position of need.
Don’t worry mate….Russ has a few years left
They needed an injection of talent.
They signed a bunch of journeymen instead.
Everson Griffen says hé has a definite interest in signing with thé Seahawks. I say go for it. I am tired of Clowney
I still want Clowney but I would be all in on Griffin
Griffin might be better than Clowney
I am tired of not doing the right thing and signing Clowney and doing the rest of what it takes to build a real DL.
Maybe the FO doesn’t want to sign DE/DT players to big/long contracts. Just a thought that came to mind. Sounds silly I know.
They already offered Clowney a big long contract not sure what you’re talking about.
First of all I said it was a silly thought. Second, unless I missed a legit contract offer on a big long contract than I apologize. I’ve heard everything from 13 to 21 million per year but if you have a rock solid source saying we officially offered a huge contract I missed it.
What was their offer? The term I mean.
I haven’t heard what it was.
I HAVE heard plenty of times that Clowney wanted Aaron Donald money, and latterly I’ve heard he’s willing to drop that by 2-3 million.
Maybe he wants the 5yrs that Clark and others have gotten elsewhere. Seattle, however I don’t believe has gone that far in years on a contract. Plus the guaranteed money could have been an issue as well. Either way Seattle needs to sign him.
Scot…. you are mistaken. Hawktalker said we have already offered a big…looong contract to Clowney. He must have refused this monster contract.
Kingdome
I saw 4yrs at 18.5 per year. Definitely not 5yrs, and no guaranteed amount was mentioned.
I never said they didn’t offer a multi year deal. Maybe Clowney didn’t consider 4 years long enough. Or maybe the guaranteed money was too low. We’ll know eventually though.
Was that intended to be some kind of offensive or antagonistic comment?
While I’m perplexed by some of the moves, this Mayowa move wouldn’t have bothered me if Griffen or Clowney was already signed. That being said, I did the Mock Draft Simulator and this is what I came out with…
027: Traded to DET (along with 144) for 035 & 085
035: Traded to MIA for 039 & 141
039: Justin Madubiuke (DT, Texas A&M)
059: Jabari Zuniga (DE, Florida)
064: Jeremy Chinn (S, Southern Illinois)
085: Robert Hunt (OL, Louisiana)
101: Devin Duvernay (WR, Texas)
133: Joshua Kelley (RB, UCLA)
141: Bryce Hall (CB, Virginia)
144: TRADED to DET
154: Kevin Dotson (OL, Louisiana) *Acquired from MIA for 2021 4th rd pick
214: Carter Coughlin, (LB, Minnesota)
That’s a nice draft. Love the OL/DL acquisitions. The only thing I’d prefer is to swap Cam Akers for Jeremy Chinn and scratch Kelley later. Then instead of Coughlin last I’d take Josh Metellus as a safety prospect.
Also IMO Hall will go earlier than that. Maybe he makes it to 133. But if not I’d take a flier on Michael Ojemudia.
there’s nothing wrong w the Mayowa signing – 28 y.o., 7 sacks, good pass rush rate for a 1-yr $3M deal? Nothing wrong with that. It’s opportunistic and low risk.
I’m not gonna get upset about Clowney being gone until we know he’s gone . . .no reason to be unhappy twice.
It’s not just Clowney.
They needed more than his mere return.
They’ve spent all the cap space on journeymen for depth.
We’re definitely closer to being the Kansas City Chiefs than the San Francisco 49ers. Does the defense need to improve? Abso-F’in-lutely. If we win a Super Bowl it’s going to be an epic offense that is the trademark of the team paired with an opportunistic, timely, just good enough defense.
True. The Chiefs and the Seahawks boast, imo, the best two QBs in the NFL. The Whiners have Jimmy Garbage.
That being said, the Chiefs probably suck (in terms of having a franchise QB the only thing you can really do to suck is go 8-8) if they don’t have Hill, the Honey Badger, Frank Clark, etc. Simply put, Patrick Mahomes has more talent around him than Russell Wilson (overall – Wagz is a future HOFer, and DK/Lockett are studs).
