A curious thing happened yesterday.

Pete Carroll was put on the spot during a press conference.

It started with the Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar probing on the reasoning behind the continued offensive struggles on third down.

Then, the big moment.

Hugh Millen, unexpectedly, attended the press conference. He asked Carroll about the busted coverage that led to a 76-yard touchdown for Deebo Samuel.

It followed up a hunch he’d voiced earlier on 950 KJR about who was responsible for giving up the play.

Allow me to provide some background. Millen has been an outspoken critic of the Jamal Adams trade. He criticised Adams’ performance in 2020 and questioned not only the resource spent on Adams in terms of draft picks but also the sense in paying him a record-breaking contract.

He detailed specifically why manufactured production enabled Adams to break a sack record last year for defensive backs. He noted the regularity with which Bobby Wagner lined up in the A-gap to set the table and shift protection, creating an unblocked rush off the edge.

He highlighted Adams’ struggles in coverage and backed up his views through tape study with great detail.

It was welcome analysis. Not because it confirmed a lot of what we’ve written about on this website, although I’m sure that’ll be the accusation. It was welcome because here was someone in the media willing to actually look beyond assumptions.

Over the last 14 months I’ve lost count how often Adams has been referred to as a ‘weapon’, ‘stud’ or ‘playmaker’. His sack tally was used to prop up concerns about his overall performance. Time and time again people in the media and fans alike referenced the need to pay and retain Adams because the Seahawks ‘couldn’t afford to live without him’.

I’ve never seen any evidence to justify this, personally. And when you look at his PFF grade last year (64.2) it backs up the impression that he was pretty average overall and struggled to make an impact beyond the blitz-created sacks (a coverage grade of 53.1 being a particular concern).

This was pretty much shrugged off due to an injury-hit season and the fact it was his first year in Seattle. With extra time in the system, things would be different in 2021.

Only yesterday someone I like a lot sent me a tweet saying the Seahawks, “gave up a ton to get a stud. I wasn’t thrilled with it. But they did get a stud and needed one desperately.”

That’s part of the issue I have when analysing this trade. There’s an assumed quality with Adams that the evidence just doesn’t point to. It’s as if the size of the investment and name recognition is creating a reputation vs results type scenario.

I don’t think Adams is a bad player at all. Neither, I suspect, does Hugh Millen or anyone else who is heavily critical of this trade. But I do think it’s unarguable that it was a bad trade. That the investment of picks plus salary was far too much for what you’re getting in return and that there’s increasing evidence that this coaching staff still doesn’t know how to get the best out of him.

For example, a cursory glance on Twitter revealed how PFF has graded Adams for every game this season so far:

Indianapolis — 70.7
Tennessee — 63.6
Minnesota — 63.6
San Francisco — 49.4

His overall grade for the season is 62.8. Currently, that makes him the 42nd highest graded safety in the NFL — despite being the highest paid by some distance.

When I point this out, or discuss Adams in this way, I generally get two reactions.

One is the accusation that I ‘hate’ Adams. The same person who tweeted to me about Seattle ‘needing a stud’ also accused me of holding disdain for the player. I don’t. I just think the evidence shows this has been a horrible trade and I think it’s important to discuss why.

The other accusation is that I talk about this too much. I find that one somewhat similar to a ‘defending the sacred cow’ argument. At the end of the day, this is the biggest trade in franchise history in terms of spent cost. It’s the most significant move Pete Carroll and John Schneider have made. The value of this deal should be talked about a lot.

Let’s put it this way — imagine a scenario where the Seahawks, instead of drafting Russell Wilson, spent two first round picks and a third round pick on a quarterback before the 2012 draft. Then they gave that quarterback a massive contract. If that player was performing at the level Adams is, we’d never stop talking about it.

I don’t think there’s any reason not to discuss this as much simply because we’re talking about a safety instead of a quarterback. If anything, taking a punt on a quarterback at least can be justified if you’re trying to find an answer at the most important position in football. Investing what they have in a safety — that to me warrants even more analysis because it’s not considered a premium position.

And no amount of calling him a ‘stud’, ‘weapon’ or ‘playmaker’ should overcome an average performance. Which is what we’re seeing currently.

He has zero sacks, zero hurries, zero QB hits, zero pressures and zero interceptions. He’s missed 8.6% of his tackles and he’s giving up 17.7 yards per completion. He’s ranked 54th in terms of coverage grade per PFF.

No amount of ‘soundness within the scheme’ covers for that. Especially when the overall defense has given up 1778 total yards (most in the NFL), 608 rushing yards (most in the NFL) and has a sack percentage of just 5.4%.

For what they’ve spent, you should expect more. And whether people like it or not — this trade will be analysed with a critical eye throughout his time in Seattle.

Your most high-profile, expensive players will always receive a lot of attention. Look at how much people discuss Russell Wilson’s performances. He hasn’t been flawless this season by any stretch. Yet he still leads the NFL in yards per attempt (9.6) and passer rating (129.9), he hasn’t thrown an interception and his PFF grade is 83.0. It’s to his credit that it feels like there’s a lot more to come from Wilson and yet he’s still achieving these numbers.

If Adams’ play rapidly improves and they work out a way to make him far more impactful, I’ll be the first to write that up. But let’s not pretend that we shouldn’t be talking about his performance all the time, given what they’ve spent on him. It’s too convenient to avoid the arguments and wash this away as ‘hatred’ or ‘obsession’.

Back to Millen and his exchange with Carroll. On the busted 76-yard touchdown, it was implied after the game that it was the fault of Sidney Jones.

On the broadcast, Mark Schlereth had suggested Adams should’ve carried the wheel route. Immediately after the play, I posted on Twitter (in an admittedly hyperbolic fashion) ‘worst trade ever’. My mentions blew up shortly after with countless people telling me I didn’t know anything about football. Because of course, Seahawks Twitter is home to some of the great football minds of our time.

Millen wasn’t buying the explanation and said on 950 KJR on Monday that he was 99% sure it was Adams’ fault.

To his credit, rather than pontificate from the sidelines, he attended the press conference to get some answers.

If you missed the exchange, fast forward to 13:57 in the video below (you’ll need to open it in YouTube, the Seahawks have blocked their videos from being embedded):

Carroll’s answer is unconvincing and terse. He clearly didn’t enjoy being challenged and perhaps knew about the angle Millen was going with.

