Nice job Rob. A very measured and thought out view. Much appreciated.
Time for vacation? Let’s see, you’ve been to Dubai, to the far North, to the USA…Africa?
I like your room, interesting ceiling treatment, nice wallpaper, and an adorable picture. Living good.
Palatypus
It’s pretty slim pickings. I’ve been looking over XFL, USFL, and even the European League of American Football. The last one is frustrating because everything is metric. So I guess we are looking for someone in the 145 KG and 188 CM range.
I think this is an accurate list of the available NFL free agents at DT.
Chris Wormley, Steelers
Shelby Harris, Seahawks
Matt Ioannidis, Panthers
Akiem Hicks, Buccaneers
Ndamukong Suh, Eagles
Michael Brockers, Lions
Linval Joseph, Eagles
Maurice Hurst, 49ers
Corey Peters, Jaguars
Mike Pennel, Bears
Tyeler Davison, Chargers
If you could get to Seattle in September or October, your chances of seeing the Hawks play AND experiencing decent weather are much better. Fall here is generally pretty nice – I don’t generally stop wearing shorts until sometime in October – but November can be pretty grim.
Well to be fair I’m not coming for the weather, I’m coming for the 49ers game and the Apple Cup
Peter
Tbf I’m pretty confident you live in England so it seems weather wise six of the same half a dozen of the other.
Plus Apple cup and seahawks….sounds awesome
Group Captain Mandrake
That’s fair, I just know that living in Seattle, when it comes to vacations, I tend to want to go places that are warm since we get so much rain, which I am sure you are used to. The wife and I have been wanting to go to London to check out an Arsenal game, but I don’t really want to go there during the winter so we need to plan accordingly.
The Apple Cup is a blast though. I didn’t go to school at UW or WSU, so I’ve only been to one, but it was the year they split the national title. It was a helluva lot of fun.
I figured that was your target game when you said November. Hope we are competitive by then and kicking butt, especially against those pesky 9ers!
Sten
October-November is ideal football weather. I love the light rain, slick grass, cool but not freezing air. Really lets the players fly around, Keeps the ball out of the air a bit, passing is more difficult. Not as tiring for the crowd to get rowdy to warm up a bit.
Tommy Boy
This team can easily beat SF or Philly in the playoffs but we need to find another NT to plug the run or Philly will beat us. Our Offense is as good as anyone in the NFC and so is our secondary. What’s left? The front 7 and specifically the RUN defense. It will continue to be our achilles heal and ONLY reason we can win this NFC. I like DJ Dallas. I like McIntosh and I like Walker. Why did we WASTE and it will be a waste a 2nd rd on another RB?
Incrementally, is another RB going to really help this Offense? NO NO NO.
Would a NT or young backer help in 2023-2025? You bet they would. There’s a process to take BPA but when you have multiple holes on D, you can take a BPA at one of those 2 spots that would’ve been rated near CHarbonnet, who wasn’t close to a need.
Not having run stopping NT to free up our questionable LB’s is going to haunt us in 2023 and would’ve had experience for a run in 2024.
I’m not sure why this is so obvious, so when our D is getting shredded on the ground and Charbonnet is on the sidelines, just remember BPA isn’t always the way to go when you glaring NT and young LB issues. Book it! Nobody complain and be surprised because it was set in motion in RD 2 of the 2023 draft. We didn’t need a shiny new toy, we needed a Brick wall that the shiny new toy can’t penetrate!!!
jay Spice
I keep hearing about BPA when it comes to Charbonnet But was another RB a need when Walker and Penny were hurt last year? I personally am tired of having 1 decent running back and when they go down we are basically screwed offensively. Sure, I think a good NT or LB would have been great were Charbonnet was picked, but who was really available that would save our defense. You can make the case that Charbonnet could have a bigger impact on Offense than a reach for a NT at that spot. I actually think we should have solved this problem in Free Agency, along with spending on a top tier linebacker along with wagner instead of going cheap with Bush.
Who were they going to get? Walker gets hurt and then the offense stalls. To say that not taking a nose tackle in the draft is what stops them from winning the NFC is….the definition of wearing rose colored glasses. They have a qb that is solid at best, weakness up the middle of the line, safeties are a weakness, linebackers are looking lacking, no matter what you think of the corners, they are still young and a little raw.
They aren’t seriously competing in 2023 no matter what. Contract issues and a long term qb option, as well as missing elite talent are amazingly bigger problems than finding the next Mebane. Do we know what to think of the coordinators? They have a large amount of big problems, not the fact that they drafted another extremely talented running back.
Easily beat the Niners and Eagles? Yeah….no. Year 2 of a rebuild. People need to realize that so they don’t get disappointed this season.
Romeo A57
This is a good synopsis of the 2023 Seahawks. There isn’t elite talent anywhere on this team (maybe there will be at corner) too many roster holes, and questionable defensive schemes.
JimN
So who would you have drafted as a NT in his place? I would challenge the idea that anyone would be that much better than Cam Young. Hell, Cam may become an All PRO. We got a very good, if not great NT in a round or two higher than he was ranked. I hope we can remember what we were thinking when our RB’s go down. In actuality two is really one and one is zero. Really, we got both of what we need, NT and RB.
Group Captain Mandrake
Every single year, the Hawks end up using a 3rd or 4th string RB as a starter because of injuries. Without a good RB, this run game is garbage. We all know it and we’ve all seen that play out year after year. If they have to spend a second rounder to help keep their running game going, so be it. Charbonnet’s value in the second is far greater than spending that pick on a NT.
Hebegbs
Charbonnet pick was brilliant despite so many folks who seem lost by it. Lose Walker and the season is over. Now you have two weapons you can use interchangeably.
I’d love to sign another big DT given we only have 2 healthy +300lbs in Jarran Reed, Cameron Young to go along with Dre’Mont Jones, Mario Edwards Jr, Myles Adams, Bryan Mone (IR) and Mike Morris.
Aside from counting on a rookie, I believe it’s important given we need a rotation to 1) keep guys fresh and 2 hedge against injury. Bear in mind that’s only 7 DL where most teams carry ~9 during a regular season.
During the Super Bowl run of 2015, we had B Mebane, A Rubin, K Williams, J Hill and others and it’s important to note we lost Mebane during the season.
Longer term it makes sense to have a decent veteran DL so I hope we don’t sign a veteran retread but rather go after someone decent in a trade like Grover Stewart and sign him up to an extension if possible. We look to be somewhat long DBs, OLB/Edge and WRs at this point, so maybe there is a swap that could happen using future money if required to sign a vet.
