D.K. Metcalf has reached new heights this season
The trade deadline has passed
No further deals were struck by the Seahawks, meaning their only move was to add Carlos Dunlap last week.
I’m not convinced Ryan Anderson or Takk McKinley, two linked names, would’ve made a big difference. Unfortunately, I’m not convinced Dunlap will either.
That’s not to say I don’t think it was a good trade. It’s an A+ in terms of value and they needed to do something. I’m just not sure an ageing veteran, added mid-season, is going to salvage Seattle’s awful pass rush.
There’s hope after a better performance against the Niners that the defense can improve. They’re also banking on the likes of Jamal Adams and Snacks Harrison having an impact.
Yet Adams was still part of the defense that had no answer against Cam Newton and the Patriots. They still rely on the blitz for pressure and can’t play their natural scheme which relies on rushing with four. Nobody should expect Dunlap to provide a miracle cure in that regard.
We also saw the defense revert back to type once Jimmy Garoppolo left the field.
It’s going to come down to Russell Wilson and the offense to prop up the unit. He’s capable of doing it — but as we saw against the Cardinals, it can also be a burden for Seattle’s star player.
It appears teams were simply being unrealistic about value. Mike Garafolo reports that the Falcons wanted a fourth round pick for McKinley. He’s out of contract in a few weeks and hasn’t played particularly well for the Falcons. Plus he’s been injured.
Frankly, they were never going to get an offer like that and if that was the state of play ahead of the deadline today, no wonder it ended up being a dud.
None of the names rumoured to be available moved on. None of the teams in serious cap hell next year parted with players to try and solve the problem.
And it’s clear the move to cut Luke Willson today was indicative of Seattle not getting a good offer for Jacob Hollister. One of the many questionable moves during the off-season was to spend well over $10m on Hollister and Greg Olsen. So far, they haven’t got value for money.
The Seahawks stole a top-five pick
The draft is often about capitalising on an opportunity.
The Seahawks have been big beneficiaries of that. Russell Wilson had no business falling to round three. If he was cloned and playing college football today — people would be talking about him in the top-five.
He’s been a trailblazer for shorter QB’s and it simply isn’t such a big deal any more.
Seattle took the chance to take him and acquired one of the best players of the current NFL era.
The same thing is happening with D.K. Metcalf. There are legit reasons why he lasted in the draft that extend well beyond a poor three cone. That’s an overused narrative.
The main reason he fell is likely due to the fact he suffered a career threatening neck injury during his final season at Ole Miss. It was even reported he was considering retirement due to the serious nature of the injury. However, after receiving reassuring information from medical experts, he turned pro.
I’m not sure how teams felt about the injury but there’s no way a player with his profile should’ve lasted to the final pick in round two.
As with Wilson, the Seahawks have once again benefited. They saw an opportunity and took it — with a glorious reward for doing so.
Metcalf is far from the finished article but he’s shown encouraging progress in year two. His second touchdown on Sunday was a classic example of using his size to box-out against defenders in the red zone. He’s using his size and not just his speed to his advantage. He’s also grown more confident and more comfortable within the offense and in certain games he’s developed an ‘unstoppable’ nature.
From a physical skill stand point he’s a top-five pick. While the Seahawks haven’t been able to select as high as that since 2010, they’ve found someone in Metcalf who can genuinely go on to achieve legendary status within the league.
He has superstar potential.
The Seahawks haven’t always used an opportunity to their advantage of course. They’ve passed on highly talented players with extreme physical profiles too. Yet in Wilson and Metcalf, they’ve found the holy grail for their offense.
It’s an example of why it’s wise to draft for upside
Prior to the 2017 draft I wrote about Malik McDowell being pretty much a dream prospect for the Seahawks based on physical profile. I still suggested that they should resist drafting him as his personality and attitude felt like the antithesis of a Carroll Seahawk.
They took him and he didn’t play a down in the NFL.
I haven’t been as critical of the team for making that move as others though. I think the thought process was sound. They saw a player with top-10 physical skills available in the early second round. Their biggest position of need at the time was a dynamic interior defensive lineman. They’d also had a lot of success developing talented players with character issues.
If he’d never had any desire to get on an ATV, who knows where he’d be now? It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we’d be talking about him in the same terms as D.K. Metcalf — wondering how a player of his talent lasted as long as he did.
Of course the pick gets even more scrutiny now because players such as T.J. Watt and Budda Baker were also available. Seattle took a chance on the wrong player ultimately — but it’s never irked me that much.
I think it’s a good idea to keep taking chances on upside.
They’ve had a few whiffs. Christine Michael is one of the best athletes to enter the NFL in our lifetimes. It didn’t work. Percy Harvin, who they traded for, is a special athlete. It didn’t work.
When it does come off, however, you strike gold.
Metcalf is the most recent example but there are others.
We’re all well aware why Frank Clark lasted until round two and I don’t really want to talk about that today. The Seahawks took a chance on him because he showed at the combine that he had the best combination of explosive athleticism and agility we might ever see from a pass rusher.
Bobby Wagner was a special athlete available in round two. Russell Wilson, by all accounts, had every special quality you want in a quarterback except height.
The upside potential of taking someone with a world class physical profile is pretty clear. It gives you a better shot to discover greatness.
Look at the Chiefs. For the last 4-5 years they’ve drafted for physical profile with each of their picks in the top two rounds. They always go for upside.
They’ve taken:
Chris Jones
Patrick Mahomes
Tanoh Kpassagnon
Breeland Speaks
Mecole Hardman
Juan Thornhill
Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Willie Gay Jr
Can you imagine their offense if they’d taken D.K. Metcalf? They passed on him for Mecole Hardman.
There are a couple of iffy picks there but the rest? It’s the foundation of their Super Bowl team along with the freaks of nature already on the roster (Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce) and the one they traded for (Clark).
Aiming high is always the way to go. It’s another reason why I’ve been loathe to criticise Seattle’s approach to the offensive line. Looking for the most explosive players up front isn’t a bad plan and the players they drafted, such as Germain Ifedi, had the potential for greatness. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
Yet that same plan is probably how they came across Damien Lewis — one of the most explosive testers at the combine this year.
If you draft the most unique, physically special players in the top two rounds four years in a row, the chances are of the eight players you take you’ll find someone outstanding.
It seems pretty clear that is the approach taken by Kansas City.
I think the Seahawks should try and stick to this too. There’s evidence that they’re conscious of it. Yet as noted in this article I wrote back in July, I think they too often get fixated on certain positions.
In 2019 they’d traded Clark, saw a good looking D-line class and clearly felt they needed a safety (since that draft they added Marquise Blair, Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams — so there’s enough evidence to assert that with confidence).
Yet by being so committed to two positions, they ended up drafting a thoroughly average physical talent with limited upside in L.J. Collier. Nobody can question his effort this year but we can all see he has minimal upside.
We’ve not seen enough of Blair to judge but given they added Diggs and Adams after selecting him, that’s not the best review of their confidence in his starting potential.
Sometimes you have to address needs in the draft — but you can make a strong case for avoiding that situation at all costs and trying to find the players with the highest upside in order to claim the players who can define your roster.
It’s hard to judge Seattle’s 2020 draft in that regard. Jordyn Brooks and Darrell Taylor were both praised for their athletic profiles once selected but the reality is Brooks only ran a forty at the combine (a decent time of 4.54) and Taylor didn’t do anything.
Help Russell Wilson break records
Wilson has 26 touchdowns in seven games. At his current pace, he will beat the NFL record for passing scores in a season. If he manages that, there’s no doubt he’ll be the MVP and the Seahawks will win a lot of games.
Yes it’s a team sport and Seattle’s success will depend on a lot more than making sure Wilson is statistically successful. Yet I think there’s something to be said for the personal success of your own star player.
You also need to strike while the iron is hot. There has been eight different NFL MVP’s since Wilson entered the league. Nobody has won it twice. Some haven’t even come close.
This could be Wilson’s best shot to not only claim the award but also set records, confirming his place among the all-time greats. Winning a Super Bowl is the ultimate prize but only one team gets to do that. Personal success stories are important too and I suspect the Seahawks are conscious of that. They might never admit it publicly but I think they will be working to help Wilson achieve certain landmarks this year — and rightly so.
It’s time to root for the Niners
They might be banged up and they might be drifting towards another gift of a high draft pick. However, their next three games are against the Packers, Saints and Rams.
Kyle Shanahan dragged his team off the canvas after they were hammered by Miami to inflict two comfortable wins over LA and New England.
For the sake of their draft position (it’s a top-heavy class) and Seattle’s chances to outlast certain other NFC contenders — it’s time to hope Shanahan has a bit more magic up his sleeve despite the unbelievable list of casualties in San Francisco.
Thoughts on Chris Carson & Shaquill Griffin’s contract status’
Carson has always had injuries — throughout his college and NFL career. The problem is, Seattle needs him. Badly.
He is the perfect compliment to the dynamic passing game. His physical style is the ideal fit for this offense. It also helps he can catch the ball too.
The Seahawks are completely defined by their quarterback these days. It’s vital that you keep his best weapons around him and add wherever possible. Metcalf, Carson and Tyler Lockett are all extremely talented and it’s important to avoid the kind of situation we saw in New England for Tom Brady and Green Bay for Aaron Rodgers where skill players departed and were never replaced.
Simply put, Seattle is a different team without Carson.
It’s going to be really interesting to see how they handle his contract situation. They can’t afford to pay him in the same bracket as Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon and Alvin Kamara. Yet they equally can’t afford to go into next season needing to fill the massive hole he will leave.
Look how difficult it was to replace Marshawn Lynch. They don’t want to go into next year with another Eddie Lacy, C.J. Prosise type combo. And I’m not sure Rashaad Penny has done enough to warrant faith to be the lead back, even despite costing a high pick.
Somehow they need to find a way to keep him — he just might have to establish his market in free agency first to keep the cost down.
As for Griffin — he’s really struggled at times this season. Until recently, having missed time, he was leading the league in targets and yardage conceded.
It’s extremely difficult to justify paying him big money and the Seahawks should be willing to risk letting him walk.