The big takeaway for me, though, is that however much people think they know about the X’s and O’s of that play, none of us really know. There’s a grey area where some think Jones was at fault, some think Adams. Others thought Marquise Blair. And Carroll admitted within their scheme there are different ways of working that coverage. So really, it could’ve been the fault of different players even if it actually was Jones on this occasion.

It was also a reminder of what these press conferences should be about. They are an opportunity to quiz Carroll. Too often it’s an exercise in ‘give us a thought on player X who had a good game’, ‘how good is player Y?’ or ‘let’s have an injury update on these five different players’.

When you give up a 76-yard touchdown on a busted play, digging around to find out what went wrong is justified. As is the persistent questioning of the third down struggles. And there are many other questions that could and should be asked of a Head Coach whose team has performed the way it has after four games.

Yes — that includes a stronger line of questioning on Adams’ performance and why this team has so far struggled to get the kind of impact the cost of this trade and contract warrants.

It’s not about being difficult or awkward for the sake of it. Coaches should expect to be pushed on certain topics. Sometimes, questions are challenging and hard. That’s par for the course when you coach at the highest level.

So well done Hugh Millen for stepping up to the plate. Hopefully this wasn’t a one-off cameo appearance in the Monday press conference.

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I’m not sure how to adequately react to this game.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all.

The Seahawks managed to have one of the worst starts to a game you’ll ever see. They were truly awful.

Here’s the first quarter yardage stats:

49ers: 167

Seahawks: -3

It wasn’t just a bit of a slow start either. This pattern continued deep into the second quarter.

It felt like watching the 2009 team. No kidding.

And yet despite it being a painful, one-sided car-crash — somehow the score stayed 7-0.

The defense made stops and the ever-accommodating Jimmy Garoppolo threw an interception.

After a horrendous opening drive, the much maligned defense hung in there. It propped up the abysmal offense as it toiled and struggled to even return to the line of scrimmage on any given play.

The O-line was bullied. They were absolutely blown away. Nothing worked.

The defense kept hanging… and kept hanging.

They hung on long enough for the Seahawks to finally work out some answers.

Other opponents might not be so generous. Yet thankfully, the 49ers squandered their early advantage. The Seahawks gradually found an offensive foothold — thanks to magic from the quarterback and a brilliant cameo from Alex Collins.

Then at half-time, the back-breaker. Garoppolo’s all over the place at times but he knows the offense and he isn’t Trey Lance. We wrote about Lance a lot, unflatteringly, during the draft season.

He’s not ready to play. Until the Seahawks took their foot off the gas, he looked like the worst kind of rookie — a deer in headlights.

As the Seahawks grew and grew offensively, the 49ers shrunk. They looked like giants to start the game and mice to conclude it.

The only shining moment was a busted coverage on Deebo Samuel and some late movement when Seattle played their typical time-consuming defense.

I tweeted after the big bust, in reaction as you do on social media, that Jamal Adams was the worst trade ever (and was immediately reminded that some of the great football minds are all based on Twitter, wasting away when they could be running a coaching staff somewhere).

Whether it was on Adams or not (Mark Schlereth thought it was so I’m not going to assume the timing of the tweet was totally unjust) — I still think the Adams trade is a clear L (hyperbolic language or not). I would suggest Ryan Neal’s performance highlights that. He was superb and is a lot cheaper.

But I’m starting to wonder if the actual ‘worst trade ever’ (yes, I’m milking that hyperbolic phrase today) might end up proving to be San Francisco’s Hail Mary with Lance.

We’ll see how his career develops but I wasn’t convinced at North Dakota and this performance probably made Niners fans cringe a little bit. Especially those who’ve been calling for him to start. Don’t be fooled by that late drive, when Seattle already had the cigars out.

So the Seahawks move to 2-2. I’m not convinced they took a big step forward or anything here. After all, they started terribly, played a team who lost their starting quarterback at half-time and the Niners also played without a kicker.

Yet at the end of the day, it’s always fun beating the Niners. Because they are a bit irritating.

The defense does deserve some props though, after some rough sledding. They enabled this win by keeping the team in it. The Niners were 2/14 on third down. The late touchdown felt a little too predictable and avoidable but the Seahawks are a team determined to never do things the easy way.

Onto Thursday night and the Rams, who were blown out by the Cardinals. I’m not sure what to make of that, other than clearly Arizona were the underestimated team in this division.

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I haven’t properly studied Cincinnati quarterback Desmond Ridder. There have been times in his now four year career where I’ve thought he looked like simply a good college player. He’s been on a well run team, that wins games, and his numbers have been decent but nothing special.

Today against Notre Dame, he had my attention.

For some reason Saturday’s college football schedule on British TV was fairly limited. Usually there are a number of games to pick from. Today we had to wait until 8:30pm our time for the Lane Kiffin-inspired Ole Miss capitulation at Alabama.

As such, I wasn’t planning to write about college prospects today. Yet at the last minute I remembered another broadcaster, Sky Sports, has done a deal with NBC to show the Notre Dame games.

I started watching in the fourth quarter and saw two ‘wow’ throws that make you think there’s a pro-prospect in the offing here.

Take a look at this:

This is the throw from Desmond Ridder that got @TonyPauline talking in our Slack channel.

pic.twitter.com/kLAfeF1y9r

— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) October 2, 2021

That’s one of the prettiest throws you’ll see this season at any level. He gets the ball out quickly and throws with perfect velocity and touch, hitting the open receiver in stride.

His footwork is far from perfect. He has choppy feet, technically you’d like to see a smoother drop. You can’t argue with the end result though.

Then later in the game, he delivered an absolute dime down the seam for a big gain. He looked off the defenders to open up just enough space down the middle of the field, then threw perfectly into a small window to make a big completion. A few plays later, he ran in the touchdown himself showing nice athleticism to basically win the game for Cincinnati.

He seems decisive. He appears to have the arm strength. You can work on some of the technical flaws. And heck, Justin Fields is/was a technical disaster zone at Ohio State. He’s still become many peoples darling — not just in terms of the draft but also the never-ending pining for him to start in Chicago.

And while Notre Dame have all sorts of injury issues, Mike Tirico called it the biggest win in school history. That’s no mean feat. Ridder deserves some credit for that.

Often you only need to see a few flashes to know a player has ‘it’. Ridder showed a little something today. I’m intrigued to see more — and will make a point of watching more.

The 2022 quarterback draft class is a horror story. There’s a major opportunity for someone to emerge as the king of the crop.