If not, we will have to wait til next year to improve the depth at the position.
j hawk
Not worried about the NT position. Clint Hurt as player/coach will come off the sidelines to save the day.
samprassultanofswat
Rob: Nice report. Very fair. As usual. You hit the nail on the head. As far as nose tackle is concern. Maybe the Hawks are going to mix up their 3-4 front with a 4-3 front. At any rate. To me it would have made a hell of a lot more sense to release Adams and kept Al Woods on the roster for another year.
As far as spending all that money on the safety position. We all know that Jamal Adams trade was a terrible trade. Maybe even the worst trade of the Carroll/Schneider era. One thing Schneider has had a history of is coming up short at defensive tackle. Obviously he doesn’t seem to value that position that much. That is part of the reason that the Hawks have had difficultly stopping the run. At least the last couple of years.
My other source of frustration is that the Seahawks don’t release Adams. Or at least get him to take a pay cut. What is the deal? When it comes to jamal Adams. The Seahawk front off is THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD MONEY. Adams is probably not going to be ready when the season starts.
With all that said. I think the Hawks are pretty solid all the way around. They have solid depth everywhere except the interior defensive. And questionable backups at the OT position. But otherwise they have good depth everywhere. If the Hawks stay healthy their offense has a real chance to very explosive. In fact they could be one of the top five offenses in the NFL.
Right now the way I see the NFC. It’s 1) Philadelphia 2) San Francisco. And then it is a log jam for the third best team in the NFC. The contenders for the third best team are Seattle, Detroit, Minnesota, and the NY Giants. As far as Dallas is concerned. They have a very good defense. But let’s face it. Dak Prescott is an interception machine.
Elmer
Our NT may not be on the current 90 man roster. Or they may move a big DE inside.
samprassultanofswat
Last year I was wrong about Geno Smith. If the Hawks do keep Jamal Adams I hope I am wrong about Adams.
LouCityHawk
I was bullish on Geno last year, and he exceeded my expectations. Maybe there should be an exceeded expectations watchlist?
1. Clint Hurtt – miserable, clueless defense that can’t stop a paper bag.
2. Dee Eskridge – camp casualty.
3. Prez – plays 12 games, only looks like self for 8, gets hurt again.
4. BWagz – couldn’t cover a septuagenarian
5. JSN – keeps missing snaps due to injuries
Those would be my top 5 ‘I hope they exceed my expectations’.
Players I am more bullish on than the average fan: Evan Brown, Cameron Young, Derick Hall, Colby Parkinson, Julian Love. If any one of that group exceeds my expectations the Hawks will be having a pretty good year.
Are you sure he exceeded your expectations? What happens to his quarterback rating if his available interception rate is league average? It’s great he had a good statistical year but the contract that they gave him …they also want to see more before they commit
LouCityHawk
Yup, I figured he be Alex Smith+
Turns out he was more like the Geno I expected coming out of college. I’m down with his performance, and with the metrics. This next year my expectations are a repeat performance, if he gives more than that, great!
no frickin clue
I went back to the Super Bowl years of 2013 and 2014 to see what Seahawk DT snap counts looked like (defense only, not special teams), and this is what I found:
2013
Brandon Mebane – 532 snaps (51.1% of all defensive snaps)
Clinton McDonald – 531 (51.0%)
Tony McDaniel – 527 (50.6%)
Jordan Hill – 64 (6.1%)
D’Anthony Smith – 46 (4.4%)
Michael Brooks – 15 (1.4%)
2014
Kevin Williams – 438 snaps (44.7%)
Tony McDaniel – 401 (41.0%)
Jordan Hill – 359 (36.7%)
Brandon Mebane – 280 (28.6%)
David King – 20 (2.0%)
Travian Robertson – 4 (0.4%)
Mebane’s numbers were lower in 2014 because of injury I think – only played in nine games that year. So the largely 3-man rotation at DT in 2013 became a 4-man rotation in 2014.
The case of Jordan Hill is interesting to me here. He was a 3rd round selection by the Hawks in the 2013 draft. Only took 6% of the defensive snaps in 2013. Granted, he was playing behind some more veteran guys that year, but as Rob notes, maybe we are expecting a bit too much from Cameron Young to step in and play major minutes at DT as a rookie.
Here’s the current set of DTs on the roster, along with the % of defensive snaps played in this defense last season:
And yet it’s ok to blow $36M on two safeties, one of whom is iffy to play. Sigh.
509 Chris
36 mil for 2 safties that are both past their prime truly is malpractice. But how thin we are at a position of greater need like int d line is just salt in the wound. However being in year 2 of the rebuild, and probably looking at the team and its chances with a lot more optimism than I thought we’d have, the team and younger guys can all grow together this year and once they clear some of that nonsense money off the books next year we’ll be looking at a real contender hopefully. (Pray Geno works out)
no frickin clue
Faoliu played one game for Dallas – in 2021 (13 snaps), nothing in 2022
Merrill played four games for the Chargers in 2021 (36 snaps), nothing in 2022
Tavai has never taken any snaps in any NFL game
Mone still recovering from last season’s knee injury
But hey, at least the Faoliu/Merrill/Tavai trio are well-rested!
Group Captain Mandrake
Merrill is going to be EXTREMELY well rested since they already cut him.
no frickin clue
Damnit. This is going to have major repercussions on my dynasty league planning.
AlaskaHawk
It’s never too early to recruit the next Seahawks tackle. I would start by offering him any three electronic games and a two year supply of Subway sandwiches.
Didn’t John Schneider make a comment during his weekly pre-draft discussions with 710 to the effect that Nose/1Tech isn’t a terribly difficult position to fill? And express something like ‘if they can do it in college, they can do it in the pros’ type of sentiment with what they ask a NT to do?
He did and yet they seem to be struggling to find someone who can simply do the job, thus the churn
samprassultanofswat
Yes. John Schneider did make that statement. But yet the Seahawks run defense has been pretty bad the last couple of years. So maybe Schneider needs to rethink his thinking at NT.
Ashish
On NT – depending on how hawks feel about current NT on the team, on 53 roster cut day they can add a decent vet DT. John might have couple of players on watch plus he might be okay with players at present on team worst case.
Your thinking is spot on Ashish. They are churning through the bottom half of the NT market and the expectation, from me, is that they will find someone off of another team’s roster cuts.
no frickin clue
NFL cut-down dates this year are different than in the past. This year:
Aug. 16 – cut 5 guys to get down to 85
Aug. 23 – cut more 5 guys to get down to 80
Aug. 30 – cut 27 guys to get down to the 53-man roster
Sep. 10 – first Sunday of the regular season
It makes me wonder whether teams are really going to wait until the major cutdown date of Aug. 30 to bring in new talent. That means just 11 days before the first regular season action. How’s a guy supposed to learn the playbook in 11 days? Maybe you’ll see more mid-August trades (like a conditional 7th or something) to get a guy earlier than Aug. 30. You have to figure that between Aug. 16 and Aug. 30, the usual cuts are only going to yield the guys that really have no place on an NFL roster. I’m just assuming any guy who is really in the mix on talent is going to last until the Aug. 30 cuts.