That in itself would create a problem with Quinton Dunbar also a free agent. They might need to add two starting cornerbacks. That’s simply the situation they’re in unfortunately. Who knows? Maybe there’s a chance for Richard Sherman and the franchise to come together and make things right.
Draft targets so far
Here’s a reminder of the players who have caught my eye so far who might be available in round two:
Alim McNeill (DT, NC State)
Patrick Jones (EDGE, Pittsburgh)
Aaron Banks (G, Notre Dame)
Dayo Odeyingbo (DE, Vanderbilt)
Paris Ford (S, Pittsburgh)
Josh Myers (C, Ohio State)
Seth Williams (WR, Auburn)
Jake Ferguson (TE, Wisconsin)
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I was thinking about Sherman yesterday. He’s a free agent this offseason. Sounds like you’d be okay with him back in Seattle?
I don’t have an opinion on it.
If he comes back then bridges have been mended.
If he doesn’t, he doesn’t.
None of us can have a proper view on whether it should or shouldn’t happen. We don’t know enough.
That’s fair. I think Griffin could’ve used another year or more of tutoring under Sherman. If he did come back and him and Seattle have reconciled, he could be a helpful teacher to younger players. Sherman truly was great, as close to a shutdown corner as anyone can be, when he was in his prime.
That’s the problem with bringing him back Joe, he’s no longer in, or even close to, his prime years. Sherm is proud and won’t come back, or probably go anywhere, for a vet minimum contract, so he’s just not worth a moderate to heavy investment.
Don’t think he left on the same poor terms as Earl or Bennett, but still maybe not on the best of terms which probably would play into it as well.
Agree with you Simo. He’s too far beyond his prime.
I think you have to re-sign one of Griffin or Dunbar.
I am not saying I want him back. I am saying. These guys, flowers and Griffin, would’ve been better served developing behind Sherman, learning how the best plays from the best. Neither Flowers or Griffin are anything near as good as Sherman was, they both were thrown out there to play with the pressure of following the LOB. Griffin isn’t worth a big contract, unless somehow he comes back and jumps a few routes because he sees what’s coming and makes some qbs a little afraid to throw to his guy. We’ll see. Dunbar has been underwhelming thus far imo. Sherman is obviously a bit slower these days, and As Rob alluded to, both sides would have to reconcile, Sherman has to understand what is expected of him. I would take Sherman back in a role like that with a young guy or 3 who’d be willing to learn from him. This team, the defense, lacks proven veteran leadership. Beyond KJ and Bobby and maybe Reed, none of these guys have anyone to overtake. They’ve been gifted jobs and are being coached up. I exclude Adams because he’s played in 3 games, but he has the potential to be a leader too. No offense to the individuals on the defense, but most of them are other teams castoffs, cheap veterans, or draft picks thrown to the wolves. Diggs was a pro bowl alternate, we act like he’s a critical piece…
it’s just a shame that the team couldn’t develop the next generation defense behind the original LOB BAMFs.
I’d love it if we could sign Carson to a two-year deal. I agree, he’s a vital part of this offense, even if it’s for 12 games a year.
Imagine if Carson signed with the … 49ers?!
Here’s a message I’ve just received:
It’s amazing how butt-hurt some fans have become because I dared to criticise the team this off-season. I never realised how super delicate the 12th man was until this year.
Now, after wins, I get sent messages like this. Even though all the concerns I voiced about the defense were clearly worthwhile and legitimate.
It’s amazing really. You’ve got to laugh. Imagine wasting your time posting that.
This isn’t the “12th man”, it is mental midgets who are jealous of your success that you run a super popular blog with thought provoking articles and ideas. The funniest thing to me is nothing is stopping them from starting their own blog where they could fully express their own ideas. Only problem is that takes a lot of time and effort, and it is much easier to just sit there complaining non-stop and name-calling.
Truth! And Rob, I hope you take that crap with a huge grain of salt and let it roll right off. I’m a 12, as are the rest of us here, and this idiot does NOT represent me in any way, shape or form. This guy couldn’t create and maintain a blog because he only has one idea and it would be done in a day.
Rob, you be you and keep putting out your thoughts.
The number of awful comments by Seahawks fans replying to the Twitter news that Jimmy G and Kittle are hurt made me sad. (One made me laugh though – “When will you Niner fans realize the NFC West will always be ours!!!” – lemme check, when was the last time the Seahawks won the division?)
This may shock some of you – I don’t have a twitter account. But at times I literally want to create one just so I can post replies to these idiots and say “Seahawks fan here – this moron does not represent my values.”
“This may shock some of you”
Reminded me of this, 40 seconds in…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjAWDdbgTrM
Steve Coogan is a national treasure. The dueling Michael Caine impression with Bryden never ceases to crack me up.
Being happy an opposing player is hurt is as low as it gets in fandom. Pathetic. And I have no doubt every fanbase has these knuckle draggers.
Yep. When I heard Kittle and then Jimmy G were out I thought it was horrible news. These guys are amazing athletes when you get down to it and good peeps.
This garbage from Seahawks fanatics reminds me of how Navarro bowman was treated when he was carted off. I will always be proud to be a 12 but these folks are the cousins I don’t interact with at thanksgiving.
Inability to rush with four is the reason their secondary is giving up passing yards on historical pace.
There is no right and wrong on how to build a defense, they simply choose to fix edge containment first in order to stop those swipes ^ bobbles within the division. However, their choice on draft stocks is very strange when they clearly need pass rushers but take a 5T instead? Bullard out played Collier big time against 9ers, and you can get that type of players for free.
It may be helpful to remember that the 12th ‘man’ is made of 1000’s of serious, even rabid SH fans, AKA-fanatics. By nature some fans will circle the wagons when they feel threatened in their fandom by someone challenging their emotional underpinnings of single-pointed belief and identity. Alas, the same things happen often tragically in the political and religious realms, as we’re witnessing this very day.
True
Ditto for me. Well said James.
You’ve been doing this for a long time and your site has grown exponentially in the last 10 years. No matter what the platform, as it gets bigger, it will naturally bring a certain kind of toxic person with it. Not that this site is comparable but Twitter, Youtube, and various other websites dealt with the same problem.
Honestly, it has nothing to do with what you’re writing about. You could have been the biggest Benson Mayowa fan in the world and had been overly positive this offseason and I imagine that you would have received an equal amount of vitriol. I think it’s best to just let it go, the real fans who respect your voice and writing come here for that.
I see these kinds of comments from certain types over at FG and want to engage and come to your defense (not that you need my help) – it is such a weird dynamic. From the end of last season until about the third week of free agency, you were viewed as practically a team employee because you were such a “homer”. Now you’re seen as so relentlessly negative that every win is followed by comments like “Rob Staton’s head is gonna explode”.
I don’t get it – the antagonism is just bizarre. I enjoy a lot of the feature writers over there, even if the quality has gone down from the Danny Kelly days. But the readership has really taken on a sense of ownership of what it means to be a 12.
Keep on being yourself – positive or negative, you make your reasoning perfectly clear, and I’m quite capable of deciding of I agree or not.
Thanks Robert. I think Field Gulls is best ignored to be honest — it has some very strange characters (both writing and commenting).
Thanks for your work Rob. I come here for your realistic analysis and distinct lack of boosterism.
Rob, there’s a saying, “opinions are like butt holes, everyone has one…”. Like I said in the previous thread, ignore the 1% and let it roll off you. I realize easier said than done. Ignore the noise. The remaining 99% here appreciate what you do. We really do. BTW, Really disappointed we didn’t add anyone today. Can’t believe ATL was asking for a 4th rounder for Takk. No wonder we didn’t see many trades this year.
Perhaps we avoided the Yannick curse this trade deadline? He gets traded to the Vikings, a team with playoff aspirations and they promptly lose. They trade him away and suddenly win, only to see his new team, the Ravens lose. Must be all Yannick’s fault. Same with all the losing seasons in Jacksonville.
Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good – D.K. was not even the WR targeted when they traded out of 30 in last year’s draft.
Agree. I think the Hawks had a first round grade on him but he was definitely not the guy they were targeting. Glad it worked out this way though. Hawks deserve some credit that they saw the value there for DK and couldn’t pass him up. Pats and eagles traded up before Hawks right?
The Seahawks traded up with the Pats moving down.
I’d be pretty surprised if one of Carson or Griffin (or even Dunbar, I suppose) didn’t get the franchise tag.
Tag would be 16 million+ for a corner, that would be an exorbitant sum for any of them
How sure are you about those #s with the potential of a reduced cap? Not saying you’re wrong, just curious how all of that will intersect.
Regardless, yes, that is too much for Shaq. They’ll certainly bid him adieu and wish him luck if he gets offered anywhere near that on the open market.
FWIW, Over the Cap projects the franchise tag to be $14,883,000 for corners in 2021. Obviously that can — and likely will — change, but that’s what they project as of now.
https://overthecap.com/franchise-transition-and-rfa-tenders/
Franchise tags are not dependent on the cap, it’s the average of the top five salaries at the position
I’m aware of that…
I’m also aware that a lot is likely to be reworked starting this February regarding existing contracts.
IMO all three are not worth the tag even Carson. With covid impacted cap- there will be more high quality free agents who can be signed for reasonable contracts. If Carson was healthy he would be good- but we’ve seen the history of 2nd contracts for RBs and especially those who have injury history…
Quill is not a shut down corner but a good one. I assume he’d want to get paid. Dunbar is interesting. All goes down to how much he wants.
I think the point is that Carson doesn’t have to get a massive contract to keep him. It’s possible to be reasonable and still give him a deserved, handsome deal.
And they are far better with him than without him. I don’t want to see this offense next year relying on Penny, Dallas and Homer or the next version of Eddie Lacy. In terms of pure talent, Carson is one of Seattle’s core. He’s one of their top eight players.
If the deal is reasonable then I’d agree. Still think that the money could be better used on another position of need. There are still quality RBs in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Carson has missed time every year of his career so far. I doubt he’d be cheap. He should capitalize on his market tbh in case he suffers a career ending injury. Risky move too resign him imo. Think hes a great player but not worth the risk. Money could be allocated to DL/DB next year
“I’m not convinced Ryan Anderson or Takk McKinley, two linked names, would’ve made a big difference…They’re also banking on the likes of Jamal Adams and Snacks Harrison having an impact.”