On a different note, this is the second time this week I’ve seen a Cincinnati-based team have fun, win a game and just look young and fresh. Firstly it was the Bengals, now it’s the Bearcats.

With the Bengals, they look like a team on the start of a journey. If managed correctly (and it is the Bengals) they could be a real force.

But seeing that young, enthusiastic bunch generating excitement and new hope didn’t half make me pine for the days when the Seahawks felt fresh, new and exciting.

One other quarterback played well and caught the eye today. Stanford sophomore Tanner McKee is a tall, gifted passer. He led a 95-yard touchdown drive to tie the game against Oregon as time expired. McKee then scored in overtime and Stanford’s defense produced a stop to win the game.

He’s definitely one to monitor down the line. He’s an older player having served a two-year mission before his first CFB season in 2020.

Another draft note — a number of running backs are emerging this season with pro-potential. Alabama continues to find physical, explosive playmakers and Brian Robinson, a player we’ve highlighted over the last few weeks, continues to look terrific. He drives through contact, finishes runs and has the quickness to get outside. He can do it all.

Robinson is highly cut which is sometimes a concern and it helps playing behind Alabama’s ridiculous O-line. He has next-level skills though.

Don’t forget to join us for the instant reaction live stream right after the game tomorrow.

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Note:  This is a guest post by Curtis Allen and the latest piece in a weekly series. Curtis looks at the Seahawks and their opponents and discusses key factors…

The Seahawks will be fighting history in San Francisco. They have never had a three game losing streak in the Russell Wilson era.

Coming off disastrous losses to Tennessee and Minnesota, the Seahawks will need to up their execution and effort to beat a tough opponent.

They swept the injury-riddled Niners last year and split with them in 2019 in two of the most thrilling games of the NFL season. They split with them in 2018 as well. So while the Niners have not proven to be quite the bugaboo that the Rams have in the division, it is still a tall order to come away with a win on Sunday.

A lot of focus for the Seahawks will be on the stars to provide game-altering plays.

Russell Wilson will have to handle a tough San Francisco pass rush with poise and control.

Jamal Adams will have to find a way to break out of his streak of pedestrian play.

DK Metcalf will need to continue his strong run against the Niners. Time to take over a game.

Here are the watch points for this crucial division matchup:

Make Jimmy Garoppolo beat you

At this point in his NFL career, the die has been cast with Garoppolo. He is a good quarterback but not a great one. He can work with a system but elevating his team with his play is beyond his capability.

San Francisco has acknowledged this by mortgaging the future to get Trey Lance in the draft.

In the meantime, Shanahan has to work with Garoppolo much in the same manner that Sean McVay had to with Jared Goff. Plan an offense around him that does not ask too much of him, with many short passes that do not require pinpoint accuracy and decision-making.

You will get a few different things — some wildly creative runs set up by motion, a few quick throws behind the line of scrimmage to the playmaking wide receivers and screen pass after screen pass. Shanahan only asks Jimmy to throw past the sticks about 5-7 times per game because he is not accurate and is prone to turnovers, particularly when pressured.

Shanahan likes to come out early with a plan to push the ball downfield a little and see how Jimmy performs and then adapt accordingly. Frequently this year, he has had to dial back the game plan in game in order to keep the offense moving and give Garoppolo some easy completions that he can build on.

The Seahawks handled this game plan fantastically on defense in Week Eight last year:

Cue the video to about 4:43. The Niners have called one of their clever two option screens. Jimmy has Kittle to his right and Trent Taylor to his left.

Kittle leaks out and two defenders immediately converge on him.

Watch Poona Ford on the play. He easily busts through the offensive line, takes one step towards Jimmy, immediately diagnoses the play and stops cold. Branden Jackson does the same thing. Jimmy throws to Taylor and Poona runs him down and tackles him for a loss.

Keep the tape playing. That great play sets up a third and thirteen. Bobby Wagner blitzes free through the A-gap and hammers Garappolo. 

(The very next play on the highlight reel is Wagner knocking two Niner linemen over like bowling pins and sacking Garappolo again. Good watching.)

If they can read and react to these cute little creations Shanahan has set up to gain some yards, it puts more of the offense in Garappolo’s hands.

And that is a good thing for the Seahawks.

If they are able to limit the effectiveness of these creative runs and screens, it sets them up for success on third down. Which brings us to our next point, which is critical.

Win on third down

The Seahawks need to convert third downs on offense and get off the field on third downs on defense.

Penetrating analysis, I know. Yet failing in this one area cost them the game last Sunday.

The Seahawks were very poor last year, converting only 40% of third downs on offense, while allowing opposing offenses to convert 47% of third downs.

Both numbers are headed in the wrong direction in 2021. They are now converting only 38% on offense and allowing 49% of third downs to be converted on defense.

San Francisco on offense converts 47% of their third downs, good for seventh in the NFL so far this season.

How do they do it? They regularly put themselves in a position to have manageable third downs. A third of their plays on third down are of three yards or less. Which means they work to get yards in the early downs and have a range of options to convert and keep the drive alive.

Getting off the field on third down starts with winning on first and second down, especially with a Niner team that rarely has the ability to stretch the field.

Thinking the Seahawks’ defensive staff can outsmart Kyle Shanahan is not something that regularly occurs to Seahawks fans. Yet in Week Eight, they were able to bottle up a good portion of the game plan. They need a similar performance Sunday.

On offense, how can the Seahawks win more first downs? One way is by utilizing Metcalf against the Niner cornerbacks more.

Go back and watch that full Week Eight highlight package. They threw to DK Metcalf early and often. The number of quick slants they threw to him is impressive.  They also manufactured touches around the line of scrimmage for him. And that crossing route was thing of beauty.

Metcalf set a new career-high with eight first downs in that game.

Where has that slant play gone? The Seahawks seem to have taken it out of their toolbox. Why wouldn’t you let your huge wide receiver just shield corners right out of play and get a guaranteed seven or eight yards?

Sometimes we all get too hypnotized by complexity. Just put the ball in your playmaker’s hands and let him make plays.

Another way to keep the offense going…

Attack the middle of this defense

San Francisco has a defense that makes excellent use of their top players. They are creative and are schemed so well they appear to have twelve players on the field at times. They can simultaneously blitz and have deep support. They can rely on their front four to cause problems for the quarterback and flood coverage to clog the throwing lanes. They have options and a creative defensive coordinator.

However, there is a demonstrated spot in this defense that can and has been exploited so far in 2021 — right up the gut. And the Seahawks are well positioned to attack it. 