I was looking at drafts today and noticed what the Seahawks did (again) in 2017. They passed on TJ Watt (because, I guess, he sucks – even though many on this blog were convinced otherwise) so they could trade down a bunch of times for terrible players (Hill, TT, Naz, Pocic, etc.)… but they did get Chris Carson in the 7th round – the only decent returning RB who has been injured for 7 years straight (going back to HS) and consistently is among the league leaders in fumbles, even though the Seahawks supposedly have a coach who cares about NOT turning the ball over.
PC/JS first 3 drafts were more or less incredible. The 7 since… not so much. 2018 probably being the most solid class of those and 2019 had DK. If Blair, Haynes, Collier & Barton develop into something/anything then that class could also turn out solid. Too early to tell.
The Chiefs definitely have more talent than Seattle or ‘Star Power’ if you will. This draft seems perfectly set up for the Hawks to add some bad ass offensive weapons. We might be able to match them offensively with some key adds. As things stand now, Seattle needs an epic draft class in 2020.
The only way you’ll get over passing on Watt is if we win another Super Bowl. That was how I healed after losing Hutch.
Wait til Mahomes needs to get paid. Then we’ll see what kind of talent they can surround him with.
I was just wondering if it would be more worth it to secure a wide receiver who can produce year one early than a defensive lineman who will take a couple seasons to become a legit factor.
Whoever they pick, they need to ‘HIT’! Over… & over… & over…
There are a lot of guys I’d be excited to grab in this draft.
I hope Pete & John eventually publish a book about the Seahawks behind the scenes. What we thought & why. Who we signed, who we missed on, who else we were considering at pick #X. All of the trade offers both incoming and outgoing. That would be fascinating to me.
Not many people do that
And certainly not together, as collaborators.
Just curious, but how are we close to KC? You can go up and down that roster and point to really good players who could make it on most rosters in the league and excel. I’ve outlined this about our roster previously. Who are the guys on your roster than anyone in the league would love to pluck and how long can you reasonably expect that they’ll maintain that status?
Russell
Bobby
DK
Tyler Lockett
Maybe Blair is a commodity
Shaq
Dissly if he’s healthy again
Carson isn’t likely to get paid and stick around
Duane is nearing closer to the end
Britt might not even be a Seahawk next year and he’s a solid, average player
Nobody on the DL looks like a star or future star
Zero starting caliber depth at LB in the young reserves.
Flowers isn’t a star in the making
The issue here is that the roster is full of average players and has many holes. Chiefs? They’ve got pass rushers, they’ve got some speed on defense and a leader line Mathieu. Their offense has a QB in his young prime and tons of weapons with a rock solid OL. This Seahawks roster is the least talented since the Charlie Whitehurst team.
I remember when PC and Schneider came in and started cutting and trading away guys that I liked that didn[t fit their system for peanuts we all questioned what they were doing. They built up that roster from the ground up in only a few years. The rest of the league has seemed to catch on to what they’re doing and they had a bunch of mediocre drafts in a row.
The last 2 drafts have been promising however and maybe they’re starting to figure it out again. I’m excited for this draft, seems like Seahawk-y guys in every round that fit their needs pretty well (except maybe DE). That’s the beauty of the NFL, one huge draft can change your teams landscape for a long time and they’ve shown the ability to have big drafts. That’s why we all follow it so closely…
Can the draft get here already?!
If your post was in response to mine above, the context was ‘closer to KC than SF’. If not, disregard.
Looks like we finally made that big move!
Benson Mayowa is a seahawk!
Had a career high seven sacks with the raiders last season. Appears we are trying to fix the pass rush and discount duct tape and string.
O boy. The optimism keeps shining. Why even watch this next season? You will only be disappointed
Not being overly pessimistic. This offseason the number one weakness was the pass rush. They addressed it by letting Jefferson go, and signing two bargain bin reunion stories, along with a group of sub-par offensive linemen. They went the discount way of solving the biggest issue. Of course they can still make moves, there is the draft, they could still sign Griffen. But let’s call a spade a spade.
A spade a spade huh. Okay
The other thing is, these guys seem like draft hedges to me. They plan on going d-line early. We know Rob doesn’t like this class, I like it slightly better than Rob because I think a lot of these prospects will be better pros than college players. But let’s be real about the situation. Next season isn’t sunk but they’ve tied their hands at this point to take defensive linemen early from a weak class, when Russ needs better pass protection and at least one more legit receiving threat.