Felt like Takk had at least presented an athletic upgrade, but am not upset JS balked at giving up a 4th.
The defense looked decidedly better last week. Its safe to assume adding Adams, Dunlap and Snacks will provide a boost. Maybe all the way up towards mediocrity! 🙂
The defense looked better until the fourth quarter when Garoppolo left the game (and onto injured reserve).
They have a big challenge in the next two games to prove they are progressing.
It was 30-7 Hawks with 14:07 left in the game. The D played mostly prevent the entire 4th quarter. The prevent defense needs to be thrown in the trash, might as well be called matador defense. I dont think that overshadows the 3 quarters of quality defense the Hawks played before gaining a 23 point lead.
Or alternatively, as soon as the quarterback who wasn’t healthy and is now on IR left the game, they gave up about 250 yards and 20 points in a quarter.
It’s very easy to blame it on ‘prevent defense’. They were blitzing in the fourth quarter.
They face a big test in the next two games and as I said have to prove they are progressing.
Jimmy G was healthy enough to win the previous 2 games.
Agreed the Hawks have a lot to prove in the next 2 weeks. Feel more confident that they can continue to improve now more than ever- this year. Admittedly still not overly confident, but things are trending upward.
I’m sure you’re right and Jimmy G was A-OK and none of the Niners’ struggles were down to him going on IR the next day — and all of the issues in the fourth quarter where they gave up 20 points and 250 passing yards were exclusively down to prevent defense.
The defense was clearly not as aggressive in the 4th quarter being up 30-7. They blitzed a few times but mostly stayed with the basic front 4 rushers. Having said that in my untrained eyes Mullens is a better QB than JG but not as experienced. He was exposed when he had to start a game when JimmyG was hurt and D had time to scheme for him.
Mullens isn’t a better QB.
Jimmy G took a team to the SB last year. For all his flaws, let’s not forget that. Look how bad Mullens looked against Philly.
I appreciate we’re all desperate to see the defense improve but we can’t wash away that fourth quarter.
Rob, which of the next 2 games do you think will tell us the most about the Hawks? Both the Rams and the Bills are teams that I don’t really know what to think.. To me the Bills seem very similar to the Seahawks, that the outcome of their games are dependent on their QB play. Very close games against the dolphins and patriots, and handled by the top AFC teams in the Titans and Chiefs. The Rams on the other hand have only had wins against the the bears mediocre offense and the NFC least, while getting handled by the same injury ridden 49ers and Dolphins. My worry here is that I think neither team is a true contender, and if we lose 1 or both games then it will almost confirm a repeat performance of the last few years.
It’s no secret that JS/PC bungled the pass rush this off-season.
Have to give them credit for improving the OL-on a budget no less. Lewis is every bit as good as hoped, while Shell has provided solid play at RT especially in pass pro. Solid being a major +++ over Ifedi. The quality depth of Simmons and Jones has been nice to see as well.
Tecmo, regarding ‘Bungling the Pass Rush”, does hindsight offer you a different POV on this? Did they “bungle because they didn’t overpay or overreach on players that changed teams that have whiffed?
This may have just been a weak market for Edge rushers and DL difference makers for Seattle to dabble in. It explains why Seattle held out hope to add Clowney who still has 0 sacks. The Titans made additions with both Clowney and Vic Beasley who’ve accounted for 0 sacks between them and a lot more money allocated to both players than Seattle.
Robert Quinn- 1 sack- 5 years $70 mil- $30 mil guaranteed
Vic Beasley- 0 sack- 1yr $9.5 mil- ($2.5 + in sack incentives)
Jadeveon Clowney- 0 sacks- 1yr $12 mil ($3 + in sack incentives)
Yannick Ngakoue- 5 sacks – (trade- $12 mil)
Calais Campbell – 4 sacks- 2yr- $27 mil -$20 mil guaranteed
Bruce Irvn- 0 sacks 1yr- $5.5
Benson Mayowa- 2 sacks- 1yr $3 mil
Demontre Moore- 1 sack – $900,000
Jarrad Reed – 1 sack- 1 yr guaranteed at $9.35 (could be a 2 yr deal $23mil- team option)
Jamal Adams- 2 sacks- 2yr $13.5 mil (Seattle can still neg long term deal)
Could Seattle have traded for Yannick twice? I think that’s the one move that’s debatable but I think Seattle is still banking on Darrell Taylor to provide that same sort of production off the edge. So they’re waiting.
But in review, what did Seattle actually bungle? Bungle overpaying players that they felt weren’t true difference makers for the market price they were asking?
Beasley, Clowney, and Quinn alone would’ve cost Seattle $92 mil and only 1 sack. Conversely Seattle is on the hook for 5 players at $32 mil with 5 sacks.
Yet they’ve just added Dunlap to the mix too. I just feel a narrative of “not addressing”, “bungling” is overblown when the options Seattle had was very limited when you review the landscape in retrospect. It’s like a bad QB draft when you’re stuck with a top 10 pick and really need a QB. See Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones…etc
Seattle managed to add Adams who despite missing 4 games has more sacks than Beasely, Clowney, and Quinn combined.
Sometimes action for the sake of action creates a bad reaction that can blow up in your face. Ask the Bears in regards to Quinn so far or the Titans.
I love these attempts to try and argue that what the Seahawks did was in any way justified.
The Seahawks set a target of fixing their pass rush at the start of the off-season and called it a priority. The pass rush in 2020 has been an abomination, has gotten even worse than last year, the entire defense has struggled badly and threatens to undermine the brilliance of Russell Wilson and the offense.
You get what you pay for and they’ve got a sack percentage of 3.5%. That is rubbish.
For me that is ‘bungling’ the situation in a year where you’ve spent over $50m and used three first round picks, a second round pick and three third round picks. The pass rush and defense in general had to be better than this.
There’s nothing ‘overblown’ about saying that. It’s fair and legitimate.
And people just need to stop with the Clowney stuff. Nobody was demanding Clowney be resigned for massive sack numbers. That’s never been his game. But we saw very clearly last year what he did do well in order to create pressure despite absorbing near constant double teams, how favourably he compared in win percentage next to the elite DL’s in the league and how he could essentially win you games (as he did in San Fran and Philly in the playoffs). There’s a reason the team coveted him, offered him a big contract and called him a priority. We’ve gone over the topic of why he isn’t here to the point of banality and I have no interest in repeating that conversation today.
My own personal view was that he was Seattle’s one dynamic DL last year and in order to improve, you should build around him. Not start to fix the problem by needing to replace him. Alas, that’s what they ended up doing. Which would’ve been fine had they been aggressive to add different players. You’ve listed two of them (Campbell and Ngakoue) but there were others.
Clowney’s PFF grade so far this year is 75.3 which is a long way better than any of Seattle’s defensive linemen. So let’s not act like he’s completely useless or feel the need to bring him up every time he has a poor game (which I’m led to believe he had against the Bengals but I haven’t watched any of it and I suspect most others haven’t either).
Incidentally, Robert Quinn is also grading well per PFF. As is Shaq Lawson and Emmanuel Ogbah. A handful of 2020 free agents are listed in the top-20 for sacks in the NFL currently. So this idea that Seattle had little choice but to do what they did simply isn’t valid.
And that’s before we even get into desperately trading up for a DE who couldn’t work out at the Senior Bowl or Combine, has now been out for a year with this injury and isn’t close to returning.
Keep sticking to the PFF Clowney grade. Have you simply googled him and recent news? Huge plethora of detailed articals about him being a bust for the Titans. Not worth what you said he was for the resign and not worth even what he signed for. The Seahawks were not wrong in regards to not signing him. But by all means carry on it is your blog.
Let’s see, PFF is a metric based grading system. Do those “detailed articles” calling him a bust offer factual arguments or are they only opinion?
And it was NOT only about Clowney. It was about improving the pass rush. That has for the majority of the season, not happened.
Wasn’t Griffin then other favorite on this blog? Isn’t his PFF like 50?
You’re missing the whole point. There weren’t “blog favorites”. Come August, Griffen and Clowney were simply the best options left, and given the Seahawks had so badly neglected the position that PC had talked up as a priority, it was natural to discuss those two quite frequently as the straightest path to addressing a massive problem.
It’s embarrassing the depths people go to in order to try and undermine any of the legitimate criticisms voiced this off-season.
I’m still waiting for a response as to whether the “huge plethora” of articles back up their assertions that Clowney is a bust with actual facts/stats/metrics.
Cha, always love your perspective but “neglect” is the only issue I have. Rob was right to point out Seattle’s glaring need as PC highlighted it too but when we review the players that seemed to be possible additions in the off-season most of them just weren’t worth the payday they received.
It looks as though it was just a weak offseason for DE/DL FA’s or players through trade that could add mightily to the cap. Quinn is at least on the books for $30 mil and a 2nd year because of the dead money involved in his second year.
I know it felt like inaction when Seattle added Mayowa and Irvin but maybe the landscape was just bleak.
The Titans cut ties with Beasley, and others are just not performing. The Front Office isn’t shy about making deals or trades and it’s conceivable the additions on the DL just didn’t line up this offseason and decided to take a wait and see approach along with adding Irvin and Mayowa.
It’s prudent and now that we have a chance to review, probably the right approach.
“When we review the players that seemed to be possible additions in the off-season most of them just weren’t worth the payday they received.”
This point has already been countered many times already. There are multiple free agents who are now listed in the top-20 for sacks. Several free agents are among the best edge rushers per PFF. The Ravens have traded for two potential targets who have already combined for 9 sacks.
There are always options available.
When you combine the lack of talent on pass rush, the window of a franchise QB in his prime, and the cap room and draft picks available to them and come home from shopping with only Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa, yes I feel neglect is an appropriate term.
“Tecmo, regarding ‘Bungling the Pass Rush”, does hindsight offer you a different POV on this?”
Not really. The pass rush from the front 4 is not up to snuff. That’s why the Hawks have been blitzing more.
They also didn’t overpay for little to no production, which is a positive. Hope Dunlap comes in and wrecks havoc, but it feels like we are going to be relying on the blitz to get pressure. Noticed a couple different blitzes last week from Norton/PC.