How so?  Two areas:

1. Attack it in the running game

In three games so far this season, the Niners’ opponents have had good success running in between the tackles.

Notice the run charts for Jamal Williams & DeAndre Swift (Week One), Miles Sanders (Week Two), and Aaron Jones (Week Three):

That is a lot of green lines (5+ yard runs) right through the teeth of the defense.

By my count, those three teams have run the ball inside 29 times against the Niners and gained almost 217 yards for a whopping 7.48 yards per carry average.

All three games have had success running inside against the Niners so far this year.

One game can be written off as an anomaly. Two games can be chalked up to talented players. Three games? That is a pattern.

What is happening? Defensive Coordinator DeMeco Ryans is having a blast scheming with this potent defensive line.

His latest trick is to stack Armstead, Bosa and Ford on one side to ensure they each get single teamed in the pass rush. If the Seahawks can give Russell Wilson a heads up to look for this formation, they have options. Run right at it and let their aggression open up some gaps. Or motion a tight end to the opposite side and bully your way against the inferior side of the defensive line.

The Seahawks are ideally placed to do this. Chris Carson and Alex Collins are tough inside runners. Damien Lewis is itching to drive some guys off the ball. 

Do you want to give the defense some rest? Keep Russell Wilson upright? Bleed the clock when you have a lead? Run it up the middle. Again and again and again.

If you can do that successfully you can keep the pass rush at bay for an extra half a second and draw linebackers up and open up the middle of the field. Which takes us to our next point.

2. Attack the middle of the field in the passing game

The middle of the field has been a challenge for the Niners in the passing game.

This crossing play to DK Metcalf last year exposed some of their difficulties:

Watch Metcalf take advantage of the corner who has slipped and the disorganization between everyone else that allowed them to be blocked by Hollister and Dissly. He gets a free run across the middle and DK’s explosive speed and change of direction takes it the rest of the way.

Another surprisingly unexpected area the Seahawks might be able to take advantage of?

Fred Warner has been terrible in coverage in a limited amount of plays in 2021. He has been burned for a perfect quarterback rating in coverage.

Trust me, I am as surprised as you are. He is one of the NFL’s best linebackers and has a strong reputation for coverage.

But he has been exploited at least once per game for a deep gain. Sunday against the Packers Robert Tonyan got behind him and Warner had to take a PI to prevent a bigger gain. Dallas Goedert and T.J. Hockenson have also beaten him for long gains in the two weeks prior.

I am not suggesting the Seahawks throw at Warner as much as they can. Yet before this year, one good thing happened when you got him in coverage — you moved him away from the line of scrimmage. Now, it could be two good results.

With the right timing and a well-designed play, they could really change the outcome of the game with a pass in Warner’s direction.

With Dissly, DK, Lockett and Swain and some smart planning, there could be several opportunities to get Warner in a matchup that is favorable to the offense.

Keep Deebo Samuel from wrecking the game

Samuel was one of the injured stars last season for San Francisco but he is fully recovered and is dominating the Niners’ stat sheet so far this season. He is their leading receiver and target by a wide margin. Garoppolo has clearly developed chemistry with him. He does not mind throwing further downfield if Samuel is open.

Watch Samuel’s Week One highlights and tell me that is not a near exact replica of what we saw the Vikings do to the Seahawk secondary on Sunday:

The wide receiver running free, with cushion after cushion. Converting darts thrown from a clean pocket into easy first downs.

He even makes Garoppolo look like a passable NFL quarterback. Watch the play at 1:06 when Garoppolo throws a dying quail. Samuel adjusts, makes the catch and turns on the jets for a massive touchdown.

George Kittle is still a monster and needs to be accounted for on every play. I would go so far as to advocate single-using Jamal Adams Sunday to just be across from #85 on every snap. Teams seem to regularly allow Shanahan to get Kittle alone in the scheme for easy catches and that is a big mistake.

But Samuel’s speed, route-running ability and his tendency to make plays after the catch could really harm this defense. It would be particularly frustrating if the defense bottles up the run game, keeps Kittle from taking over and occasionally harasses Garoppolo, only to have Samuel consistently free and able to have a big impact on the outcome.

The corners have to have an answer. Whether that is starting Sydney Jones and having DJ Reed follow Samuel around the formation, instructing Tre Flowers to line up 2 yards across from him and giving him constant over the top support from Diggs, or creating some lane-clogging formations with Jamal Adams and Jordyn Brooks, Samuel simply cannot be allowed to run free through this defense.

If you missed yesterday’s Seahawks vs 49ers preview live stream, check it out here:

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The Seahawks had plenty of time — and money — to get a deal done with Richard Sherman.

According to Over the Cap, the Seahawks have $12.1m to spend. That’s the sixth most in the NFL.

They’re also dealing with a cornerback crisis and are facing a critical period in the season already. Their next two games are against the 49ers and Rams. Lose both and they’ll drop to 1-4 and virtually be out of the NFC West race.

Questions are starting to be asked about Pete Carroll. A significant section of fans, for the first time in the Carroll era, are wondering whether the end of an era is nigh.

Yet here they are. Sitting on their cap space, incapable of making the moves to improve their situation.

It’s perhaps a review of Seattle’s desperation. Only last week Carroll was asked on 710 ESPN whether they were talking to Sherman. Carroll said they weren’t. Now they’re seemingly trying to stop him joining Tampa Bay at the last minute.

It’s a horrible look.

Everyone could see they had a major, glaring problem at corner. If they’re willing to sign Sherman now, they should’ve been two weeks ago. They didn’t need to see Tre Flowers get carved up by Julio Jones first, or D.J. Reed by Adam Thielen.

It just feels complacent and neglectful. Then desperate.

And ultimately Sherman has picked a better offer. The Seahawks, even to a legendary player rooted in the region, are not as appealing as Tampa Bay.

Sherman has had his well publicised issues and teams having some trepidation over his ability to play to anything like his best is understandable. Yet the minute you pick up the phone and make the call, you’re admitting this isn’t as big a problem as some might think. You’re saying you’re willing to take a chance.

One of the big problems the Carroll era has faced in recent years is this repeated issue of having a glaring in-season need and then trying to cover things up with a band-aid.

In 2019 a last-gasp Jadeveon Clowney trade prevented the Seahawks starting the season with Barkevious Mingo, Cassius Marsh and Jacob Martin being ‘the pass rush’. A year ago they started the season with Benson Mayowa as their only barely competent defensive end and needed a Carlos Dunlap trade to salvage things.