Well said.
In fairness, those of us who are frustrated do not believe the season is sunk; rather that it is on a quite similar path to last season. Improvement, moves to push the team to the next level is what was hoped for.
If Clowney comes back, they are on par with last season on paper. In reality, somewhat better since Ansah completely flamed out. Personally I looked at the cap space, and hoped to create a top 10 defense. I wanted serious investment into the DL, draft OL and LB. No need for a 35 year old TE cap-taxing mid-tier OL. We cant overlook the run D just because the pass rush gets all the attention. Can you imagine where the run D will be when/if Clowney leaves? Yikes.
FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys are giving Aldon Smith a chance to resurrect his playing career, signing the talented-but-troubled defensive end to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million, sources told ESPN.
Ok, this was out of the blue. I thought this guy was done with the NFL. Figures the Cowboys would give him a shot. Glad the Seahawks didn’t.
Rob, after the interview with Hunt, do you feel more strongly or less strongly he will be a “lock” for Seattle to pick in the draft? What did you like about the most while you were interviewing him? Something you picked up that you hadn’t thought of before or can’t see on “tape”…. such as his character… etc
Just a really good dude
I feel like some of you think Rob has more sense, understanding and insight than PC/JS and their host of scouts. Not trying to be rude to Rob because we all appreciate his work but let’s have a little perspective here shall we.
Perspective on what? PC started the off-season by saying pass rush was the main priority. We are agreeing with Rob that they didn’t follow through on that, not asserting something contrary to what PC said. Just because they’re professionals doesn’t mean every decision is right–or unquestionable–nor does noting that they’ve not done that they said (and what we all agreed they needed to do) mean we don’t trust them.
It means we don’t trust blindly. And why should we be on a Seahawks draft blog if we’re just going to say whatever they do is perfect?
Do you think Rob has more sense, understanding and insight than JS/PC and all their scouts? Please just reply YES or NO.
No need for an explanation or excuse.
YES OR NO. Please
He doesn’t have more perspective.
But he has a different perspective, possibly, as someone looking at the situation from afar, who has studied this team, their draft and free agency history, and the league in general for years.
Nfl coaches and GMs make bad decisions all the time. Will the armchair gm be better? No, but they might have a good point here and there.
I feel like you are being pretty ridiculous in these comment sections man. Earlier Rob said he wasn’t interested in these “blind faith trust the FO” type posts and I agree. What does that add to the convo by saying that?
Also it’s fine for Rob to have his own view, just like it’s fine to have yours. You don’t have to repeat it in numerous comments tho it’s pretty ridiculous.
A lot of people feel the Hawks haven’t properly addressed the past rush, and at the current moment, I would say that is correct. They had a ton of cap, a ton of picks, and so far they have basically replaced Clowney with Irvin and Mayowa…they should have signed/traded for 2 PREMIER pass rushers. That has not happened.
Is it possible that Mayowa and Irvin can have similar years and impact this year? Sure, but that doesn’t mean our pass rush is fixed…not by a long shot.
Rob is a really great writer, who offers a very tuned-in perspective on the Seahawks thinking process. He identifies their needs and players who can fit those needs in the draft really well. Every year he identifies guys early that end up going way earlier than the media project.
He obviously may not know as much as the Seahawk’s scouts (although, that’s hard to say really.. I don’t think its entirely impossible). However, it doesnt take someone like Rob to identify that the DL was the biggest need on this team, and it doesn’t take someone like Schneider or a professional scout to look at the moves we made and easily deduce that the DL is in a worse position currently than it was last year.
The comments section are for us to debate and discuss how we can go about fixing these issues. Rob doesn’t claim to be an authority on the subject.
Apologies Troy, didn’t mean to respond to you.
Troy
First off nobody has “blind faith” in the FO. I certainly don’t. Ridiculous is strong word “man”.
I was only putting the point to you/others that the FO has FAR more information and experience dealing with this issue than you/I or anybody else on this blog has.
It seems strange to me that you would have such a strong statement about how the FO is managing things when free agency and the draft haven’t been over yet.