I think what you’re missing and I’m saying is that Seattle dint feel confident in going long term in to any contract on the DL with the players that were available this offseason.
They rather put there money in a young Saftey who is an All Pro Blue Chip player who also can offer them pressure too. Blitzing helped them in the match up against the Niners, imagine having the best blitzed I. adams with Wagz?
We could actually be watching a philosophical shift that Seattle hasn’t been able to fully implement because of so many injuries. Last week could be a sneak peak along with one that can add Dunlap and Snacks..not too mention Green.
PC believes in fresh rotational bodies ore than anything on the DL so overpaying for DL talent has never been their MO.
They didn’t need to feel confident long term.
The only two players to sign ‘long term’ deals were Quinn and Fowler. Both have easy outs in their contracts after two seasons. The absolute most you would’ve been committing to was the end of 2021. So it was nothing to do with long term commitment.
And they didn’t ‘rather put their money in a young safety’. This is revisionist history. They spent $50m in free agency and then traded for Adams right before the season. They are paying Adams very little this year (but will pay him a staggering fortune in the future with no leverage in talks) and instead invested their entire draft future in him.
There is no philosophical shift either. They blitzed in early games to try and make up for a horrendous pass rush. Then they reverted to type again, only to be gashed and run all over. On Sunday they blitzed a bit more again. They are struggling badly to work out how to handle their poor D-line.
As for PC believes in fresh rotational bodies on the DL — is that why Benson Mayowa started the season taking on 90% of the snaps? Or why they relied on Chris Clemons for three years (2010-12). Or why they relied on Frank Clark in 2018 and Clowney in 2019? There’s just no evidence for some of the things you’re arguing. It just reads like an attempt to defend the team at all costs against legitimately raised concerns.
It’s time to get this thread back on track and talk about the points raised in the article.
Rob, respectively,
“ As for PC believes in fresh rotational bodies on the DL — is that why Benson Mayowa started the season taking on 90% of the snaps? Or why they relied on Chris Clemons for three years (2010-12). Or why they relied on Frank Clark in 2018 and Clowney in 2019?“
Those snaps are inflated due to injuries along the DL. Those players were forced to play more as a result. PC has stated many times his desire to limit his D-Linemen to 60% of maximum snaps.
Excerpt from Seahawks.com-https://www.seahawks.com/news/seahawks-defensive-linemen-jordan-hill-and-frank-clark-are-really-on-the–133861
“When the Seahawks won the Super Bowl XLVIII, one of the strengths of a dominant defense in 2013 was a line that had enough depth for Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril to come off the bench. Last year’s line wasn’t as deep, though it was still very strong, but this year with Clark, Hill, Cassius Marsh and Demarcus Dobbs, the Seahawks hope to again have depth that can keep everyone fresh late in the season.”
They value depth and rotation but roster has an affect on snaps. Bennett, as reported, said he re-signed with Seattle at a lower number because he was told he would would be on a pitch count. Both he and Avril were rotational pieces in 2013 and thought his usage wouldn’t increase as much as it did.
“Those snaps are inflated due to injuries along the DL”
In the second game of the season? The only injury was Darrell Taylor.
And I’m not sure what point you are making relating to depth and pitch counts. A lot of us have consistently argued the depth wasn’t good enough. I was simply pointing out with Mayowa taking on a large portion of snaps that this isn’t the first time that they’ve put too much responsibility on one man.
“We could actually be watching a philosophical shift that Seattle hasn’t been able to fully implement because of so many injuries.”
You could be on to something. A philosophical shift based on the necessity to pressure the QB.
Feel like the biggest shift the past 2 seasons has been DL is the position group that JS/PC arent heavily investing cap space. The Clark trade was a heavy signal. That ‘skimped on’ position group used to be OL and Russel took a beating. Now its the DL and the Hawks have major issues getting pressure, without blitzing. Its a balancing act. One I hope is on the up.
Go Hawks!
“Feel like the biggest shift the past 2 seasons has been DL is the position group that JS/PC arent heavily investing cap space.”
They have a big cap hit for Jarran Reed. They franchise tagged Frank Clark and if nobody offered a big trade the week before the 2019 draft, he would’ve played for a huge cap hit last year. They gave Ziggy Ansah a big cap hit. They had Clowney for a reasonable cap hit and then offered him a big contract per several reports that would’ve warranted a large cap hit.
They didn’t do a good job fixing the pass rush and we’ve talked a lot about how they ended up in this situation. But there’s no evidence they aren’t willing to pay big cap hits or that this is some kind of long term vision for the DL.
Tecmo, good points and one thing I would highlight regarding Seattle “skimping” on Clark. Seattle has a formula with draftee pass rushers and FA’s. “Skimp”, possibly or money allocations per position. Some players just price themselves out of Seattle’s DE budget.
Irvin=Clark. Both drafted and developed but priced out of Seattle’s price structure.
Clemons=Richardson=Clowney=Dunlap. Trades that give Seattle an opportunity to evaluate and hope that the Seattle culture influences to stay within Seattle’s price structure for an extension. These players are rentals with the slight hope of an extension.
Avril/Bennett=Mayowa/Irvin. FA’s at bargain on 1 yr deals with options to resign if they perform well.
Bryant=Williams=Stephens=Snacks. Mone can be included but it’s the low budget rotational run stuffing DT PC wants that can get double teams.
I just think Seattle finds bargains on the DL when signing extensions. Clemons, Avril, and Bennett all took team friendly deals to stay but those were before Russ got paid. The pendulum has shifted slightly from Defensive spending to offensive and I just think it’s something we have to live with.
Then they need to rethink their formula because the results, as we can see, are a dreadul pass rush getting worse year after year.
Possibly, but their price structure had to change once Russ started making top dollar. The contracts they were able to afford before aren’t what they can afford now paying a top tier QB.
“ The Ravens have traded for two potential targets who have already combined for 9 sacks.”
The Ravens can sign ET as a FA last year, re-up Judon and give Calais a sweet deal for a player over 30 and trade for Yannik. All this because Jackson is still on his rookie deal. They’re all in this year and next before his new contract counts significantly against the cap. KC was able to add Mathieu and Clark because Mahomes didn’t count the cap. Chris Jones for that matter. But hey, Seattle got their Chip in 2013 (should’ve got one in 14 too) and basically pioneered this new way of operating.
Basically, Seattle said we’ll pay top dollar to the QB on offense and the QB on defense and spread the wealth among the others as best they can.
This is not correct Duceyq.
The Seahawks spent over $50m. They had more than enough cap space to do all of the things you are disputing.
Watch points for the Buffalo game
This is a Rams game warmup. The Buffalo offense is Rams Lite:
They’re crazy for play action. The Rams are the only team in the NFL that uses play action more often than the Bills. The Bills love to scheme ways to make life easy for their QB. They have a more-than-a-possession-safety-valve type (Cole Beasley), a threatening top level WR type (Stephon Diggs) and their RBs love to attack the edges with speed and are a major part of the passing game.
Sound familiar? Seahawks defense, you will need your edge-setters effective, your LBs speedy and smart, your pass rushers disciplined, and your CBs to not let WRs roam free. Let’s shoot for 3 out of those 4 goals. This a warm up act for next week’s division showdown. The Bills are an ideal sparring partner to train with for the upcoming prize fight.
Offense: Improve your situational football.
The offense is humming and the Bills defense isn’t nearly as good as typical McDermott teams of the past. Their numbers are middling, but playing the woeful Jets twice already has really propped up the Bills’ defensive numbers. Without the Jets games factored in, they are 27th in points allowed and 24th in yards allowed. The Seahawks can control this game and do what suits them. But as good as they are, they need more polish in putting the game away offensively. They’ve occasionally struggled to sustain a long drive with a good lead in the 3rd or 4th quarter and left the game up to special teams and the porous defense. The end of the SF game was a great start, a confidence-building turn after the utter failure of the week before in that area. Find that midpoint between aggression and efficiency consistently, and you’ll elevate the team to a whole new level of threat. Start that this week.
Defense: Get off the field on 3rd down.
This has been a huge issue for the defense. So why not address it head on with the toughest opponent in that area? The Bills offense is #1 in the NFL with a staggering 51.6% third down efficiency. How are they converting so frequently? A major key to the Bills’ success on third downs is having fantastic early downs.
It’s an intriguing breakdown:
26% of their first down plays generate 10+ yards, so they’re converted into another first down.
However, 58% of their first down plays generate 3 yards or less. So for 84% of their first downs, it’s either boom or bust.
How can the Bills be so bold on first down and not get in trouble later? 55% of their 3rd down plays are for 6 yards or less to go. Which means they have a stable of great play calls on 2nd and 7+ yards and execute them well, to put themselves into manageable 3rd down situations. They apparently like to test their jab on first down, and have very little worries about not getting big gains, since they can move the ball well on 2nd and 7+.
So – this means they frequently can run their entire playbook in almost any given situation. And they have many options: possession receivers, pass catching RBs, and a great running QB (Josh Allen personally has run for 9 first downs on 15 3rd down attempts) to make converting less difficult.
So defense, you have your homework assignment: You must disrupt their play script. Dial up blitzes on early downs. Give them different looks. Bring rushers from different spots like you did vs SF. Force them into more difficult 3rd downs. If you win on 1st and 2nd down, your chances of winning on 3rd down dramatically increase (Buffalo converts about 60% of 3rd and less than 7, 40% of 3rd and more than 7). Get aggressive at non-traditional times. 2nd down defense could well be where the game is won or lost.
Frustrate Josh Allen.
He’s taken another forward step in his play this season. The offense is tailored for him to thrive when the game isn’t totally on his shoulders. On play action, he’s got a sparkling 129 QB rating and zero interceptions, and they run that about 31% of the time. But he’s far less successful when they’re not in a position to use play action. If the Seahawks can use their LB speed to mitigate the early runs and quick passes, and blitz to create pressure (or better yet, get pressure with 4, *cough*), Allen can get impatient and try to force things both with his arm and legs, which can lead to mistakes and chances for turnovers. He has 5 INTs and has fumbled 4 times this year – and lost all 4. In the last 4 games, he has 5 turnovers. Let’s keep the streak going.
Integrate (or reintegrate) all the activated defenders as seamlessly as possible.