This year it’s cornerback. Everyone — literally everyone — could see cornerback was a problem. You could see it in March and it was still there in September.

By trying for Sherman the Seahawks were hoping to once again find a band-aid. And they’ve failed. So what now?

The Buccs have found a possible solution for their corner crisis. The Panthers have just made a value trade for C.J. Henderson.

The Seahawks don’t appear to have an answer after the Sherman snub. So they sit there, with their $12.1m. And I have to say — I’m nervous about what they’re going to do.

Wasting more draft resources to paper over the cracks feels like a real possibility. Henderson has three more seasons of cheap value. His salary will never be higher than $3.4m for Carolina. He’s only 22 and a year removed from being the #9 overall pick.

Can’t you just see the Seahawks squandering more resource on an ageing stop-gap or rental?

Especially in light of reportedly losing out on Sherman?

Or are they just going to hope Sidney Jones is a solution — despite so far being so unconvinced that they’ve felt obliged to stick by Flowers?

It’s not been a good week for the Seahawks in this regard.

At the weekend John Schneider admitted they were planning to add Josh Gordon. It was announced on Monday he was joining the Chiefs instead.

Now, Sherman has seemingly said ‘thanks but no thanks’.

It all adds up to a franchise that continues to lose its way. Bad expensive trades, bad use of draft picks, constantly looking for band-aid solutions to fill holes, poor performances on the field, players calling out the scheme in interviews, a franchise quarterback who a few months ago flirted with a trade, no discernible identity.

They’re on the brink of implosion. The next two games are pivotal to avoid that.

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Quite rightly, people are starting to connect the three big trades of the Pete Carroll era — Percy Harvin, Jimmy Graham and Jamal Adams.

The first two deals didn’t work out as intended. The third is going the same way.

There’s increasing evidence the Seahawks don’t know how to get the best out of Adams. That was an issue with both Harvin and Graham too.

As Joe Fann noted over the weekend: “Injuries, inconsistent play, expensive and an organizational inability to maximize the respective skills sets.”

With Harvin, fitting him into the Marshawn Lynch-led attack with a point guard quarterback was a bigger challenge than it needed to be. With Graham, they tried to turn the NFL’s best mismatch weapon into a complete tight end.

Now the Seahawks appear stuck with a similar Adams-shaped dilemma.

A year ago they manufactured sack production by having him blitz off the edge with Bobby Wagner lined up in the A-gap to draw protection. It helped him break a much talked about sack record but in reality, it was always a red herring.

Adams blitzed, on average, eight times a game. If you ask any safety to blitz eight times a game off the edge with an $18m linebacker in the A-gap, there’s a decent chance they’ll also break the sack record.

Wagner’s role essentially was reduced to setting the table for Adams. He blitzed 100 times last season, compared to 41 times in 2018 (probably his best season as a pro) and 71 times in 2019.

They’ve clearly decided not to do that any more and the results are zero sacks in three games for Adams. His blitzing, which appears to be from deeper and less telegraphed or manufactured, simply isn’t getting home.

A classic example was the touchdown to Adam Thielen on Sunday. Adams, right before the snap, ran into the blockers at the LOS and engaged contact. There was no real attempt to get free and certainly there was no pressure on the quarterback:

Kirk Cousins had one less player to worry about at the second level. He throws to Thielen, who is at least somewhat covered by D.J. Reed (although his positioning is poor). Yet Justin Jefferson is running free across the middle of the field:

Look at the starting position of Jefferson (in the slot) and Adams:

One way or another, they are passing off Justin Jefferson (of all people) to have a defensive back blitz ineffectively.

Is it any wonder the Minnesota offense found it so easy to make completions?

Increasingly it feels like the Seahawks don’t really have a clear plan on how to use him effectively — enabling him to create pressure and still retain coverage ability (as was the case in New York working under Todd Bowles and Gregg Williams).

They could go back to blitzing him as they did a year ago. That would create sacks but as noted before, they could probably ask Ryan Neal to do the same job at a fraction of the price. This plan also impacts Wagner, your most expensive player not named Russell Wilson. And when Adams doesn’t get home with this predictable and obvious plan that opponents can easily read, you’re in trouble.

They can also carry on as they are and just have him blitz ineffectively while doing very little at the second level.

Neither is appealing.

Adams’ PFF grade last season was 64.2. So far this year he’s graded at 70.7 (Colts), 63.6 (Titans) and 63.6 (Vikings). He’s credited with zero splash plays, zero hurries, zero QB hits and zero sacks.

His coverage grade in 2021 is 62.1.

He’s still being aggressive too. I don’t have the numbers for the Minnesota game but he blitzed nine times against Tennessee.

A quick reminder that he’s the highest paid safety in the league.

In New York he had an 89.6 coverage grade and 89.8 overall grade in 2018. His 2019 numbers were similar — 87.5 in coverage, 87.9 overall.

These are damning numbers for the Seahawks, Pete Carroll and Ken Norton Jr. It helps paint a picture of, to put it bluntly, a franchise that is simply clueless when it comes to getting the most out of their big investment.

They’ve had Adams for over a year now. They’ve seemingly tweaked their scheme to use Bear fronts in part to utilise his skillset.

And the results are so mediocre.

Furthermore, Adams often refers to himself as a ‘weapon’ or ‘playmaker’. I think ‘peacock’ is a more fitting description.

I think he’s a show-off.

Bringing a $2200 Louis Vuitton coffee cup to podium after the Tennessee game just for show was indicative of what I find off-putting about Adams.

Like a peacock, I think he’s very good at showing off and letting everyone know he’s there. I’d prefer to see a bit more on the field, frankly, to justify this.

So why is it the worst ‘big’ trade of the Carroll era, as the title suggests? After all, we could write similar complaints about the other two deals.

Harvin, if nothing else, had a major contribution in the Super Bowl victory against the Broncos. Although the cost was steep (R1 & R3 picks + a new contract) the Seahawks moved on with little fanfare. They had some dead money to overcome but nothing that stopped them retaining their core group for another three and a half seasons.

They inherited Graham’s contract so there was never any real financial penalty in that trade. While many hands have been wrung over the deal with New Orleans — especially considering it included Max Unger and arguably inspired a shift to a more finesse approach — Graham still scored 18 touchdowns for the Seahawks and produced 923 yards in his second season alone. He contributed and simply didn’t elevate the offense as hoped.