They announced this year there is only one cutdown day: Aug 29 and teams must be down to 53 by then.
AlaskaHawk
Reality Show News Break
Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman, and Ronda Roussey and Lance Armstrong are on Fox TV Mondays on “Stars on Mars”
AlaskaHawk
and Marshawn just became the first base commander = for 48 hours. After which someone is getting voted off.
An interesting concept, filmed in a model Mars colony built in Coober Pedy, South Australia.
AlaskaHawk
After first episode: It was fun to see Marshawn and Richard in a tv show environment where they are talking to each other and hanging out in the same building. There was a lot of banter between Marshawn and Lance Armstrong that was interesting. We will see if they go crazy being confined together.
I think they started with a dozen people and will be voting one off every 48 hours. So that will be about 20 days together till they whittle it down to ??. Each show has a couple of repairs or exercises that they have to perform in the time allotted. So there is a bit of excitement in that.
It’s an interesting concept – they even rounded up William Shatner to be the Announcer.
GoHawksDani
I hope it’ll be on some streaming platform, realities are my guilty pleasure and would be nice to see former Hawks 😀
AlaskaHawk
IT’s on Fox on Mondays. I think it then goes to Hulu where you can watch old episodes.
Sea Mode
I was able to read as a free article:
Inside Geno Smith’s Intense Training Regimen For His First Offseason as Seahawks Starter
Awesome, really hope Geno builds on next year. He seems really committed to win a championship. With so many good skill players in this offense now, there’ll be no excuses for any kind of regression.
I can get behind Geno focusing on the Red Zone. The Seahawks were at or below the league average in the red zone last year. Odd with all their weapons.
TDs 25 (league Avg 29)
Rush TDs 8 (league Avg 13)
Pass TDs 17 (league Avg 16) ((keep in mind Geno was one of the best deep passers in the NFL))
Completion % 52.1 (league Avg 54.9)
Sacked 7 (league Avg 4.46)
First downs 40 (league Avg 45)
STTBM
Seattle is still too predictable, and too cautious, in the Red Zone.
I blame Carl Tater Smith. And Carrol. Smiths track record as QB coach with Bledsoe is interesting…
I am not a fan, and was sick when they brought him out of retirement again. Apparently doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results is not the definition of insanity, but a better alternative to finding a young smart offensive mind. What was I thinking? I’m surprised Tater didn’t talk Carrol into bringing back the Wishbone….
Well, is there anything to suggest Tater has any serious input on the redzone calls?
STTBM
IMO there is. Throwing fades and to the corners, rarely throwing to the middle of the end zone, avoiding risk at all costs, these are Hallmarks of his career, especially in Seattle. That’s the feeling I had watching Seattle before and after his return.
I don’t believe he sets gameplans or calls plays, but I do believe he has an unholy influence over philosophy and tactics.
But it’s merely my thoughts and speculation. If I had more than that, I’d be picketing to have him fired.
I don’t think throwing fades, a common play for many teams, is evidence that Tater has any influence on the offense.
By all accounts his role appears to be as a support man for Pete Carroll and I’m not aware he had any input in play calling or scheme
STTBM
Alright. I hope you’re right.
Certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve read the tea leaves wrong.
I hope Waldron takes a step forward, and Carrol allows him to attack the whole field, and uses the entire end zone this year. We got the players, time to use them!
AlaskaHawk
Kudos to Geno Smith for working so hard on the off season. It’s really quite strange that there isn’t more group activities fitness and team stuff. I know it’s all been negotiated and no one wants an injury. But the practice and get in shape is so restricted that I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t more injuries in regular season than before. I would love to see some statistics on that!
Anyway, a team that informally worked out together (with weights and running and swimming) all summer would have a tremendous advantage in the first month of the season.
Donovan
Bruce Feldman’s QB tiers, aka Catnip for Rob. Hopefully all least a couple new names to study:
And I would go along with a lot of the groupings here
And it really highlights again that the talk of the 2024 QB class being better than 2023 is nonsense
It’s deeper
Not better
LouCityHawk
Still on Will Rogers as the QB who may rise.
I’m going to have to call on my QB friend to explain this Grayson McCall thing to me. I’ve now seen, and can say overrated, not going to a power 5 school (after entering the transfer portal), has me on the ‘no thank you’ side of the table.
Armstrong from VA, now at NC State was a curious omit. I’d rank him as as similar to the tier 5 group, albeit a bit older.
FYI Seahawks putting up “Value Tickets” for selected games – reasonably priced tickets in the 300 section (more in the corners than anything else) that you are prohibited from reselling.
Interesting idea.
$99 for the Niner Thanksgiving Game or the Eagles game seems like a pretty good deal.
Calls it an ‘honor’ to play slot and flattered the coaches think that highly of him.
Also says he thinks he’ll get to blitz more out of nickel.
samprassultanofswat
I was listening to Dave Wyman. He thought that a big part of the problem on run defense was scheme. He felt that because of the defensive scheme it would be easy for one player to miss an assignment. Which would create holes in the run defense. The players were not always on the same page. So, we will see what happens.
This morning on Brock and Sauk: Brock had some high praises for Jamal Adams. For those of you who don’t listen to Brock. Brock has been very critical of Adams. But this morning. Brock Huard was singing the praises of Adams. Brock said that he could not believe how good of shape Adams was in. He said that Adams was in great shape. According to Brock he looks more like a linebacker than a safety. In fact, if you compared him to Devin Bush from a physical standpoint you couldn’t tell them apart. So, it appears that Adams is going to play a safety/linebacker position. If you include Adams, Seattle is going to employ plenty of 3 safety schemes. With Adams being a Safety/Linebacker. Not knowing what Adams is going to do on a given play could make it harder for an opposing QB to read the defense.
Let’s ride.
Palatypus
A Louis Vuitton gift basket goes a long way with Brock.
I literally LOL’d
Maybe Pete’s bobo Wyman is on vacation so Brock had to step in and be Mr. It’s Never Pete’s Fault?
AlaskaHawk
Yes check for Brock’s new coffee cup.
I’ll be happy if they can field two out of three safeties. I just don’t have any confidence on them staying injury free. Hopefully these new younger players will have better durability. The tackles both worked out well last year.
Malanch
Brock’s main criticism has centered on Adams’ lack of presence as a leader and attendee of “voluntary” activities. Has that changed?
Malanch
…Merely seeing Adams at the VMAC was probably enough for Brock. This time of year, evident rehab progress can set free those fantasies of high performance. June isn’t reality month.