So you think we have simply replaced Clowney with Mayowa and Irvin huh? The season hasn’t started yet ‘man’, plenty of moves still to be made in free agency and the draft. Even if that’s all we did just look at the numbers. There is an argument to be made there.
I never said our pass rush was ‘fixed’ either.
You say it’s fine to have my own view…but make sure never to repeat it right? Like Rob or any of you never repeat view right?
My personal hope at this point is we sign Griffin and Okwara in the draft….but I’ll make sure not to repeat that, just for you.
The point is there is no value in you stating repeatedly that the front office knows more about this. Why even discuss then? Every negative comment about the Seahawks, can always end in “the front office knows more”. Why even have a discussion board? Just go read Seahawks.com and call it good.
By the way I agree with you that the front office has more data than we could probably imagine. But that does not mean they interpret it correctly every single time. There is just always going to be a degree of subjectivity in football analytics. Its fun to speculate, thats the whole point of posting here. I don’t think a single person here has claimed to know more than PC/JS.
Lol you are sounding pretty butt hurt right now “man”, try bucking up a little. To me it is 100% ridiculous when someone repeats the same point comment over and over again in the comment section, which you have done.
Also, if you re-read my previous statement, I said “A lot of people feel the Hawks haven’t properly addressed the past rush, and at the current moment, I would say that is correct.” Again for emphasis since you missed it “at the current moment” was the key phrase there, we are discussing what has happened SO FAR, sure things can change in the future but it fine to be unhappy with what has happened SO FAR.
Troy Troy Troy
Butt hurt. Buck up.
I don’t want to get banned from the blog so I will hold my tongue.
Early days though
Kingdome, I’ve been noticing that a lot of your posts come across as borderline condescending or slightly hostile. Relax, man. This is supposed to be an escape from quarantine life. The point you’re trying to make is not without validity. Just stop trying to beat people over the head with it.
Kingdome… either make proper counter points or stop. I don’t want to keep telling you that blind faith is not a counter argument.
If either Clowney does not sign in the next 2-3 days or Griffen is signed, consider Hawks are done with him
“Fix the pass rush” is a funny statement to me.
How do you fix something that doesn’t exist?
Don’t answer that. I get the meaning.
That was probably not your intention with the post as you just wanted to make a joke. But maybe you reflected what the FO is trying to do with your post. Maybe with Clowney doing his things they just decided to rebuild the Dline instead of trying to fix it.
I’m pretty sure Rob has rolled his eyes at the exact scenario of signing Irvin and Mayowa along with bringing back Clowney or signing Griffen and calling the pass rush “fixed”.
I hope we can get the draft right this time.
I’ve had a bit of angst lately about the glass half empty posts. Maybe it’s the quarantine that’s agitating me. My apologies.
The FO is not doing what some of us expected and I get the frustration. I just feel like we should hold back a hair on the pessimism and see what plays out in the next month.
Go Hawks
I agree.
There has been a negative tone in a lot of the comments. I totally respect that some people think the FO is missing the mark and should have been more aggressive in signing Clowney to this point. That’s a perspective, I get it. I also think there are a number of ways to build a winning roster, that the win forever mentality is more important than signing a given player in the near term, the championship window with Russ as an elite QB has a good 5+ years of runway and that the FO has proven to be one of the best in football and certainly more competent and knowledgeable than we are as super fans and research enthusiasts.
I personally think that LEO is more important than the 5T in our defense. I think LJ Collier was injured most of last season and still has a great chance to be a strong 5T. I will be excited if they sign Griffin and a vet DT like Mebane. In that scenario, I see a team with an improved D-Line, pass rush, secondary and O-Line vs. last year. We’ve got a lot of young guys on the roster who could surprise and that’s before the Hawks draft 4 or 5 times in the top 101.
Go Hawks.
Will people PLEASE stop complaining about people being ‘negative’ in the comments section?
People are perfectly justified in feeling the way they do.
Although you are predominantly negative and actually very rude towards people who reply to you Kingdome I agree. Let’s wait until the draft has been and gone, and the dust has truly settled before we write off the season already. I personally feel that something big is going to happen.
Woke up to see we’ve now completed the signing of our bookend passrushers!!