The defense may see Adams, Green, Mayowa and Shaquille back this week, and Dunlap and maybe Snacks will see action on Sunday. Can they keep their game plan on schedule with all those new pieces? Adams in particular will likely be on a snap count if he is active. They badly need all hands on deck next week vs LA. Can they rotate quality young players Alton Robinson, DJ Reed, Brian Mone and Ryan Neal onto the field to keep getting them snaps and still manage to avoid a miscommunication or blown assignment? Patching things together on defense has returned a serious mix of both interesting and frustrating results at times this year.
This is excellent Cha! You’re rockin it dude!
Could not agree more Rob! DRAFT FOR UPSIDE in the top rounds!!!
I still like the Brooks pick, but Collier was a desperate reach. Really I think the only time you draft desperately is for LT. Which I hope we don’t have to do anytime soon.
Speaking of LT, who do you have as intriguing prospects for 2021?
Obinna Eze one to watch
Will he be available where we will be picking?
Possibly
Since my brother is a looong suffering Bengals fan (We saw Ken Anderson play the Seahawks in his MVP year) I have seen quite a bit of Carlos Dunlap, I can’t say I am super confident he can come in and be a big difference, but I would not be at all surprised if he does. Of all the people that were available in the offseason for equal money and for just a year I would have wanted him. It is entirely possible that father time has caught him this year and he disappoints due to decline or injury but if he can be the type of player he has been up to now for just a little bit longer, making his own pressure and helping to elevate those around him for one more year it could be something special.
He has something left. Watch the game he had against Philly. Not saying he is going to dominate but after a near decade in an up and down franchise he should have all the motivation in the world.
He still have 2 years on his contract. Sacks are not everything but this guy does put pressures on QB like Clowney.
am i hypnotized or is this a “solid” dline? look at this group in context (BM now as supporting cast, RG and LJC rotating, etc):
Rasheem Green, L.J. Collier, Jonathan Bullard
Jarran Reed, Damon Harrison
Poona Ford, Bryan Mone
Carlos Dunlap, Benson Mayowa, Alton Robinson
(…assuming CD can excel as our LEO)
I think it looks like Carlos Dunlap has been added to the D-line we acknowledged wasn’t good enough previously.
The line needs a major re-do in the coming years and I hope that will be a priority (a proper priority). A great pass rush is the perfect way to play complementary defense.
If Dunlap plays decent for the rest of the year, it would probably be wise to keep him next year with the 11 million cap hit, see what you got in Taylor as a rotation piece and try to upgrade the 5 and 3 techniques, which free agency will provide some… “interesting” options. FO will also need to decide if they want to use a RFA tender on Poona Ford (roughly 2.25 million)
He’ll need to be better than decent. They have very little money next year and need to get a lot done. I think he’ll be cut unless he plays like a man possessed. But they could always re-sign him to a cheaper deal or rip up his contract and agree a new one.
True and on that same note, they probably should rework Jarran Reed’s contract as well.
…maybe i’m being hypnotized by potential?
5T: green, collier, bullard have potential, especially as a rotation (we were all high on them, right?)
DT: that’s a great rotation (…on paper at least)
LEO: great starter with good+ backups
i feel like if we traded/signed for dunlap/snacks (and picked up bullard) we would have been excited about… the potential
(but it’s obviously not clowney/ngokoue)
JS does deserve credit for the in season additions of Dunlap, Bullard and Snacks. The unit as a whole is improved from the start of the season.
I’m hopeful the defense is making the turn upward. Do not think they can rely on the front 4 for consistent pressure, which is a huge factor in PC’s cover 3. Norton and PC have to be a bit more creative in their blitz scheme, and they showed signs of doing just that last week. The defense doesn’t need to be top 5 for this team to make a SB run. If they can get all the way up to the middle…look out!
Go Hawks!
Snacks hasn’t played a down of football.
There’s no praise to be had there.
I read that Tre Flowers was the 6th best cornerback in the NFL last week, according to PFF..Is this true?!
Graded out at 72. Second highest grade on our defense behind Bobby at 92. Not sure about other teams CB ranks.
Interesting that Mychal Kendricks was cut from PS. Looks like PC and Ken Norton are giving Cody Barton a vote of confidence.
I’ve always felt the same way about McDowell. He has all the stuff you cant teach and they bet on the most motivating coach and culture to shore up his weaknesses. Plus they still had some dogs that year that would not accept his lack of effort. Good process, bad result IMO. For a long time Seattle was obsessed with athletic freaks. They haven’t had one lately till DK. Part of that is draft position but also it seems like that started going with “program buy-in” guys over the risk of an athlete.
🤷♂️
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1323763687832887298
Sounds like he’ll fit in
But, but… he’s a former R1 pick! PC gotta collect ’em all…!
Why not take a run at him? What have we got to lose…
Titans fans are glad to be rid of him, Falcons fans have no clue why Titans even signed him. And he will cost money if claimed:
If Beasley clears waivers he might be worth a flier. He had 1 good year under Dan Quinn in ATL. It sounds like Beasley isnt committed to football any longer.
Both offseason FA acquired DEs in their system have a grand total of 22M and 0 sacks.
I don’t see the harm in taking a shot on Beasley. However it sure sounds like the Seahawks are happy with what they have going forward.
Really appreciated this article, Rob. Honest assessment and the only beef I have is that I think Tyler was a steal when we traded up to get him and he should have gotten a mention as well. We needed a punt returner badly and they got their guy, even made the pro bowl in his rookie year (remember who we had the year before!). 🙂
You are not hypnotized , maybe optimistic but not crazy. In my estimation
Collier and Green and Bullard could rise to the point of OK or maybe a bit better as a rotating group.
Reed and Harrison have the potential to be good.
Ford and Mone should be fine.
Dunlap, Mayoya and Robinson could be very good.
Of course any or all could under perform or get hurt etc. But could they be a middle of the road line, if Dunlap is still Dunlap then sure, add in the line backers and get the backfield to quit being less than the sum of its parts and it could be fun.
Above message was supposed to be in reply to Gaux Hawks
Titans should get a slight upgrade…
Also of note:
Released Vic Beasley.
20 something mill between him and Clowney this season without a single sack between them. Woof.
Thanks for the sentences about DK Rob. He is as physically gifted as any WR I’ve ever seen this side of Megatron and I’ve been a hard core football fan since I was a boy of 8 in 1964. And as you mentioned, he is only starting to tap what he can well become in the NFL. Once he learns the tricks of the trade, which he’s already improving on (like the “boxing out” you mentioned), I do believe he truly can be one of the all-time greats. Stay healthy young man. Be prepared to open that checkbook Seahawks.
Oh and Schotty, GET HIM INVOLVED EARLY AND OFTEN EVERY WEEK! (no more repeats of the AZ game please0
DK and Tyler are amazing, absolutely. But I was thinking the other day of how much playing with Russ elevates their status too. Would the league know how good they are (esp. Tyler) if they played with Darnold or some other QB?
If I’m a deep ball WR, I’m praying for the chance to play with RW and have those throws drop in the bucket…
Appreciate the work you’re doing mid-season on possible 2021 draft targets.
Curious with the discussion on Griffin if you’ve seen any CBs worth targeting in the draft?
Maybe Paulson Adebo out of Stanford?
We usually just have to wait for the 32″ arms list and then we can start scouting.
I really haven’t been impressed with Paulson Adebo. Think he’s really struggled when I’ve watched him.
Not seen any CB’s who’ve caught my eye so far other than the obvious Shaun Wade.
Really like Jaycee Horn. Checked him out?
Cha, you are a better writer than Jim Moore… imagine that.
dante pettis ??
Imagine what could have been for the Packers if they made a move for a top shelf WR to pair up with Adams. Missing the boat on a legit run to the SB. We’ll see how it plays out, but this really helped the Seahawks chances, keeping Packers keeping Rogers weapons poor.
For sure the RB and CB positions are the most concerning. Penny will be auditioning for that starting position next year. The CB position will just have Flowers if they both leave. Will be the most interesting position groups to follow in the off season.
Id imagine we resign carson to a decent deal. His injury history and the low cost of rb position should make it an easy cost effective deal. But his value to the hawks is immense, id sign him to a 2nd deal 3-4 yrs. Keep running him till we find a younger version when he does break down, which he will by yr 4 of that deal.
I hope dunlap is reinvigorated leaving a team that has wallowed in losing over his career (yes even when dalton was ok and they were scraping into playoffs hoping for 1 win). Imagine the feeling an older player gets going to a winning culture from one of the worst ran franchises. I hope he exceedingly shatters expectations.
I’m very interested on how the free agency is going to go next year. If people are hesitant at the trade deadline due to cap restrictions how is it going to be next March? So many teams are at or over the cap. Even though the Seahawks have 30M to spend they do have a lot to replace. However part of me thinks that they are expecting to get a few impact players on the cheap next year ala Bennett and Avril. Cheap 1 year prove it deals or low first year cap long deals. The draft may be largely unaffected but it will be interesting to see what FAs are willing to sign for.
My prediction would be the first wave of FA is going to be horrendous with hardly anyone signing new deals as reality kicks in.
Then we will see some gradual movement with big potential for players to do what Clowney did this year.
There are going to be a lot of unhappy FA’s but there may also be some opportunities. We’ll see. Some teams are going to have to cut and trade a LOT to get under the cap too.
Uggh. God I hope we don’t get multiple Clowney situations. How horrible for teams and we already know Seattle can fall in love and get left at the altar. I am very hopeful we can get some quality on a nice deal. A superbowl would be enticing to free agents!
along with the free agent market, what thoughts are on the o and d coordinator. I doubt Schotty will stay (he will most likely be a head coach ) and pending how the rest of the season plays out, I don’t see Norton keeping his position
OC will be a hot HC candidate after this season. 50/50 he will be back imo.
The DC, let’s wait until the season is over the judge.
Team Cap Space: ($92,896,739)
Yes that is NEGATIVE 92M for the New Orleans Saints for the 2021 Season.
The trade with the 49ers added salary to the 2021 season and saved the 49ers a bunch of space. I have no idea what the hell they are doing, but they will be cutting the team to the bone just to get to the cap number. They might go 2-14 at this rate…. this absolutely must be Brees last season.