And Adam’s probably doesn’t know what he’s going to do either
Sea Mode
100k? Huh, guess you gotta start somewhere… Aren’t signing bonuses fully guaranteed anyways, no matter when they are paid out?
Tom Pelissero
@TomPelissero
·12h
As the NFLPA pushes for guarantees for 2nd-round picks, Seattle’s @derick_hall9 just signed his rookie contract, which will pay a whopping 85% of his signing bonus before training camp plus a $100K guarantee in year 4 — both firsts for a 2nd-rounder. Negotiated by @NSAFootball
This tweet is worded very strangely. Pelissero just copied and pasted from Hall’s agent (remember when Geno signed his contract and it was reported as ‘$52m in the first calendar year’ ?)
You need a decoder ring with these guys.
The $100k guarantee is in salary. The NFLPA has been slowly working on teams to guarantee more and more of 2nd round picks’ salaries further out. Ken Walker got $1m guaranteed in his third year. While Dee Eskridge drafted in R2 the year before has no guaranteed salary in his third year.
So the $100k guarantee for a fourth year is progress. Small progress, but progress. Relatively meaningless to the cap hit for 2026.
And further decoding, teams can spread out the payment of a signing bonus to help with their cap management. So hearing Hall got 85% before camp is a way to say ‘agent did good.’
(let’s just skip the whole ‘why do they call it a signing bonus if they don’t get it all when they…you know..sign the contract?’ discussion)
With Hall signing, that just leaves Witherspoon and Charbonnet.
Should hear something soon. Last year the top pick (Cross) was the last to sign as well.
Romeo A57
Rob , I have seen differing reports about whether the Seahawks ( or Blazers) will be sold in 2024. Have any of your sources said anything definitive about this?
I know that the Saudi PIF has infiltrated International Football including the Premier League, F1 and are now involved in all of the Golf Leagues. A potential high profile and lucrative investment would seem to be in the NFL. If they offered a lot more money for an NFL team than anyone else, it could get interesting.
509 Chris
I read something the other day that said both clubs were looking at a sale in the next 10 to 20 years, so I have no idea what to think at this point. It sounds like the teams are for sale by a very unmotivated buyer. So unless someone knocks the door down to buy JA will hold tight. Thats just my opinion, someone here might have heard something more concrete.
Romeo A57
My understanding was that Allen pledged that all of his assets would be sold and donated to charity. I am not sure how his sister running the Seahawks for 20 years then selling aligns with his wishes.
I understand less than nothing about estates and trusts. If the Trust sells off all of their assets, then wouldn’t the Vulcans and Allen be out of jobs and no longer on the payroll?
Feel like once every four months or so I have to comment this to someone that there is NO timetable for a sale.
JimQ
As a retired commercial real estate broker, I know that a lot of the incentive to many commercial RE purchases is the ability to write off as a tax deduction, the depreciation of the various assets over time. The BEST method is called “component depreciation” which allows individual components like roofs, furnaces, etc. (think players) to be depreciated over their individual “lifetimes”. I would think that in the NFL, they have a similar ability to depreciate assets (individual players) over their projected career lifetimes that can effectively be written off as big tax deductions that helps offset their income – along with their heavy operational expenses. Multi-millionaires & Billionaires do not buy anything unless there is significant income potentials or significant write-offs (tax shelters) and often, they very much prefer BOTH (that’s how they got to where they are at). With the value of NFL franchises currently being in the several billion-dollar range – this is very likely true in the NFL as well. ——————> Anyone know for sure?
Palatypus
Can you write off a box safety as component depreciation?
Gross MaToast
I tried it this year, but the IRS had some questions.
Multi-millionaires & Billionaires do not buy anything unless there is significant income potentials or significant write-offs (tax shelters) and often, they very much prefer BOTH
Sure. That’s the benefit of wealth. You can invest significant money in a company, the company ‘loses’ money but gains value for years. Daniel Snyder paid $800m for the Redskins and sold the Commanders for over $6b, a 650% return on investment in 24 years.
Fixed income, guaranteed by those massive TV contracts they negotiate mean their operating budgets rarely have to strain much.
Brodie
You can definitely use that depreciation method for players. I remember studying that at college and what’s more, the owners almost always have others business ventures that they can “pass-through” the losses to.
I’m not sure of the finer details like I was as a younger man, but I do remember seeing examples of how a team could make, say $100M in a year, but then take the roster depreciation as a $150M loss and pass through the difference of $50M to offset another businesses gains. So if your other company made, say $50M that year, along with $100M from the team, you would actually owe nothing in taxes for either.
Loads of other moving parts, but that stood out to me as one of the more insane benefits of being an owner.
Old but Slow
Great system, where a rich guy can take millions in tax breaks and then complain about welfare queens.
Agree. At the risk of being somewhat political here, what’s the answer? Flat Tax?
509 Chris
Eliminate income tax altogether and replace it with a national sales tax. Also wanting to avoid politics of course but I read a book a few years back proposing this and I was blown away. It’ll never happen though as the current tax structure benifits the elites and politicians both too much.
Parking the overhaul of US tax reform for a minute, the easy answer for me is to not allow for team salary to be categorized as a depreciable asset.
In general young players get better and eventually older players fall off. It’s more of an offset. Also what a player is paid is often in wide disparity to what a players ‘value’ is.
There’s also the issue of dead cap – still counts as salary cap (therefor depreciable) but the player (asset) is no longer even a part of the business. If you sell a tractor, you can’t continue to take a write-off for depreciation two years into the future.
Owners and their tax lawyers likely duped the IRS by using examples of aging vets that would retire in the near future. “He’s worth $5M this year, $4M next, then $2M and then he’s retired and of no value to the roster.”
What they left out is the other side of the roster. The young players on fixed rookie deals who are increasing in value each year, often exponentially. Oh ya, and there is a system in place where every NFL team gets 7 new, young players each year at essentially minimum wage, to replace those costly old vets.
In this Twitter thread, there’s a tweet about the NBA expanding by 2 in ’24 and the Seattle “Supersonics” will be one of the teams. I sincerely hope they regain their history. The OKC Carpetbaggers don’t deserve that history.
PS, Eff David Stern
Palatypus
The Okie Noodlers.
Brodie
To each their own, but the NBA lost me as a fan and I can’t see ever coming back.
The Sonics were the nail in the coffin, but I just don’t even like the product. I think Lebron went to Miami to play with his buddies the next year and I just couldn’t care anymore. A few supermax players choosing where they want to meet up together (some big market) just isn’t my ideal.
Watching one superstar pound the air out of the ball for 20 seconds before trying to go one-on-one with the other 4 guys standing in the corners also bored me to death. I haven’t watched more than a few minutes of NBA in the past 15 years and don’t miss it at all.
I’m happy with being a Kraken fan now and am happy to bow out of any NBA conversation at a party.