Only not the ones I expected ?!#%€>*
Seahawks DE/Edge before 2019 NFL draft:
Green, QJeff, Jacob Martin, Mingo, Jackson…that’s it…the end…
Just year ago , this FO enter the draft with these pass rush option…
Now they have : Green, LJ, Jackson, Irvin, Mayowa…
Dont be shocked, not shockes, dont be surprised if they enter this year draft without any new aditions..
I mean its the same FO just year later and this 2020 group is defenetly better than 2019 (speaking before drafts)…
I am not saying thats what they should do, nor that I agree with it(i dont)…just saying its more than possible…
I had a dream Clowney signed for the Vikings (apparently my dream state isnt up to date on overthecap lol) but I was very sad about it.
For about the 5th or 6th time in the last 10 days I woke up with a load of messages that needed moderating. I wanted to address one message that I’ve deleted, because I want the person who wrote it to see my reply.
This person questioned by ‘journalistic integrity’ for saying I wouldn’t write about Benson Mayowa signing and compared it to a temper tantrum by a four year old. He then repeated that message at the end, telling me to ‘stick to my integrity’ and made the usual lousy comparison between this place and Field Gulls/Twitter simply because I’ve criticised the off-season.
On the ‘journalistic integrity’ point. Let me remind people that I do this in my spare time as a hobby. My full time job is working as a BBC journalist. If you want to challenge my integrity as a journalist (which is about as offensive as you can be to a journalist because it implies that I’m in some way compromised and challenges my credibility), come and see what I’m currently doing for the BBC. Unlike the rest of the UK in lockdown, it’s business as usual for us. I still have to go into work, go around the region reporting on news about Coronavirus. Me and my colleagues put ourselves at risk of catching this thing daily, to bring vital local news to the region about this crisis. I’m not a sports journalist at the moment. None of us are. We’re all on news.
So if you want to challenge my integrity because I can’t be bothered to write about Benson Mayowa at one o’clock in the morning, how about realising what this place actually is? A hobby. A labour of love. Something I do with no financial incentive or with any future prospects. And it takes up all of my free time (which, admittedly, we all have a bit more of these days).
This week I’ve done two interviews and I recorded an hour long video two-round mock draft which I’ll post today or tomorrow. I would rather promote my interview with Robert Hunt than repeat the same points on why the Seahawks are failing this off-season. If you’re not happy with that, well tough. I’m guessing you wouldn’t like what I have to say about the Mayowa signing anyway. But this is a blog, not a local newspaper or a website designed to churn out as many articles as possible to hit a set target of hits to make sure the advertisers are getting their money’s worth. It’s a personal blog. My blog.
I am not going to tolerate abusive messages on this place directed at me or anyone else. If you don’t like me being ‘negative’ well I’m sorry but that comes with the territory of being honest about everything and not being a cheerleader. I’m not being ‘Field Gulls’ when I criticise. I’m being me. Telling you what I think. And you can read those views knowing I’ve invested as much time as anyone thinking about them. Because the thing about long-form articles is they take a long time to write. You have to think about what you’re going to say. Sometimes I start off with an idea and two hours later I’ve written a totally different article than I expected. And I write these pieces practically every day.
I will continue to tell you what I think not what a select few people would rather hear. Positive or negative. Always with perspective. That’s all I can promise about this place. I don’t know why you’d want anything else.
Wow, I can hardly believe someone actually wrote that. You don’t deserve to even have to read and respond to such a poor, blatantly false take. (your response is, in any case, magnificent)
I hope the sincere gratitude repeatedly expressed by so many people in the comments can always outweigh having to deal with that kind of stuff. Even if it’s become more frequent as of late, it’s been refreshing to see so many lurkers popping up these days as well just to say thank you.
On behalf of all of us, please don’t let it get to you; we care about you and appreciate you, brother. And know that goes well beyond any mere sports content.
Thanks man 👍🏻
Keep up the good work Rob. Don’t feel the pressure to have to respond to every bit of Hawks news immediately. 99.9 percent of fans here appreciate so much what you do. It’s unique and the level of analysis, plus the interviews, makes this the best nfl blog on the internet.