He’s already signed a broadcast contract for next year so it definitely is.
They might just embrace the rebuild and cut cut cut.
I just can’t see how this is going to work. Are they going to try to tank for a top QB in the 2022 draft? Crazy… or as the youngsters say…. cray cray
I at least understand what the Raiders are doing or Seahawks for that matter (mostly).. or most well managed teams. The only other head scratcher is the Dolphins supposedly tanking 1 more season then popping in 2021. They can make a little noise in the playoffs in the 2020 campaign.. the long suffering Dolphins fans deserve more.
It seems like they’ve just put all their chips in for 2020 and the future be damned… maybe they are embracing a three-year rebuild after this season? Not sure but it’ll be kind of fun to see what they do.
Breeland Speaks released.
Maybe worth a practice squad addition. Still young but hasn’t shown much, I don’t think he’d be an upgrade over anything we currently have.
Exactly my thinking.
Here’s a fun quote for everyone:
“The thing you have to understand is that [Baker] was fast, a beautiful [safety]. He would have had the [touchdown] in another [game]. And it just didn’t seem like there could be anything faster than that. Everybody was watching him. It was over, more or less. And all of a sudden there was this, like, just a disruption in the corner of your eye, in your peripheral vision. And then before you could make out what it was, here [DK Metcalf] came. And then [Metcalf] had [tackled] him. No one had ever seen anything run like that—a lot of the old guys said the same thing. It was like he was some other animal out there.
This was originally a quote about Secretariat’s iconic Kentucky Derby win in ’73. What does it tell us that I only had to change 7 words to make it a plausible account of Metcalf’s awesome play?
Thanks Michael, enjoyed that!
That Secretariat was reborn as DK Metcalf? You heard it here on the Seahawks Site first!
well played, thanks for sharing!
Well this being the team we have moving forward all I can say is we better hope we don’t start collecting more injuries on the offense side of the ball(the tackle and center depth is scary at best, much less a DK or Lockett get hurt). Defense has’nt had far to fall but we all know this pony goes as far as the offense takes it.
I definitely agree with Griffen and Carson. Griffen for me only comes back no more than 4-5 million to go back to his original corner spot on the other side of the field. Carson could be tricky as he’s going to want his first big contract as a running back seeing as they age so quickly and there may very well be a team or two out there willing to pay for his tough yards after contact style. His injuries are just so problematic though – you can’t count on him and also let’s be clear he’s a very good running back but he’s not a next level dynamic player at the position, he’s next tier down for sure.
I really hope the team does try to help Russ break records/get mvp as I both think he SO deserves it for all the team carrying/hit absorbing/national disregard he’s dealt with and obviously it’s our best chance to win game in game out.
I hope they find a way to really throttle back Mayowa’s snaps and I will be intently watching how things go on defense with Adams back in play – especially the long completion numbers.
IF Adams is back in play. Don’t count on it
Wonder if our Hawks make a run for Vic Beasley if cut?
He’s got >4 years accrued seasons so believe he will be a free agent and can sign anywhere as of Thursday.
He would cost $1.85m, Willson cut saves $750k.
Per PFF, based on last game wher he played most snaps of the season (29 or ~32%):
And now a look at the top Pro Football Focus grades on defense from players who were on the field for a minimum of 15 snaps, per John Glennon of Broadway Sports:
OLB/DE Vic Beasley: 91.1
DB Amani Hooker: 79.5
FS Kevin Byard: 74.7
CB Johnathan Joseph: 74.3
DL Jeffery Simmons: 70.9
Notes: Beasley played just 29 snaps on Sunday but did force a fumble and totaled two tackles, one of which went for a loss. Still, his earning the top overall mark on both sides of the ball does come as a surprise.
Should say not per PFF but Oct 26 article on titanswire/ usatoday
“ And now a look at the top Pro Football Focus grades on defense from players who were on the field for a minimum of 15 snaps, per John Glennon of Broadway Sports:
OLB/DE Vic Beasley: 91.1
DB Amani Hooker: 79.5
FS Kevin Byard: 74.7
CB Johnathan Joseph: 74.3
DL Jeffery Simmons: 70.9
Notes: Beasley played just 29 snaps on Sunday but did force a fumble and totaled two tackles, one of which went for a loss. Still, his earning the top overall mark on both sides of the ball does come as a surprise. ”
If he wants to play which seems like a big question mark I think it would be a low risk high upside guy to bring in for a look at a minimum. He has speed off the Edge which the Hawks sorely lack and he is familiar wit the schem having played for Dan Quinn in Atlanta for 4 years.
Yeah, that’s the question: was he just unhappy there? Is he motivated to play for a different team and compete for a championship? If he is, bringing him in seems like a no-brainer
Good for Bobby!
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/11/04/bobby-wagner-named-nfc-defensive-player-of-the-week-2/
Spoke too soon on Mychal Kendricks. Condotta reports Kendricks will be back on PS after a different team was planning to sign him on active roster, but the deal fell through.
https://www.profootballrumors.com/2020/11/mychal-kendricks-returns-to-seahawks-practice-squad
Niners got the Corona. Hopefully no one has it in Seattle
One player has tested positive.
So let’s not overreact.
One 9er player?
Yes, Bourne tested positive.
Thanks
Someone on reddit said Russ shook his hand after the game, not sure if it’s true though.
Really hope it’s a false positive, or he got it after the game
Activate Treadstone. I want Bourne in a body bag by sundown.
https://youtu.be/-wFfDzxeHlw
lol
Despite allowing prolific yardage by opposing offenses, the Seahawks are 19th in the league on points per drive allowed by defense, at 2.52 points allowed per drive. That coincides with 21st in DVOA and 19th in DAVE. The totality of defensive effectiveness put the team smack in the middle of the 3rd quartile.
That level of play was obtained with
1) presumptive starting 5T Green missing all but 30 snaps due to injury
2) starting SAM (and situational pass rusher) Irvin going out for the season in the middle of game 3
3) 1st round pick and 1st string backup Jordyn Brooks missing 2.5 games, forcing the team to start Cody Barton for 3 games
4) our LEO being forced to play >90% of the snaps due to injuries affecting rotational depth
5) our best (?) EDGE rusher (Alton Robinson) being utilized quite conservatively early on (<20 snaps per game)
6) All Pro Jamal Adams missing 4.5 games
7) Quinton Dunbar missing 2 games
8) Losing starting NB Blair for the season halfway into game 2
9) Starting secondary consisted of 2 players who had never played for the Seahawks and had no preseason games to gain continuity.
10) Due to numerous injuries, have had 13 separate DBs take snaps this season, compared to last year when for the entire season only 10 different DBs took snaps.
It's not pretty by any stretch, but given the challenges above, and the lack of a marquis pass rusher, it's pretty impressive that the defense has managed to field the 20th best defense (efficiency).
With the mid-season additions of Bullard, Dunlap, and Harrison, with the midseason return to health of Green, Brooks, and Adams, with a little more utilization of Robinson going forward, and with improving continuity and familiarity in the secondary, the defense could get better in the second half.
Converting just one TD drive into a FG per game would move Seahawks up to 14th in points per drive. Stopping one more TD drive per game over past performance would move the Seahawks up to 9th in points per drive.
Could the Seahawks enter the post season with a defense playing at a top 10 level?
No, it is not impressive.
You’ve basically taken one statistic where the Seahawks are simply in the bottom half of the league rather than historically dreadful plus a bottom third rating per DVOA and constructed an argument off the back of it that some great achievement has occurred.
Nobody’s buying it.
For starters, they were 28th for defensive DVOA before playing the Niners. They have vaulted seven spots because prior to that game, the Niners were ranked #8 on offense. We can clearly see that the 49ers were in no shape whatsoever to play at the level of the #8 offense in the league on Sunday. Their QB left the game and went straight on IR and clearly wasn’t right. Not to mention they were on their what? Fourth of fifth string RB? No Deebo Samuel either.
They are still among the worst teams in the league for sack percentage with a dreadful 3.5%. Their stated aim this year, as we’ve discussed to death, was improving the pass rush. They are giving up 40 more yards per game vs the pass than any other team in the league and remain on a historic pace there. That’s 40 more yards than second worst Atlanta anyway. They’re 70-80 yards worse PER GAME than third placed Minnesota.
They’re among the leagues worst for pressure percentage and total sacks. We’ve seen a gradual increase in missed tackles. They’re giving up major yardage, among the leagues most, after the catch as well as through the air. They’re in the top 10 for highest scoring percentage per drive. They are dreadful on third down. Despite being back among the leagues heaviest blitzers, their hurry percentage is among the lowest.
The only starters being graded elite or good by PFF are Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and Poona Ford. Everyone else is average or bad.
We don’t have to pretend the defense isn’t bad. We can accept what we’ve seen and all of the other statistics which you’ve conveniently ignored and talk honestly about the unit. We know the Seahawks are going to have to carry their defense this year. It is what it is.
All this stuff about could they end the season playing with a top-10 unit is fantasy land stuff. It’s silly.
Both of these comments cherry-pick stats IMO. AlphaDK…true on the DVOA, but the movement of 8 places in one week just shows you how closely ranked teams are on D. And on your 10 points…why are comparing what the team’s doing compared to what they *could* have been (e.g. #8) or what they were last year (e.g. #10)? Isn’t a better comparison the other teams in the league, which you happen to use in your DVOA comparison at the top? Tons of teams have lost players to injury in 2020. Are an 49ers fans claiming that their defense is actually #1 in the league because of all their injuries?
And Rob…love your blog and your most of your takes, but you can’t use yardage to respond to a point about DVOA. The stat (as you’re fully aware) is basically just a glorified way of controlling for opportunities to defend, field position, opponent strength etc. So why the comment on yardage? Of course our pass D is bad, but it looks extra poor because Russ is so damn fast to either score or go 3&out. We’re passing at an extreme rate. Carroll absolutely loves to make his defenses appear better than they are by running the clock, though he’s had to abandon that this year out of necessity. These points on yardage give me flashbacks to the Saints teams of the mid-2015s and their fans’ insistence that they were actually better than the ‘hawks because they had a bigger yardage. When they were playing the types of games Seattle does this year.