The Adams trade is on a whole different level. For starters, the compensation was two first rounds picks and a third rounder. That’s way more than Harvin and Graham cost.

Then, they gave him a record-setting contract. They can’t realistically get out of his deal until 2023. His dead cap hit next year is $16m ($7m more than his cap hit). Even in 2023 his dead cap hit is $12m set against an $18m salary.

It’s a mess, frankly. You’re left hoping they figure this out ASAP or that someone else comes in down the line and returns Adams to his 2018/2019 form.

This is an important tweet from Jeff Simmons which helps explain Seattle’s broader issues currently:

Any issues with the Seahawks all comes back to one place to me: the draft.

First rounders since 2016:
16: Germain Ifedi (horrible OL)
17: moved to 2nd for Malik McDowell
18: Rashad Penny (fragile backup RB)
19: LJ Collier (healthy scratch)
20: Jordyn Brooks
21 + 22: Jamal Adams

— Jeff Simmons (@realjeffsimmons) September 27, 2021

There’s a catalogue of errors here. A consistent run of hopelessness which has put the team in a bind far greater than any schematic and communication issues in one game against Minnesota.

I don’t blame them for taking a chance on Germain Ifedi. Late in the first round, the options were limited at right tackle (a glaring need). I maintain that he had some good moments on tape and a fantastic physical profile. It didn’t work out but Ifedi, believe it or not, has had a better NFL career than some of the other players taken at his position in that 2016 draft.

I’ll never criticise a team for investing in the trenches and it just not working out.

Likewise I’ve never gone over the top on the Malik McDowell pick. They saw a Calais Campbell-esque profile and rolled the dice. It didn’t work. I wish they’d drafted T.J. Watt — who we talked up a lot and even compared to Khalil Mack on this website. They went into the off-season in 2017 needing an inside/out rusher and took a shot.

You can make a case, however, on whether they took too big a gamble on McDowell who had major character flags and ultimately made a reckless decision before he’d even taken a NFL snap. They then compounded the wasted pick by wasting a second rounder on a one-year rental of Sheldon Richardson.

Even so, it’s since the reset in 2018 that the real problems began.

1. Taking a finesse one-year wonder ‘playmaker’ running back instead of Nick Chubb who, as we noted, had the ideal profile for a Seahawks running back in terms of size, explosive traits and running style. They were seemingly swayed by a health grade based on one season of MWC football — a league that enabled a 166lbs running back to break the NCAA for rushing the year prior. Chubb, meanwhile, recovered from a serious knee injury to the tune of two highly productive SEC seasons and helped lead Georgia to the National Championship game. The national media have since revealed how much the Seahawks deeply regret this decision.

2. The 2019 draft plan was a disaster, as noted in this article. They seemingly watched their targets come off the board, panicked, picked LJ Collier, looked miserable in the day-one press conference and turned an off-season priority (bolster the pass rush) into a glaring, major problem. Collier has been a total bust and would possibly be cut if it wasn’t for his contract.

3. Jordyn Brooks is grading poorly via PFF when he does play and the rest of the time he’s being benched or spelled by Cody Barton. Linebacker was a curious pick in 2020 in the first round and Brooks is doing very little to justify the decision to select him ahead of a whole bunch of talented running backs, offensive linemen, cornerbacks and receivers that we discussed in depth pre-draft.

4. The Seahawks essentially sat out the the 2021 draft due to the Adams trade and will be without a first round pick next year too. Based on the last two games, it could even be a top-20 pick. Are the Seahawks getting value from the investment? No.

Championship winning teams are often defined by their ability to draft well and make calculated veteran additions. The Seahawks, in both cases, have flopped since the reset began in 2018.

The Adams trade, rather than be the finishing touch to elevate the team to a Championship — is starting to look like the final, desperate move of a franchise that has lost its way.

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If you missed last night’s instant reaction article and podcast, I’d recommend checking it out. A lot of what I discuss here is a follow on from that.

In the aftermath of Seattle’s loss to Minnesota I suggested changes were necessary.

Ken Norton Jr has endured a difficult run as defensive coordinator. He was once fired mid-season with the Oakland Raiders. As difficult as it’ll be for Pete Carroll, history should repeat.

It might not change a great deal for this season but there has to be consequences when a performance level is consistently bad.

Just as Carroll used ‘the bench is an ally’ to warn his team last week about their performance levels, the same standard needs to be set for the coaches.

Norton Jr is clearly a principled and likeable man who deserves to be cherished for his time in Seattle. Nobody could blame him for returning to run Carroll’s defense in 2018. His interactions on the sideline with Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Marshawn Lynch and others during the Super Bowl runs are memorable.

His own attitude and toughness was brought to life on the field by the likes of Lynch and Kam Chancellor. You could sense it.

But he’s a bad defensive coordinator.

Carroll himself has never been a particularly strong ‘details and adjustments’ coach. Right now, he needs someone of that description alongside him. The only way to rescue this season is to find a way to make this defense function.

No more easy completions for the quarterback. No lack of pressure. No total inability to slow anyone down. No more allowing opponents to dictate to you as they march up and down the field, while the Seahawks passively take their punishment.

The fans are starting to turn. As someone who has been critical of the Seahawks for some time, I’ve never seen it like this. Usually there’s a real pushback when Carroll’s future is discussed. Yet numerous podcasts, streams, articles and tweets are saying the same thing. It’s time for a change.

Sometimes you’ve got to act to give yourself a shot. Just as the Ravens did in 2012 — firing struggling offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and replacing him with Jim Caldwell.

The Ravens were 9-4 at the time of that decision. It was surprising to many. The change was made anyway and a few weeks later Baltimore had a Super Bowl Championship and Joe Flacco was the MVP of the playoffs.

You could also argue such a move would be simply shuffling the deckchairs on a sinking Titanic. To be honest, that’s probably right. I don’t think this team is close to being a contender. Even if they sort the defense out somewhat — there are still other issues to rectify. For example, why does the offense grind to a halt every week after half-time? Why are the Seahawks so easily out-gunned in the game of adjustments? Are they good enough in the trenches? And how on earth do you fix the cornerback problem specifically?

Yet inaction eventually takes the form of complacency. Norton Jr was fortunate to survive long enough last season to benefit from Seattle’s powderpuff schedule. As people rushed to celebrate an improved performance, his job security regained full strength — undeservedly.