Gaux Hawks
+ 1
STTBM
+2
downtownjewelrybryan
geaux heauwx!
Spectator
Looks like JSN is having a solid camp so far. Watched a clip of him running right by Witherspoon and separate well.
Reports that Eskridge took a major step this off season too though. WR3 spot going to be interesting this year.
Palatypus
Dee Eskridge’s worst enemy this year is going to be fair catches on kickoffs.
So wait, you’re saying the Seahawks are trend-setters once again?
I’m getting dizzy. I need to lie down.
Someone get me a drink.
Brodie
It’s funny, because the rest of the league (or at least the media) seems to be discounting RB’s via the – you can find one late – argument.
I absolutely love our RB room this year. Moreso than any other time in the last 10 years. I hear a lot of gripes about ‘wasting’ the 2nd rounder on Zach, but they are largely the same ones who bemoaned the KW3 pick last year. The fact that we got McIntosh in the 7th was such a boon IMO. Rounded out the RB room with an amazing talent, who fell due to testing, at almost no cost.
I do think that with the 5th year option, you are going to need to be thoroughly unimpressed with your other options to take one in the 1st round. Using the franchise tag is going to be the same cost as the 5th year option for an RB, but multiple millions more for a premium position.
Adam Schefter
@AdamSchefter
·
3h
Compensation update: Broncos are giving former Chiefs’ pass rusher Frank Clark a one-year deal worth up to $7.5 million, per source. The deal includes a $5.5 million guaranteed base salary, $1 million in makeable incentives and another challenging $1 million in incentives.
Henry Taylor
Just listening to Pete’s press conference and I really get the feeling that Witherspoon is gonna be the slot guy this year. He might start outside in 2 corner formations, but Pete was full of praise for Mike Jackson.
Which I’m honestly all for, he is a versatile cover man that can eliminate some of the excellent slots we have to deal with, wouldn’t mind the odd slot blitz from him either.
Sea Mode
He really did make it sound like Spoon all but has locked down the slot CB role. My question is, how much will that get him on the field?
Henry Taylor
My thought was that he would still start outside, but move into the slot when the go 3 corners. Pete mentioned that he moved around in college and that he doesn’t have any concerns about doing that with him (vs say Tariq who he said he was more nervous about moving).
Palatypus
Tyler Lockett in his press conference said,
“Well, I think the biggest thing that we could be way better at, that would help us out, would be is just the screen game. I think we were last in the screen game. I also see you tweet a lot…about us in the screen game…screen game how we’re in last place. So, I think that if we can be able to get that down to at least 20, it does wonders. Like the biggest thing is for us just knowing how to be better at it, how to know how to catch it, how to be able to get upfield, trusting that the line is going to be there…”
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely believe him. But,where is he getting these statistics? It seems like this might be a hard thing to measure.
I also noticed that undrafted rookie free agent from Alabama Kendall Randolph played guard and tight end. This makes me wonder.
Daniel
Maybe he is referring to EPA per play on screen passes. I don’t have a link for you but this is a pretty readily available stat at most advanced metrics sites.
Sea Mode
Really impressive the way all these rookies speak. Character clearly #1 again and it shows.
Bummer to hear McIntosh was involved. College kids with new hotrod chargers…I’m all for NIL going to the athletes, but it’s a double edged sword when they get LOTS of money/perks while being protected by their Coach.
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We have a great community in the comments, we just ask you keep things on topic.
Nice job Rob. A very measured and thought out view. Much appreciated.
Time for vacation? Let’s see, you’ve been to Dubai, to the far North, to the USA…Africa?
I like your room, interesting ceiling treatment, nice wallpaper, and an adorable picture. Living good.
It’s pretty slim pickings. I’ve been looking over XFL, USFL, and even the European League of American Football. The last one is frustrating because everything is metric. So I guess we are looking for someone in the 145 KG and 188 CM range.
I think this is an accurate list of the available NFL free agents at DT.
Chris Wormley, Steelers
Shelby Harris, Seahawks
Matt Ioannidis, Panthers
Akiem Hicks, Buccaneers
Ndamukong Suh, Eagles
Michael Brockers, Lions
Linval Joseph, Eagles
Maurice Hurst, 49ers
Corey Peters, Jaguars
Mike Pennel, Bears
Tyeler Davison, Chargers
I’d take a flyer on Akiem Hicks next as NT depth.
Spain and France later this summer
Seattle in November…
World traveler AND draft guru. Impressive. 😀
You realize Seattle in November is the beginning of the ugly season around here. Enjoy Spain and France in the summer though!
Yes but it’s also when the Seahawks play!
If you could get to Seattle in September or October, your chances of seeing the Hawks play AND experiencing decent weather are much better. Fall here is generally pretty nice – I don’t generally stop wearing shorts until sometime in October – but November can be pretty grim.
Well to be fair I’m not coming for the weather, I’m coming for the 49ers game and the Apple Cup
Tbf I’m pretty confident you live in England so it seems weather wise six of the same half a dozen of the other.
Plus Apple cup and seahawks….sounds awesome
That’s fair, I just know that living in Seattle, when it comes to vacations, I tend to want to go places that are warm since we get so much rain, which I am sure you are used to. The wife and I have been wanting to go to London to check out an Arsenal game, but I don’t really want to go there during the winter so we need to plan accordingly.
The Apple Cup is a blast though. I didn’t go to school at UW or WSU, so I’ve only been to one, but it was the year they split the national title. It was a helluva lot of fun.
I figured that was your target game when you said November. Hope we are competitive by then and kicking butt, especially against those pesky 9ers!
October-November is ideal football weather. I love the light rain, slick grass, cool but not freezing air. Really lets the players fly around, Keeps the ball out of the air a bit, passing is more difficult. Not as tiring for the crowd to get rowdy to warm up a bit.
This team can easily beat SF or Philly in the playoffs but we need to find another NT to plug the run or Philly will beat us. Our Offense is as good as anyone in the NFC and so is our secondary. What’s left? The front 7 and specifically the RUN defense. It will continue to be our achilles heal and ONLY reason we can win this NFC. I like DJ Dallas. I like McIntosh and I like Walker. Why did we WASTE and it will be a waste a 2nd rd on another RB?
Incrementally, is another RB going to really help this Offense? NO NO NO.
Would a NT or young backer help in 2023-2025? You bet they would. There’s a process to take BPA but when you have multiple holes on D, you can take a BPA at one of those 2 spots that would’ve been rated near CHarbonnet, who wasn’t close to a need.
Not having run stopping NT to free up our questionable LB’s is going to haunt us in 2023 and would’ve had experience for a run in 2024.