Also, isn’t PFF notoriously reluctant to hand out “elite” or “good” ratings? I thought elite was reserved for the MVP candidates…although please correct me if I’m wrong–I’m not too comfortable with PFF.
I didn’t use yardage to respond to a point about DVOA.
I listed a number of different statistics that highlighted how Seattle’s defense has struggled, in which passing yards was merely one. It’s perfectly legitimate to raise that as an individual statistic. Neither did I cherry pick anything. I highlighted that using one stat to form an argument is cherry picking and that there were many unfavourable ones that were ignored. Then I listed some of them. That isn’t cherry picking.
As for PFF being ‘reluctant’ to hand out elite grades. Isn’t that point? If half the league was elite it wouldn’t say much for the grading system. There are plenty of players who receive good grades. There are 40-odd edge rushers alone with good grades.
Rob, I agree that what they’ve done in the past is pretty terrible, but what about the future? I pose three quick questions.
Assuming that Diggs, Adams, Dunbar, and Griffin remain relatively healthy in the second half of the season, do you think that continuity in the secondary can see our pass coverage improve over the next 9 games?
Do you think the DL can perform better in the second half than we’ve seen so far, considering the recent additions of Dunlap, Harrison, Green, and a better balance of utilization of Robinson and Mayowa?
if the answer to either of those question is yes, do you think the Seahawks will see results in terms of fewer points allowed be drive, or fewer yards allowed per play?
“Assuming that Diggs, Adams, Dunbar, and Griffin remain relatively healthy in the second half of the season, do you think that continuity in the secondary can see our pass coverage improve over the next 9 games?”
I doubt it. Diggs, Dunbar and Griffin have struggled all year.
“Do you think the DL can perform better in the second half than we’ve seen so far”
Can it perform better than dreadful? Yes. Can it make major strides? I don’t think so.
Thanks, Rob.
Like you, I think the talent of the parts in the secondary far exceeds the quality of play. I’ve seen Pete Carroll defenses come around over the course of a season before, and barring more injuries, I feel like the secondary will find it’s identity during the second half of the season (nearly impossible to get good without contact reps, but of course contact reps don’t mean you get good).
As for the pass rush… not sure that pressure rates will ever get up to even average, but I think it’s possible the DL additions can contribute to one more failed 3rd down attempt per game over their performance in the first half.
I believe those two factorst could drag the defense to the respectability of average going into the playoffs, with a very wide variance of possible outcomes.
AlphaDK no offense but your justifications are hilarious. They just show how badly this team was constructed.
‘Presumptive starting 5T Green’ – I just threw up in my mouth a little
‘starting SAM Irvin out for the season’ – yes because he was a ball of fire in the 2 games he played. 5 tackles, 0 sacks, 1 TFL and 3 QB hits. Great value for $6m
‘forcing the team to start Body Barton’ – right, that’s got nothing to do with them trading up for him and then finding him so utterly unimpressive they drafted his replacement with their first pick in the draft
‘LEO being forced to play 90% of snaps’ – They signed a guy who has only broken the 400 snaps barrier once in his career. And traded up for a seriously injured player.
‘our best EDGE rusher Alton Robinson’ – A 5th round rookie. Repeat, a 5th round rookie. There it is again, I threw up in my mouth
‘All Pro Jamal Adams’ – who the FO traded a kings ransom to upgrade from Bradley McDougald
“Body Barton” Great typo LOL
I actually had completely forgotten we signed 33 year old Bruce Irvin to fix the pass rush and he got injured week 2…
Irvin was signed to play SAM. That’s not a pass rushing role…and irvin was a significant upgrade to Kendricks, based on the entirety of both of their careers, and their performance in the most recent seasons.
The bonus was that he was a better situational pass rusher than Griffin.
I don’t get why Irvin is brought up in the pass rush conversation.
Probably because whenever they referred to improving the pass rush, they constantly brought up Mayowa and Irvin.
Exactly. How’s any of this going to change? Even the Adams injury… Sure, he’ll presumably heal, but this is a starts-and-scrubs D (as is the team as a whole). What if Bobby or KJ or Diggs goes down? We have terrible depth. And none’s coming, considering we sacrificed so many picks for our latest “All Pro”
“All Pro Jamal Adams’ – who the FO traded a kings ransom to upgrade from Bradley McDougald”
And who has played 39% of the Seahawks’ game time so far. A king’s ransom and a decent player for someone who can’t get on the field.
I think we need to move beyond their “stated aim” or “offseason priority” as well as Clowney. That’s in the past and I think we all (most?) can agree that they failed and haven’t been questioned on it.
Alpha brings up some valid points on how they can improve. In my opinion this defense has had many challenges through injury and self inflicted decisions. It think better depth allowing them to play more players on the d line will help, no more than max 75% of the snaps for any of them. Along with that finding the right balance of blitzing/coverage schemes will hopefully get them off the field on third down 1-2 more times per game. It’s not quite that simple as this requires first and second down progress as well.
I am concerned about regression in the forcing turnover department. I don’t know if they can keep up their current pace, at some point it will come back to hurt them if it does without improvements anywhere else.
Certainly, the points per drive is affected by ranking 4th in defensive takeaways. But, one of the primary characteristics of Pete’s scheme is its focus on taking the ball away. And from 2011-19, the Seahawks were top 12 in in creating turnovers for 7 of 9 years. Even our flawed defense last year was 4th in takeaways.
Regression is possible, and if we regressed to our mean over the past 4 seasons, that would put us around 8th in TO rate, still a very good number.
This is interesting, at least to me…
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/11/04/carlos-dunlap-reworked-contract-as-part-of-trade-to-seahawks/
From the article:
/quote
Dunlap was set to make about $4.59 million over the rest of the season, but will now be due $2 million over the next two months. A $3 million roster bonus has been added to his contract for 2021 as long as he is on the roster on the fifth day of the next league year.
Dunlap already stood to make $11.1 million in non-guaranteed salary and bonuses for next year.
/unquote
(wish I could remember those embedded commands. anyone got a link to a cheatsheet for them?)
The part i found interesting is the restructure was something Dunlap agreed to as part of the trade deal. Yet we give up the farm for Adams and no new contract.
I wonder… can we fit Vic Beasley in the cap? Without releasing Hollister.
Does it even matter? The Saints are a 100M dollars over! I still don’t understand
Don’t know if Dunlap’s the one giving up anything here. Seems more like the ‘hawks played a slight premium to fit him under this year’s cap. Dunlap’s turning $4.59 million into $5 million from what I can tell, and he must want a greater chance of getting that $11.1 million. If he’s mediocre down the stretch, much higher chance the Seahawks will keep him around for another year at an effective $8.1 than $11.1 million.
It seems to me that Carlos gave the Seahawks all the chips. Reduced his salary, if he plays poorly then they cut him and they basically lose nothing except his services for this year (at 2M), if he plays well, they have options to bring him back on a team friendly deal. He is betting on himself…
I have a feeling he will play his butt of for the rest of the year and prove he is worthy. Fingers crossed!
Me
https://prntscr.com/pd16xj
Thanks Sea. I know there are other commands that we can use. Do you happen to know what those are?
Ill bet if he plays well they will look to extend him anyways making the $3m a mute point.
That’s the hope, Hoggs41.
So…HTML tags…. let’s see if I got this right…
I didn’t get it right and I’m sure Rob would appreciate if I would not experiment on his blog…
Tried to embed this jpg (https://www.bluesbrothersofficialsite.com/content/3-history/2-biographies/john_belushi_headshot.jpg) using
Aaron Wilson is reporting that the Seahawks tried to trade for Jacob Martin before the deadline but Houston rejected the offer.
would you rather have the one year rental on Clowney with an 11-5 record and playoff victory over the Eagles to show for it or Jacob Martin on his rookie deal right now?
10 times out of 10 I’ll take Clowney
Does that one 49ers game make the entire clowney deal worth it? It does but also doesn’t for me.
That one game was probably the most emotional and exciting Seahawks victory since the 2014 NFC championship. We don’t win that one with no Clowney.
It’s moot anyway. If the FO fixes the DL in the 2019 or 2020 offseason we’re not having this discussion.
But for the sake of argument, I’ll take the game changer with elite pressure numbers over an undersized situational pass rusher every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Not arguing that Martin is better than Clowney any given day.
But I think there is a possibility that 4 years developing Martin on cheap rookie deal would have been better for the team than 1 year of Clowney.
10 times out of 10 I’ll take Clowney
Its crazy how many teams nixed trade offers for players they are potentially going to lose anyways.
The Seahawks did not steal a top five pick in Metcalf, they stole the number one pick. As for Collier…he looks like a promising rookie…flashes here and there…so I’m holding back judgement until the end of the year. It was good to see Flowers get the monkey off his back…this defense needs him to play with that confidence. While it’s popular to fix a pass rush with a big name player, Carrol knows that a pass rush is depth and fresh legs churning in the fourth quarter when your number one offense has forced the other team to throw on every down. And if I see anything in their pass rush, I see depth.
With Moore out for a bit and Mayowa injured I don’t see the same depth you’re seeing.
It’s pretty obvious Collier can’t pass rush at all. That leaves Alton Robinson and Carlos Dunlap as the healthy guys who can actually rush the passer in some capacity. Jarran Reed for the most part has been a non factor in that department this season.
Collier has 10 pressures according to PFR. That´s the same output as Demarcus Lawrence and slightly better than Trey Flowers or Cameron Jordan. While he is maybe not yet a decent pass rusher, he is far away from „can‘t pass rush at all“. Michael Bennett had 2 QB Hits all Season at the same age. Let him play the season and we will know more…
Collier looks bang average.
If he was a league average that would be a relative success compared to his output a year ago. Is he really league average?
He’s not league average. And he’s 25. This is who he is. An absolutely atrocious pick.
Per Rob’s point – this FO does better when they swing for the fences.
“The Seahawks did not steal a top five pick in Metcalf, they stole the number one pick.”
2019 NFL Draft:
#1 Arizona — Kyler Murray
#2 San Francisco — Nick Bosa
Rob,
Has the staggered start of College Football helped you to view more players than before?
.
No, the opposite.
Questions I want to be asked of PC for today’s presser:
-Are you comfortable with Fuller as the backup Center? Have you talked to Justin Britt recently?