As I’ve mentioned before Seattle sports always attracts a few trolls, some can get very nasty. The types of trolls I haven’t even seen in other fan bases. These same trolls attack people commenting on husky football, if the commentary even becomes mildly critical of the coaches or athletic department. They’re bound to leak over to the hawks fanbase which in general has less division and trolling than the husky fan base, at least so far.
Thanks 👍🏻
Rob I probably annoy you sometimes as I tend to disagree regularly with you. But me and everyone else here generally enjoys your work and I have a bunch of respect for the effort you put in here and the knowledge you provide. Nothing but respect for your work as a journalist too. Again, thank you for this fantastic place to discuss Seahawks!
Everyone, lets keep this blog as a place to discuss Seahawks (even heated discussion are fine) and leave out those personal attacks. We are all unified by our love and passion for this stupid, fun team. Everyone here uses their freetime to share opinions about a sports team.
Thank you.
And you don’t annoy me. I just prefer robust debate rather than fannying around trying to be overly nicey nicey all the time.
Thanks Rob!
Also, I doubt I would have read an article about the Mayowa signing :lol
That’s a shame and I hope that doesn’t wear on you too much Rob. Hopefully they read this and understand that this blog only exists because of your efforts and appreciate it for what it is.
After work, family, trying to get some exercise and my browsing of the internet, I can barely reply to emails from friends and family. The fact that you balance it all while providing this forum and the well thought-out content is frankly amazing.
With all sincerity, I/we appreciate all that you do.
Rest assured it doesn’t wear me down at all really. But sometimes I feel the need to speak out about it.
And thank you for those words.
Hang in there Rob, and keep doing what you do. While we may not agree with on all topics, there is one thing that can’t be disputed is your integrity. It’s surprising that would be an issue for some. Look forward to your next article regardless of the topic, sense the output is from the genuine article, Rob.
It will be interesting to see their next move. Cap capital is still available from the big (3), Britt, KJ & Russ. By this weekend we should know where they go next. We’ll see.
It is sufficient to merely point to the quality and quantity of material here at SDB as a defense against the attack on Rob’s writing and/or integrity. This is one of the best sites in professional football, regardless of team. Further, people like Dave Wyman and Jim Nagy aren’t going to associate themselves with someone who is not above board.
Diverse opinions are tolerated here, but attacking Rob is beyond acceptable. Let’s not turn this place into a shout-filled echo chamber.
Lance Zierlein and Daniel Jeremiah on Grant Delpit:
LZ: One of his weaknesses is very average range as high safety!
DJ: He has outstanding range and pro bowl potential as FS!
No need any comment on this…
This is one of the main problems though. Everyone saying different things. It’s why you’ve really got to pick the 1-2 people you trust and roll with them.
Problem is when you find those few guys and than realise how much different opinions thay have…thats why i asked you about Delpit few days ago…
I read this Blog, Zierlein draft profiles, DJ top 50, and Bruglers draft guide…
But therein lies the problem. Four guys.
I only really focus on Tony and Lance. Because I know, after years of following what they do, that they put in the time. I don’t always agree with them but I respect their views.
Problem is i cant have my own opinion (dont know enough about this game)…so basicaly you have 3 guys (You , Lance and Tony) and I have 4 (you, Lance, DJ and Brugler)…😁
But sincerely I dont read to much into DJ’s reports…just look does he have something what could be something like inside info(from couches etc)…so I could say I have 3 guys just as you do…
And for example.I.dont read Paulines scouting reports at all anymore…because I think he has his guys(for some specific reason not named player traits), and no matter what he will write postive about them…he is the best for inside infos though…
I have two guys. I don’t classify myself as a ‘guy’. I don’t log on to Seahawks Draft Blog to see what Rob has written, then agree or disagree with Rob’s views. Because I’m Rob.
I know …that suppose to be a joke…😁 (obviously not good one)
We were speaking about finding leaders and Bamf…
DJ on Delpit:
They can’t take a safety early.
I think they will use first pick on LEO…or maybe they will trade for YN..
But if Delpit somehow fall to mid of 2nd round 45-55 range( from all I’ve been reading i still cant determine how much realistic is that) and they really like him I could see them using one of late 2nds to trade up and grab him…
And then what? Never play Marquise Blair, who they drafted in R2 only a year ago?