He should’ve gone along with Brian Schottenheimer after the Rams playoff debacle.

Carroll’s unwillingness to take a back seat and establish a role for himself as a figurehead kept Norton Jr in a job. Control is a big thing for Carroll. It’s why, even after week one, we had the absurd quote in response to a question about what Shane Waldron had brought to the offense:

“He’s open-minded to do things that we’ve done in the past”

I think there was an opportunity for Carroll to become Seattle’s answer to Nick Saban. Appoint high-profile, established coordinators and let them handle things. You act as the great overseer and maximise your qualities as a leader, motivator and culture builder.

Instead, Carroll prefers to end his stint in Seattle as he started. Doing things his way.

And let’s be clear — nobody should begrudge him for doing that. Provided he’s willing to fall on his sword now that it isn’t working.

Likewise, nobody can blame Carroll for wanting one last hurrah after the 2017 season. Clearly he contemplated retirement (otherwise Jay Glazer wouldn’t have mentioned it). After consideration, he decided he did want to build another team.

Calls for his departure after that year were premature, even knowing what we know now. Having built one of the all-time great NFL teams from 2010, Carroll had every right to look after the reset. He deserved a crack at this if that’s what he wanted.

Yet here we are, nearly four years on. A treasure trove of picks and cap space has been spent. Most of the roster has changed. They’ve traded away key players and traded for big names.

It hasn’t worked. It isn’t working. And it takes elite-level blind faith to think it will work next year.

I am convinced that Carroll will be reflective on this and honest with himself. If what we’ve seen so far continues, I believe he will retire at the end of the season.

Do that and he’ll remain a much loved Seattle legend. People will excuse the latter years and remember fondly the fact he delivered the first ever Super Bowl title to the city. It should’ve been two and it’s a shame they never avenged that trauma. That’s life. It isn’t ideal.

If he stays, he knows what the consequences are.

More drama with Russell Wilson. Potentially being remembered as the man who traded Wilson, the best quarterback in franchise history. The next reset would be even more painful because it would include finding a replacement quarterback.

Rather than return to contention, such a scenario could see the Seahawks collapse into being a really bad team. Carroll’s legacy would be tarnished.

He’ll be well aware of all this. And if he was considering retirement in 2017 due to similar thoughts, you better believe he’ll be thinking about it later this year if things don’t improve.

Carroll’s already giving off a ‘why the heck am I still doing this?’ vibe with his body language.

You could argue he’s just signed a five-year contract. Wasn’t that a signal of intent to carry on coaching?

Perhaps. Yet remember when he signed that deal. It was announced prior to the Buffalo game. That was before the team’s mid-season collapse. It was before the horrendous playoff loss to LA. It was before the Wilson-trade saga.

A lot has happened since then.

He possibly signed that deal believing his team were on the precipice of another great run.

And in 2017, when Glazer hinted at Carroll’s retirement, he was only a year removed from signing an extension.

We’ll see what Carroll decides.

I do think change is extremely necessary though. It’s much harder to replace a quarterback than a great coach. Just ask New England.

The 2022 quarterback draft class is awful. I can’t see Aaron Rodgers in Seattle. I’m not sure anyone knows what’s happening with Deshaun Watson’s league status and there’s increased talk that he’ll be dealt before the trade deadline anyway.

Pair Wilson with an offensive minded Head Coach and let’s see what happens. My choice remains Carolina offensive coordinator Joe Brady. He’s a Sean Payton disciple and Wilson has long wanted to work in that system. He’s getting a song out of Sam Darnold. He basically won LSU a National Championship.

Throw in an experienced defensive coordinator to run the defense and that would generate excitement for next year. Fans need that. The energy around this team is fading.

That in itself should be a talking point. It’s not acceptable for ownership to simply hand things off to Carroll and John Schneider and hide in the background.

If Carroll is unwilling to retire, it shouldn’t be assumed that he just carries on until he wants. There has to be some accountability from the top and it’s unclear, currently, if that structure exists. It has to at least be debated whether Carroll is ‘too’ powerful in the organisation.

In the short term, a bit of pressure also needs to be applied to Seattle’s media. They’ve had a good run over the last 11 seasons. Times have been good. Carroll is a fun person to interview. They’ve not had to rock the boat much.

Now is the time, however, to ask some probing and difficult questions. That starts with Mike Salk on 710 ESPN in the 1-to-1 interview this morning and goes into the group press conference later.

(ED — No probing or even mildly challenging questions were asked in the 710 ESPN interview with Mike Salk. Disappointing.)

(ED #2 — None of the questions below were asked but kudos to Gregg Bell for asking a couple of probing questions on the cornerbacks in the general press conference.)

— Does Carroll have to consider big changes, including to his staff, in light of what he’s seen so far?

— Does Carroll regret not doing more to address the cornerback position in the off-season?

— If Carroll isn’t talking to Richard Sherman as he claims, why not? What’s there to lose at this stage? Especially if the likes of Tampa Bay and Carolina were touching base with him?

— Why not make a push for CJ Henderson, who is seemingly being dealt to Carolina for a pittance?

— What has happened to the team identity?

— Will Carroll admit that it’s not a good look that they’re still working out how to best utilise Jamal Adams after all they’ve invested in him?

— Why do they keep investing in tight ends yet seem to really struggle to make them a consistent feature when the game kicks off?

— Has the team made enough progress since the 2018 reset?

— What has Jody Allen and/or Chuck Arnold said to him after the latest defeat?

This is just off the top of my head. I’m sure there are other questions that could be asked. None of these are unfair.

Just as the team needs to be seen to be acting to fix their problems, the media has to be seen to be asking questions of the person ultimately responsible for the football operations in Seattle.

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It’s time for change.

In the short term the Seahawks need to act. Ken Norton Jr should be replaced after three hapless years as defensive coordinator.

Then at the end of the season, Pete Carroll should stand aside.

I say that not as a knee-jerk reaction to an absolute hammering in Minnesota. I said it throughout the summer that my preference would be for change if 2021 proved to be more of the same.

You could argue things are actually worse.

The Seahawks look broken. This has the feel of a team ready to implode without action.

I’m happy to add the qualifier that I’ll eat this article if the Seahawks go on to challenge seriously for the Super Bowl. On this evidence though, that’s not very likely.

And while some fans or sections of the media might be willing to reference New England’s loss to Kansas City a few years ago (“We’re on to Cincinnati”) — the reality is there are thousands of other examples where teams that play this poorly don’t do what Brady and Belichick did in 2014.