I’m not sure why this is so obvious, so when our D is getting shredded on the ground and Charbonnet is on the sidelines, just remember BPA isn’t always the way to go when you glaring NT and young LB issues. Book it! Nobody complain and be surprised because it was set in motion in RD 2 of the 2023 draft. We didn’t need a shiny new toy, we needed a Brick wall that the shiny new toy can’t penetrate!!!
I keep hearing about BPA when it comes to Charbonnet But was another RB a need when Walker and Penny were hurt last year? I personally am tired of having 1 decent running back and when they go down we are basically screwed offensively. Sure, I think a good NT or LB would have been great were Charbonnet was picked, but who was really available that would save our defense. You can make the case that Charbonnet could have a bigger impact on Offense than a reach for a NT at that spot. I actually think we should have solved this problem in Free Agency, along with spending on a top tier linebacker along with wagner instead of going cheap with Bush.
Who were they going to get? Walker gets hurt and then the offense stalls. To say that not taking a nose tackle in the draft is what stops them from winning the NFC is….the definition of wearing rose colored glasses. They have a qb that is solid at best, weakness up the middle of the line, safeties are a weakness, linebackers are looking lacking, no matter what you think of the corners, they are still young and a little raw.
They aren’t seriously competing in 2023 no matter what. Contract issues and a long term qb option, as well as missing elite talent are amazingly bigger problems than finding the next Mebane. Do we know what to think of the coordinators? They have a large amount of big problems, not the fact that they drafted another extremely talented running back.
Easily beat the Niners and Eagles? Yeah….no. Year 2 of a rebuild. People need to realize that so they don’t get disappointed this season.
This is a good synopsis of the 2023 Seahawks. There isn’t elite talent anywhere on this team (maybe there will be at corner) too many roster holes, and questionable defensive schemes.
So who would you have drafted as a NT in his place? I would challenge the idea that anyone would be that much better than Cam Young. Hell, Cam may become an All PRO. We got a very good, if not great NT in a round or two higher than he was ranked. I hope we can remember what we were thinking when our RB’s go down. In actuality two is really one and one is zero. Really, we got both of what we need, NT and RB.
Every single year, the Hawks end up using a 3rd or 4th string RB as a starter because of injuries. Without a good RB, this run game is garbage. We all know it and we’ve all seen that play out year after year. If they have to spend a second rounder to help keep their running game going, so be it. Charbonnet’s value in the second is far greater than spending that pick on a NT.
Charbonnet pick was brilliant despite so many folks who seem lost by it. Lose Walker and the season is over. Now you have two weapons you can use interchangeably.
There was not game changing NT there anyway.
💯
I’d love to sign another big DT given we only have 2 healthy +300lbs in Jarran Reed, Cameron Young to go along with Dre’Mont Jones, Mario Edwards Jr, Myles Adams, Bryan Mone (IR) and Mike Morris.
Aside from counting on a rookie, I believe it’s important given we need a rotation to 1) keep guys fresh and 2 hedge against injury. Bear in mind that’s only 7 DL where most teams carry ~9 during a regular season.
During the Super Bowl run of 2015, we had B Mebane, A Rubin, K Williams, J Hill and others and it’s important to note we lost Mebane during the season.
Longer term it makes sense to have a decent veteran DL so I hope we don’t sign a veteran retread but rather go after someone decent in a trade like Grover Stewart and sign him up to an extension if possible. We look to be somewhat long DBs, OLB/Edge and WRs at this point, so maybe there is a swap that could happen using future money if required to sign a vet.
If not, we will have to wait til next year to improve the depth at the position.
Not worried about the NT position. Clint Hurt as player/coach will come off the sidelines to save the day.
Rob: Nice report. Very fair. As usual. You hit the nail on the head. As far as nose tackle is concern. Maybe the Hawks are going to mix up their 3-4 front with a 4-3 front. At any rate. To me it would have made a hell of a lot more sense to release Adams and kept Al Woods on the roster for another year.
As far as spending all that money on the safety position. We all know that Jamal Adams trade was a terrible trade. Maybe even the worst trade of the Carroll/Schneider era. One thing Schneider has had a history of is coming up short at defensive tackle. Obviously he doesn’t seem to value that position that much. That is part of the reason that the Hawks have had difficultly stopping the run. At least the last couple of years.
My other source of frustration is that the Seahawks don’t release Adams. Or at least get him to take a pay cut. What is the deal? When it comes to jamal Adams. The Seahawk front off is THROWING GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD MONEY. Adams is probably not going to be ready when the season starts.
With all that said. I think the Hawks are pretty solid all the way around. They have solid depth everywhere except the interior defensive. And questionable backups at the OT position. But otherwise they have good depth everywhere. If the Hawks stay healthy their offense has a real chance to very explosive. In fact they could be one of the top five offenses in the NFL.
Right now the way I see the NFC. It’s 1) Philadelphia 2) San Francisco. And then it is a log jam for the third best team in the NFC. The contenders for the third best team are Seattle, Detroit, Minnesota, and the NY Giants. As far as Dallas is concerned. They have a very good defense. But let’s face it. Dak Prescott is an interception machine.
Our NT may not be on the current 90 man roster. Or they may move a big DE inside.
Last year I was wrong about Geno Smith. If the Hawks do keep Jamal Adams I hope I am wrong about Adams.
I was bullish on Geno last year, and he exceeded my expectations. Maybe there should be an exceeded expectations watchlist?
1. Clint Hurtt – miserable, clueless defense that can’t stop a paper bag.
2. Dee Eskridge – camp casualty.
3. Prez – plays 12 games, only looks like self for 8, gets hurt again.
4. BWagz – couldn’t cover a septuagenarian
5. JSN – keeps missing snaps due to injuries
Those would be my top 5 ‘I hope they exceed my expectations’.
Players I am more bullish on than the average fan: Evan Brown, Cameron Young, Derick Hall, Colby Parkinson, Julian Love. If any one of that group exceeds my expectations the Hawks will be having a pretty good year.
Are you sure he exceeded your expectations? What happens to his quarterback rating if his available interception rate is league average? It’s great he had a good statistical year but the contract that they gave him …they also want to see more before they commit
Yup, I figured he be Alex Smith+
Turns out he was more like the Geno I expected coming out of college. I’m down with his performance, and with the metrics. This next year my expectations are a repeat performance, if he gives more than that, great!
I went back to the Super Bowl years of 2013 and 2014 to see what Seahawk DT snap counts looked like (defense only, not special teams), and this is what I found:
2013
Brandon Mebane – 532 snaps (51.1% of all defensive snaps)
Clinton McDonald – 531 (51.0%)
Tony McDaniel – 527 (50.6%)
Jordan Hill – 64 (6.1%)
D’Anthony Smith – 46 (4.4%)
Michael Brooks – 15 (1.4%)
2014
Kevin Williams – 438 snaps (44.7%)
Tony McDaniel – 401 (41.0%)
Jordan Hill – 359 (36.7%)
Brandon Mebane – 280 (28.6%)
David King – 20 (2.0%)
Travian Robertson – 4 (0.4%)
Mebane’s numbers were lower in 2014 because of injury I think – only played in nine games that year. So the largely 3-man rotation at DT in 2013 became a 4-man rotation in 2014.