They addressed the position with Quandre Diggs. Blair needs to have his shot. They still have McDougald. Delpit would be a luxury they can ill afford with the needs on the roster.
I see it like this…Blair SS, Delpit FS of the future…McDougald contract expires after 2020, and Diggs after 2021…And if Delpit shows he is great in his roomie season Diggs could be slot CB…
Right now we have only two safeties on contract after 2020…Blair and
Quandre…
They have Diggs for at least two more years. It still doesn’t make any sense.
Lets hope he doesn’t fall to us, he shouldn’t anyways so we don’t have to make that decision.
I actually hope he does fall to us. That would be another great opportunity to get some value out of another trade down!!! LOL
I am REALLY annoyed with how the front office approached this offseason. This was there oppertunity.
I totally get Robs view on the offseason, I see it the same way.
However, I try to be as optimistic as I can be. So here is MY OPINION.
IFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF…
FA:
DE Clowney (18 apy)
DE Griffin (10 apy, 3 years)
DE Irvin
DE Mayowa
DT Reed
CB Dunbar
OT Shell
OT Oghbui
OG Warmack
OC/OG Finney
The draft could reallisticly look like:
2 OT/OG (one person)
2 LB/DE (one person)
2 DT
3 WR
3 HB
4 IOL
4 DT/CB/TE/etc.
This could be an offseason who puts us into contention again. The problem: Erverything hinges on Clowney and Griffin (thats really dangerous).
Appreciate every minute/idea/opinion Rob is putting out in his free time, ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! 🙂
For that to happen, they have to make some cap moves. Restructure/get rid of Britt (not the end of the world, but that’s lots of OL turnover), ditch the tendered free agents (again not a huge deal, but does create roster holes), convert salary of players (im never a big fan of mortgaging your future cap space, especially when they HAD lots of cap space).
I would love to see Griffen/Clowney come aboard, but it just doesnt feel like they are setup for it. They still need a vet DT too.
I think you’re right Gerry. I don’t think it’s likely that we still add both Clowney and Griffen. The cap has been whittled down to the point that making those moves requires creating new issues.
It’s also feeling like DT will be one of the first 3 picks to me. Spencer laid out the snap count above and we’re currently missing around 1000 snaps at DT from last year. Signing one of Clowney/Griffen and a DT seem like the moves that will wrap up FA.
Nice post. IMO, SPOT ON.
We are all frustrated by the long wait for the Seahawks to resolve their pass rush and DL issues. We all had different expectations but it’s pretty safe to say that none of us are pleased with the sum total of what they accomplished SO FAR.
SO FAR is the key word. Add Clowney and that picture changes dramatically (at least for me).
I hate being the jackass who keeps yelling wolf way too early so I try to reserve my judgement of a work half done till the final product is there to see. Instead, with time on my hands, I try to look at each piece of the puzzle individually so I have them ready in my mind when the time comes to evaluate the full picture.
I want Clowney on this team just as much as everybody here and I know that football is not moneyball and players bring to the table much more than their box score card.
Having said that, it does not mean that box score stats are negligible. When your key job is to rush the passer – sacks, QB hits, TFLs, FFs count. They do not replace what your eyes tell you when you watch those players play and we all agree the Clowney was way better than his poor box score stats. He was a disruptor and a player teams spent their weeks planning for. Teams however do not spend their weeks planning and preparing specifically how to counter every rotational player on the opposing roster and those rotational players can become crucial factors in taking advantage of the attention directed at the Clowneys etc.
That brings us to looking at the players the Seahawks did add. They are not a replacement for Clowney. They are replacing the contributions of Brandon jackson 2.3M (the next man out) etc.
I looked at Irvin’s tape first. You may have heard that his is 32 y.o. but he does not look old on film. He still has most of the speed he was drafted for, he plays strong and physical and was very productive last year for the Panters.
Next was Mayowa. This one was harder to fathom. By the middle of 2019 he was one of the top rushers in the NFL with close to 12% pressure ratio and more sacks than any Seahawk had over the full season. In the 2nd half he was far less productive (injury?)
Still, when it comes to your secondary players – box score stats are very valuable.