The new fangled scheme that Carroll and Norton have cooked up is a shambles. They aren’t creating pressure. They’re leaving themselves wide open underneath. They give up easy completions time after time.

They completely failed to address the gaping need at cornerback.

They stuck by Jamal Adams after a first season where he was injured and largely only effective as a free-running blitzer with Bobby Wagner, an $18m linebacker, forced to blitz literally 100 times to set the table for him.

What a total and utter failure that trade is, with Adams a complete non-factor after three games. How many times did we hear how he just needed health and another year with the team? The Seahawks’ staff have no idea what to do with him to make him an effective playmaker.

The great pass rush depth? Ineffective.

First round defensive lineman? Inactive.

Look at some key stats for the Vikings today:

— 453 total yards

— 9/14 on third down

— 140 rushing yards

On top of that, one of the most predictable things about the game was Minnesota’s desire to use screen plays. Seattle had no answer, despite surely knowing this was coming?

It’s not just the defense though.

Once again, the staff completely lost the game of adjustments.

Minnesota’s yardage in the third quarter — 114 yards

Seattle yardage — 7 yards

All of the defensive issues in the first half continued. Nothing changed. Meanwhile, the offense regressed.

Wilson, in the second half of both games, has started to play like he did last season when the defense was so bad that he needed to do everything. This was LA and Buffalo on the road stuff — and Arizona on the road in the second half plus overtime.

And sure, he takes some responsibility for that too.

D.K. Metcalf had five catches for 88 yards and a touchdown in the first half. In the second half? How do you not find a way to get him the ball?

They were shut out in the second half.

This isn’t good enough.

Where are the counter-punches once opponents settle into the game?

In three games so far, the offense has completely stalled after half-time. It’s as if they start out nice and fast with the stuff they’ve worked on and then that’s it.

After an off-season of drama where Wilson questioned his future, get ready for even more of that on the horizon. It started to bubble last week.

It’s hard to know where this team goes from here. They play the Niners, Rams and Steelers next. Their only win is against 0-3 Indianapolis, while the rest of the NFC West excels.

It’s starting to feel like the writing is on the wall. That this could and should be the last dance for Carroll.

We can sit here and talk about culture and motivation or people you respect and like being in charge.

Pete Carroll will always be a Seahawks legend. Nothing changes that.

Yet the Seahawks are currently not well coached. They are a discombobulated mess at times. The fine-details are lacking. When a key change is needed to shift momentum, it’s never delivered.

That’s before we even get into the way they’ve used their resources and built this roster.

Carroll looks increasingly flustered. As if he isn’t having fun any more. I didn’t expect to ever write those words but here we are.

If this continues, I think he’ll call it a day at the end of the season.

Regardless, it’s time for a big shift. The same things are happening year after year and there’s no accountability from the top.

2022 feels like a time to start afresh. An offensive minded Head Coach working hand-in-hand with the big investment at quarterback. An experienced defensive coordinator who’s been there and done it — to finally sort this unit out.

I could wait until January to write this. But what’s the point in waiting?

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Here are some quick notes based on what I’ve been able to watch on Saturday. I had to do a six-hour round trip for work so I’ve had limited access today.

— The 2022 draft is going to need to rely on depth because the big names just aren’t there. Nobody is emerging. The quarterback class stinks and beyond a select 3-4 players at other positions, there’s nobody to covet at the top of the class. This might be the most lacking draft class we’ve ever covered in terms of high first round picks. The internet mock drafts are full of overrated types. I’m finding it hard to discover exciting players worthy of high grades. There are players to like and target later on — quite a few actually. The top talent is severely lacking though.

— What does that mean? I think we might see more veteran trades than ever in the forthcoming off-season — especially with some quarterback-needy teams carrying multiple first round picks.

— I really like what Sam Pittman is doing at Arkansas. This was a team on its knees. They showed gradual improvement last year and this season they’ve already beaten Texas and Texas A&M. Georgia are next and that’ll be a tough one for them. But they play a tough, physical brand of football that mixes in some creativity and speed.

— That said, I was hoping to see a big performance from safety Jalen Catalon and his most noticeable act was chasing after Isaiah Spiller on a big touchdown run by the Aggie running back. Spiller has had a mediocre start to the season and has underwhelmed for a while. Even so, he showed off great speed and finishing ability on that long run and left Catalon (who is quick) for dead.

— Tight end Jalen Wydermyer has first round talent — so why do Texas A&M never throw him the football? He had one catch for 18 yards against Arkansas and dropped another difficult catch which was thrown high. Aside from that he was anonymous again. They simply aren’t making the most of his talents. Is it quarterback play? Jake Ferguson at Wisconsin is suffering a similar fate.

— We featured UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet right at the start of the season and he continues to impress. The Michigan transfer ran for 209 yards and a touchdown against Stanford, adding 42 yards as a receiver. He is extremely talented and deserves a lot more attention than he’s getting. It was good to see tight end Greg Dulcich more involved too, registering 42 yards on five catches.

— Most mocks have Michigan Aidan Hutchinson in the late first or early second. He’s a certain top-20 pick, especially in this class. He had another sack today against a spirited Rutgers team.

— Keep an eye on Florida State pass rusher Jermaine Johnson. He had another sack today against Louisville and has been a rare bright spark for the winless Seminoles.

— One of the consistent themes of the draft coverage this year is the horrendous nature of the 2022 quarterback class. Nothing embodies that more than Oklahoma’s overrated Spencer Rattler. Mocked in round one by so many, he had another stinker against West Virginia on Saturday. He had yet another interception throwing carelessly into thick coverage, lofting a pass that was begging to be picked off. He should’ve had another before half-time when throwing on the run. He was booed by the home fans multiple times and many chanted for backup Caleb Williams. Rattler strikes me as a player who thinks he’s better than he is. He trusts his arm way too much and is careless. He doesn’t read a defense or make sound decisions, he just backs himself to make throws. He does have some arm talent and he can extend plays but week after week he makes atrocious decisions and right now, I couldn’t project him in round one. No way.

— Another player who’s overrated? Clemson receiver Justyn Ross. I just don’t see it with him. Ross had a chance to keep Clemson alive in overtime on fourth down against NC State but showed a distinct lack of physicality, ball-tracking and desire in failing to catch a reasonably thrown pass. A quick reminder that he ran a 4.87 forty at SPARQ and jumped a 27-inch vertical.

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