The case of Jordan Hill is interesting to me here. He was a 3rd round selection by the Hawks in the 2013 draft. Only took 6% of the defensive snaps in 2013. Granted, he was playing behind some more veteran guys that year, but as Rob notes, maybe we are expecting a bit too much from Cameron Young to step in and play major minutes at DT as a rookie.
Here’s the current set of DTs on the roster, along with the % of defensive snaps played in this defense last season:
Bryan Mone – 23%
Myles Adams – 16%
Cameron Young – rookie – 0%
Austin Faoliu – 0%
Forrest Merrill – 0%
Jonan Tavai – 0%
And yet it’s ok to blow $36M on two safeties, one of whom is iffy to play. Sigh.
36 mil for 2 safties that are both past their prime truly is malpractice. But how thin we are at a position of greater need like int d line is just salt in the wound. However being in year 2 of the rebuild, and probably looking at the team and its chances with a lot more optimism than I thought we’d have, the team and younger guys can all grow together this year and once they clear some of that nonsense money off the books next year we’ll be looking at a real contender hopefully. (Pray Geno works out)
Faoliu played one game for Dallas – in 2021 (13 snaps), nothing in 2022
Merrill played four games for the Chargers in 2021 (36 snaps), nothing in 2022
Tavai has never taken any snaps in any NFL game
Mone still recovering from last season’s knee injury
But hey, at least the Faoliu/Merrill/Tavai trio are well-rested!
Merrill is going to be EXTREMELY well rested since they already cut him.
Damnit. This is going to have major repercussions on my dynasty league planning.
It’s never too early to recruit the next Seahawks tackle. I would start by offering him any three electronic games and a two year supply of Subway sandwiches.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/huskies-pursue-local-offensive-tackle-tipping-scales-at-340-pounds/ar-AA1c7nXD?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=6491cd46260047d0a4386f3974549439&ei=44
Didn’t John Schneider make a comment during his weekly pre-draft discussions with 710 to the effect that Nose/1Tech isn’t a terribly difficult position to fill? And express something like ‘if they can do it in college, they can do it in the pros’ type of sentiment with what they ask a NT to do?
He did and yet they seem to be struggling to find someone who can simply do the job, thus the churn
Yes. John Schneider did make that statement. But yet the Seahawks run defense has been pretty bad the last couple of years. So maybe Schneider needs to rethink his thinking at NT.
On NT – depending on how hawks feel about current NT on the team, on 53 roster cut day they can add a decent vet DT. John might have couple of players on watch plus he might be okay with players at present on team worst case.
Your thinking is spot on Ashish. They are churning through the bottom half of the NT market and the expectation, from me, is that they will find someone off of another team’s roster cuts.
NFL cut-down dates this year are different than in the past. This year:
Aug. 16 – cut 5 guys to get down to 85
Aug. 23 – cut more 5 guys to get down to 80
Aug. 30 – cut 27 guys to get down to the 53-man roster
Sep. 10 – first Sunday of the regular season
It makes me wonder whether teams are really going to wait until the major cutdown date of Aug. 30 to bring in new talent. That means just 11 days before the first regular season action. How’s a guy supposed to learn the playbook in 11 days? Maybe you’ll see more mid-August trades (like a conditional 7th or something) to get a guy earlier than Aug. 30. You have to figure that between Aug. 16 and Aug. 30, the usual cuts are only going to yield the guys that really have no place on an NFL roster. I’m just assuming any guy who is really in the mix on talent is going to last until the Aug. 30 cuts.
I think you’re looking at an old schedule.
They announced this year there is only one cutdown day: Aug 29 and teams must be down to 53 by then.
Reality Show News Break
Marshawn Lynch and Richard Sherman, and Ronda Roussey and Lance Armstrong are on Fox TV Mondays on “Stars on Mars”
and Marshawn just became the first base commander = for 48 hours. After which someone is getting voted off.
An interesting concept, filmed in a model Mars colony built in Coober Pedy, South Australia.
After first episode: It was fun to see Marshawn and Richard in a tv show environment where they are talking to each other and hanging out in the same building. There was a lot of banter between Marshawn and Lance Armstrong that was interesting. We will see if they go crazy being confined together.
I think they started with a dozen people and will be voting one off every 48 hours. So that will be about 20 days together till they whittle it down to ??. Each show has a couple of repairs or exercises that they have to perform in the time allotted. So there is a bit of excitement in that.
It’s an interesting concept – they even rounded up William Shatner to be the Announcer.
I hope it’ll be on some streaming platform, realities are my guilty pleasure and would be nice to see former Hawks 😀
IT’s on Fox on Mondays. I think it then goes to Hulu where you can watch old episodes.
I was able to read as a free article:
Inside Geno Smith’s Intense Training Regimen For His First Offseason as Seahawks Starter
https://www.si.com/nfl/2023/06/05/geno-smith-offseason-training-program-seahawks-starter
Awesome, really hope Geno builds on next year. He seems really committed to win a championship. With so many good skill players in this offense now, there’ll be no excuses for any kind of regression.
Thanks, great read Sea Mode.
I can get behind Geno focusing on the Red Zone. The Seahawks were at or below the league average in the red zone last year. Odd with all their weapons.
TDs 25 (league Avg 29)
Rush TDs 8 (league Avg 13)
Pass TDs 17 (league Avg 16) ((keep in mind Geno was one of the best deep passers in the NFL))
Completion % 52.1 (league Avg 54.9)
Sacked 7 (league Avg 4.46)
First downs 40 (league Avg 45)
Seattle is still too predictable, and too cautious, in the Red Zone.
I blame Carl Tater Smith. And Carrol. Smiths track record as QB coach with Bledsoe is interesting…
I am not a fan, and was sick when they brought him out of retirement again. Apparently doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results is not the definition of insanity, but a better alternative to finding a young smart offensive mind. What was I thinking? I’m surprised Tater didn’t talk Carrol into bringing back the Wishbone….
Well, is there anything to suggest Tater has any serious input on the redzone calls?
IMO there is. Throwing fades and to the corners, rarely throwing to the middle of the end zone, avoiding risk at all costs, these are Hallmarks of his career, especially in Seattle. That’s the feeling I had watching Seattle before and after his return.
I don’t believe he sets gameplans or calls plays, but I do believe he has an unholy influence over philosophy and tactics.
But it’s merely my thoughts and speculation. If I had more than that, I’d be picketing to have him fired.