-Reports were the team was very active at the trade deadline…Jacob Martin, Hollister, Aldon Smith, what is your read on the trade market in this COVID/2021 cap environment?
-How badly has your medical staff bungled the Phillip Dorsett signing? Was it a simple missed diagnosis on the intake physical or have you seen a need to evaluate the training staff’s procedures?
-Can Darrell Taylor change direction without discomfort yet?
-You’ve been talking a lot recently about “helping” your pass rushers, what do you mean by that?
Questions we’ll probably get today:
-Are you monitoring the election results?
-Do you think the Coach Vote program a success?
-Did you personally take each player by the hand to the polling station yesterday?
-Can we freak out about a Niner player testing positive for COVID?
-Have you sprayed Russ head to toe with Lysol?
-Can we talk for 10 minutes about team COVID protocols?
-Bobby Wagner had a good game Sunday. What makes him such a special player?
-Can you give us more unsatisfying evasive answers about injured players?
-Your first NFL job was for the Buffalo Bills. Give us a 4 minute rambling story about some nobody on the team that makes your eye sparkle?
It’s definitely going to be an election and covid fest today.
Yawn.
Well, Fuller was the backup center BEFORE they traded Finney. Nothing changed there, Finney was third string center and third string emergency guard.
No he wasn’t. He wasn’t active for a single game until Sunday.
I would attribute that to his suspension.
Right. The Seahawks felt a 2 game suspension wasn’t enough, so they benched him for the next 4 games after that.
“Can you give us more unsatisfying evasive answers about injured players?”
Oh hell yes!
I have a few -pass rushers- on my current watch list, with lots of needed information unknown about length/combine #’s etc. I think most of these guys are day-2 or day-3 picks, depending on their final stats & measurements of course. I would think the Seahawks would draft at least 1 pass rusher, even with their limited picks, question is, who and in what round????
OLB/LEO????-Azeez Ojulari, Georgia (a Soph.), 6-3/240, 2020: 4 games, 9- tkls, 5.0-TFL, 3.0-sacks, 2-PBU, 9 QBH, 2-FF. (*IF* he enters draft & has length and a ++ 10-yd split = potential LEO?)
DE-Jaelen Phillips, Miami(Fla), (a Jr.), 6-5/266, 2020: 6-games, 19-tkls, 4.5-TFL, 1.5-sacks, 2-PBU, 5-QBH, 1-INT. (Decent size; however: length, burst, speed, grit = ?)
DE-Kingsley Enagbare, South Carolina, (a Jr.) 6-4/270, 2020: 5-games, 19-tkls, 4.5-TFL, 4.0-sacks, 2-QBH, 2-FF. (Decent size; however: length, burst, speed, grit = ?)
DE-Victor Dimukeje, Duke, (a Sr.), 6-3/265, 2020: 6-games, 22-TKLS, 7.5-TFL, 6.5 sacks, 1-PBU,
1-FF. (Decent size; Nice sack #’s so far, however: length, burst, speed, grit = ?)
DE-Rashad Weaver, Pitt, (a Sr.), 6-5/270, 2020: 6-games, 23-tkls, 9.5-TFL, 4.5-sacks, 2-PBU, 8-QBH, 2-FF, 1-FR. (Decent size; seems pretty disruptive, however: length, burst, speed, grit = ?)
—-Stats per cfbstats.com/National.
I’ve watched a lot of Jaelen Phillips. Your question marks are well deserved. I think that a full year, injury free is a success for him. He almost retired due to concussions and injuries before transferring to Miami. I don’t think he has his best body yet. I think the length and speed are there. Burst I’m not sure, but he makes some wow plays like the INT he has. I’m not sure why but the frame reminds me of Anthony Barr even though the traits may not. I think this may all be premature. I don’t know that he should come out.
IMO Ojulari is a 1st rounder. Phillips a high-mid 2nd rounder. Enagbare, Weaver, Dimujeke a 3rd. Dimujeke might lack the length. Could see him as a 4th.
Has anyone seen Cincy EDGE Myjai Sanders? 6’5, 258 lbs., has 8.5 TFL & 5 sacks for the #6 ranked team in the country. All I could find are highlights. Looks like he has great length.
https://youtu.be/bFAOnyKXN2I
Looks like he has the size thats for sure, needs to learn to bend the edges a little more and stop tackling so high, he missed multiple tackles because he was standing straight up trying to tackle. But with that being said he could have some serious potential with the right coaching.
Wednesday Press Conf w PC
“Big day for us to get ready. New team we’re playing, figure out schemes and things. Winning FB team. Really a solid team, good challenge for us.”
[bob condotta] Carlos Dunlap plan? “Took a week off. No concern about anything, handled walkthrough just right. No restrictions at all. We’ll find out this week.”
[corbin] Zach Moss and Devon Singletary? “Good one two punch. Both efficient in traffic and make things happen. Singletary catches the ball well.”
[jen mueller] Buffalo best 3rd downs? “Creative, nice job. Comes back to QB. Great job of making things happen. Load to tackle, hard to sack him. He’s really the show. He’s gonna catch your eyes, make things happen, likes to run physical and tough. Good receivers. Guy can make first downs with legs and he’s good at it.”
[tim booth] SF player COVID, process? “Concerned, no tracing. Homework about timing of exposure. All we can do is test.”
[tim] RB injuries? “Carson Friday and look, doesn’t look like Carlos will make it. Collins back on PS. For sure Homer back good to go. Deejay did nice job, if opp to Chris back we’ll go with him for sure.”
[] Buffalo WRs? “Stephone does everything, true #1. Beasely, had respect for him always, makes plays, gets open, converts 3rd and 5’s, 6’s. John Brown REALLY fast. Lot of respect for them.”
[john boyle] First game for you in Buffalo, first job, won first game as HC there? “Fun to go back there, unique place. We were terrible the year I was there, got fired immediately after season over. I wish fans were there, great crowd, they love their FB. Variety of weather conditions, looks like good weather coming. Like going back.”
[john] Marv Levy’s success ? “Talked to him, had a couple good convo’s with him, honored to have the chance.”
[chris] Election, talked to guys? Dealing with anxiety of results? [cha ed…nope]
[matt] Same approach to NFL coaching when you got to seattle as you did when you coached NE? “Absolutely did NOT change. Excited to see what would happen if I approached the Sea opp as I did the USC opp. Specialized in caring for individuals in program in SC. Central theme and important to me as a coach. Really curious because we had so much success. Didn’t change one thing. Lot of years in NFL, stepping right back into it. Smooth transition. Adapting what we were doing wasn’t hard. Players just older. Really pleased we did fit and find a way. How to make guys fit? Didn’t do it that way. Figure out who they were, how best to help them have a successful experience, if they didn’t fit we fired them.”
[AJ] Adams injury? “Practicing today, full go. Excited to tell you. Pumped.”
[AJ] Shaquille? “Not today, later in week.”
[AJ] Defense integrating players, balance like Ryan Neal, etc? “Artwork to be done. I’ve been saying, waiting to get guys back. He can work with Bobby and establish that and Dunbar, Brooks, guys he hasn’t had the chance to play with yet. Addition of Carlos step forward. You can see we got better. Some guys get more time than others. Jamal practicing for first time in a month, figure it out. Weigh in how we mix guys in rotations.”
[Michael] What traits stood out to you in Duane Brown before you traded with him? “Did research, some conflict hadn’t been playing. Research about character and work ethic. Thrilled to bring him into our club. Great move we made. Leadership, toughness, physicality. Best worker of the big men we have. Offseason, in weight room.”
[MSD] Shaquille hamstring or concussion? “Really about hamstring.”
[art] Metcalf, who compares to? Kick block team? “Always thinking about how to use him. One of a kind player. Wouldn’t compare him to anybody. One kinda, James Lofton. Had that marvelous look to him, long almost statuesque, gorgeous looking players, stood out. DK gonna develop into an extraordinary player, performer, leader, thrilled to watch it happen.”
[Gregg] Trace contact with COVID player? Go look at game film? “Not part of it.”
It’s all so predictable.
Why do they ask about Duane Brown every interview?
Seriously? What stood out to you 3 friggen years ago, when you traded for him?
They need a relegation system for these guys. Ask a trash question like that, get relegated to Norton and Schotty interviews. Muck that up and you’re on to Cody Barton and Blitz.
“….on to Cody Barton and Blitz”.
Damn man, I literally LOL’d so hard my wife in the other room asked me what was so funny. “Nothing hon, just silly football stuff”.
LOL
[joe] Dunlap eager for a fresh start? “Exactly. Really upbeat. Practice today for first time, music going. Watch him, keep eye on him. Really excited for fresh start.”
[brady] Timeline Philip Dorsett? “Operated on. Saw him before walkthrough. Don’t know weeks specifically. A couple months before he can get back.”
Translation: will never play a down for Seattle
The Seahawks free agency reminds me of the movie Brewster’s Millions. Had to spend a million bucks and have nothing to show for it in the end. Pretty sure that is what the front office was attempting to do only it was much more than a million. Love the blog Rob. Keep up the good work.
👀
Bellore was too. Pretty hilarious.
Going onto the field for the onsite kick “Tell my wife and kids I love them”
Bragging to D Moore that he’s going to go for 100 for the day
Good article! 2 thoughts: 1) It’s really interesting thinking about drafting top tier athletes over skill. 2) Malik and what could’ve been
1) In my Jiu-Jitsu gym, we have a former olympic swimmer, and it really is crazy to feel the difference a superb athlete makes in any sport. Skill is of course extremely important but top tier athleticism cannot be taught or learned. Seems the best combination you want is a top tier athlete, who has a chip on their shoulder so that they’ll always want to learn and make up the skill gap.
2) The following is totally because of hindsight but: I agree about the Malik pick but I’ve always thought about the past few years and how much that screwed us (not the actual pick, but him hopping on the ATV). He seemed like a home run and was a good way to provide continual pass rush should we lose Frank. When we suddenly no longer had him available, we made an immediate move for Sheldon Richardson and lost a 2nd. We had no leverage to keep him and then lost Frank (Albeit a great package), leading us to reaching for LJ. Feel like they had a great long term plan crafted…just took one accident.