So, here are the 2019 box score stats:
player snaps tackles TFL sacks hits FF
Clowney 624 31 7 3 13 4
Irvine 608 36 8 8.5 16 1
Mayowa 302 15 5 7 10 3
Bring any other measuring tool you want, adding Irvin and Mayowa to the back of your pass rushing lineup looks like great value.
It does not solve the need for Clowney but those moves are far from worthless. If just one of them can produce at 80% of their production in 2019 – they could end up as key additions.
Box score stats are negligible.
They lack context and are totally useless at a time like this. A bad player can still record sacks at worthless moments in games.
If people want to properly compare Clowney to Irvin and Mayowa — go and show us examples of tape when they took over a game, helped wreck havoc in several others and created consistent pressure despite facing double teams.
Then I’ll look at the box score comparison.
I have to say I disagree completely here.
As of this very moment, Mayowa/Irvin ARE the Clowney replacements. He’s not signed, so until he does we have to assume he is gone.
We also have to take into account that Clowney was one of (if not the most, i can’t recall his actual placement right this second) double teamed players in the NFL last year. When you routinely rely on rushing 4 against a 5 man OL, one extra guy can either help where needed or double up. Teams chose to double Clowney, and it paid off. Even still, he was a game wrecker and changer. He basically kept the Hawks in the SF game by himself.
Moving over to Mayowa/Irvin…are either of them scary enough to warrant a double team? If they are, are we confident that either one could actually win through a double team to produce even one sack on the year?
Game planning wise, lets look at it this way. Irvin is a rotational guy who will come in on passing downs. So conservatively we can cut his snaps in half from last year..along with his stats. Mayowa produced 7 sacks to go with 15 total pressures. Thats it. Clowney had 3 sacks and 30 pressures….while being double teamed most of the time. That, along with his game logs prior to last season, suggest more of a fluke in Mayowa’s sack numbers than anything else. His half season split, as you mentioned above, further supports the flukiness of his stats. Plus 2 of his sacks were on the stone pillar that was Joe Flacco…
All said and done I think this is a huge step back for the Hawks. They waited on Clowney to bite on their much lower than he wanted offer. He didn’t, and so far hasn’t taken the bait anywhere else. They missed on the next level of pass rushers. The cap space we were so keen on just 4 weeks ago is gone, and with it the mobility to make some difference making moves. There are still some moves that can be made, like Griffin, but it looks less likely every day that Clowney will be back. To me that is particularly scary to go into the season with the current crop + maybe hopefully a halfway decent draft pick with question marks and upside…which given recent draft history is no sure thing either.
You are 100% correct. They do not match Clowney’s effect on a game. I said so myself. They can’t replace Clowney.
All I tried to say is that at 6M combined they are pretty good end of the rotation additions. Without a Clowney on the roster they would be worthless but with him they could be key additions.
Which is fair enough.
But as soon as we place Clowney’s stats next to theirs, that’s where I take issue.
I have some misgivings about drafting Uche high. He was in the Michigan program for 4 years, and only started 9 games in that whole time. I know he has good measurables, and pressure %, but I also know PC heavily weights actual production. My preference for 1st pick after trading back to around 50-56 would be Okwara or Zuniga, then RB (Taylor/CEH) at 59, then Aiyuk at 64, then BPA (Greenard or OL) at 70 or so.
Seahawks sign Mayowa: “we can’t wait any longer”
Clowney camp fires back via Rapoport:
https://mobile.twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1245851982281216000
Yep.
I believe this is called ‘calling your bluff’.
And I believe Clowney is very serious about waiting this out.
Pay the guy FFS. Will anyone, ANYONE, bemoan the extra couple of million to Clowney if he resigns and SEA make the playoffs next year?
Will anyone NOT bemoan the pennywise pound foolishness of not paying an extra couple of million if he moves on and SEA miss the playoffs?
After signing Finney, they have a hedge which allows them to release Britt. Still, they have to think about KJ’s contract as well. If you start deferring money on Russell’s deal, eventually, the bill comes due. Say you release those two. Center is in fair shape, but there is no way that Barton as a starter is an upgrade. You still have to draft a guy who can bring something special to the defense. Now you’re counting on a rookie.