I don’t think throwing fades, a common play for many teams, is evidence that Tater has any influence on the offense.
By all accounts his role appears to be as a support man for Pete Carroll and I’m not aware he had any input in play calling or scheme
Alright. I hope you’re right.
Certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve read the tea leaves wrong.
I hope Waldron takes a step forward, and Carrol allows him to attack the whole field, and uses the entire end zone this year. We got the players, time to use them!
Kudos to Geno Smith for working so hard on the off season. It’s really quite strange that there isn’t more group activities fitness and team stuff. I know it’s all been negotiated and no one wants an injury. But the practice and get in shape is so restricted that I wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t more injuries in regular season than before. I would love to see some statistics on that!
Anyway, a team that informally worked out together (with weights and running and swimming) all summer would have a tremendous advantage in the first month of the season.
Bruce Feldman’s QB tiers, aka Catnip for Rob. Hopefully all least a couple new names to study:
https://theathletic.com/4582932/2023/06/05/college-football-quarterback-tiers-rankings-caleb-williams/?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=6969705
And I would go along with a lot of the groupings here
And it really highlights again that the talk of the 2024 QB class being better than 2023 is nonsense
It’s deeper
Not better
Still on Will Rogers as the QB who may rise.
I’m going to have to call on my QB friend to explain this Grayson McCall thing to me. I’ve now seen, and can say overrated, not going to a power 5 school (after entering the transfer portal), has me on the ‘no thank you’ side of the table.
Armstrong from VA, now at NC State was a curious omit. I’d rank him as as similar to the tier 5 group, albeit a bit older.
FYI Seahawks putting up “Value Tickets” for selected games – reasonably priced tickets in the 300 section (more in the corners than anything else) that you are prohibited from reselling.
Interesting idea.
$99 for the Niner Thanksgiving Game or the Eagles game seems like a pretty good deal.
https://www.ticketmaster.com/seattle-seahawks-vs-san-francisco-49ers-seattle-washington/event/0F005E98A2ED6404
That’s super interesting, but how would they enforce the no-resell part of it?
It’s all through Ticketmaster and says “Any resale activity will result in cancellation of tickets”
I am guessing you cannot transfer the tickets and you definitely cannot put them back up for sale.
Shouldn’t any resale ticket over face value be cancelled?
The result would mean a better chance of getting a fairly priced ticket, for those who actually want to go to games,
Coby Bryant sounds like he’ll still be at slot this year.
https://youtu.be/FrzUkaSPe-s
Calls it an ‘honor’ to play slot and flattered the coaches think that highly of him.
Also says he thinks he’ll get to blitz more out of nickel.
I was listening to Dave Wyman. He thought that a big part of the problem on run defense was scheme. He felt that because of the defensive scheme it would be easy for one player to miss an assignment. Which would create holes in the run defense. The players were not always on the same page. So, we will see what happens.
This morning on Brock and Sauk: Brock had some high praises for Jamal Adams. For those of you who don’t listen to Brock. Brock has been very critical of Adams. But this morning. Brock Huard was singing the praises of Adams. Brock said that he could not believe how good of shape Adams was in. He said that Adams was in great shape. According to Brock he looks more like a linebacker than a safety. In fact, if you compared him to Devin Bush from a physical standpoint you couldn’t tell them apart. So, it appears that Adams is going to play a safety/linebacker position. If you include Adams, Seattle is going to employ plenty of 3 safety schemes. With Adams being a Safety/Linebacker. Not knowing what Adams is going to do on a given play could make it harder for an opposing QB to read the defense.
Let’s ride.
A Louis Vuitton gift basket goes a long way with Brock.
I literally LOL’d
Maybe Pete’s bobo Wyman is on vacation so Brock had to step in and be Mr. It’s Never Pete’s Fault?
Yes check for Brock’s new coffee cup.
I’ll be happy if they can field two out of three safeties. I just don’t have any confidence on them staying injury free. Hopefully these new younger players will have better durability. The tackles both worked out well last year.
Brock’s main criticism has centered on Adams’ lack of presence as a leader and attendee of “voluntary” activities. Has that changed?
…Merely seeing Adams at the VMAC was probably enough for Brock. This time of year, evident rehab progress can set free those fantasies of high performance. June isn’t reality month.
And Adam’s probably doesn’t know what he’s going to do either
100k? Huh, guess you gotta start somewhere… Aren’t signing bonuses fully guaranteed anyways, no matter when they are paid out?
This tweet is worded very strangely. Pelissero just copied and pasted from Hall’s agent (remember when Geno signed his contract and it was reported as ‘$52m in the first calendar year’ ?)
You need a decoder ring with these guys.
The $100k guarantee is in salary. The NFLPA has been slowly working on teams to guarantee more and more of 2nd round picks’ salaries further out. Ken Walker got $1m guaranteed in his third year. While Dee Eskridge drafted in R2 the year before has no guaranteed salary in his third year.
So the $100k guarantee for a fourth year is progress. Small progress, but progress. Relatively meaningless to the cap hit for 2026.
And further decoding, teams can spread out the payment of a signing bonus to help with their cap management. So hearing Hall got 85% before camp is a way to say ‘agent did good.’
(let’s just skip the whole ‘why do they call it a signing bonus if they don’t get it all when they…you know..sign the contract?’ discussion)
Doesn’t it also mean that more cap was used this year? Making it less likely they will pay for any more new players.
Not necessarily.
I don’t see from that little info that the $100k guarantee he’s receiving in year 4 is part of his signing bonus, which as you note is guaranteed.
Also, since he’s getting 85% of the bonus now, I doubt the last 15% of it is held until year 4, but who knows.
Hey Rob!
If you travel to Valencia, Spain and need info or fancy a beer just say 🙂
With Hall signing, that just leaves Witherspoon and Charbonnet.
Should hear something soon. Last year the top pick (Cross) was the last to sign as well.
Rob , I have seen differing reports about whether the Seahawks ( or Blazers) will be sold in 2024. Have any of your sources said anything definitive about this?
I know that the Saudi PIF has infiltrated International Football including the Premier League, F1 and are now involved in all of the Golf Leagues. A potential high profile and lucrative investment would seem to be in the NFL. If they offered a lot more money for an NFL team than anyone else, it could get interesting.
I read something the other day that said both clubs were looking at a sale in the next 10 to 20 years, so I have no idea what to think at this point. It sounds like the teams are for sale by a very unmotivated buyer. So unless someone knocks the door down to buy JA will hold tight. Thats just my opinion, someone here might have heard something more concrete.
My understanding was that Allen pledged that all of his assets would be sold and donated to charity. I am not sure how his sister running the Seahawks for 20 years then selling aligns with his wishes.
I understand less than nothing about estates and trusts. If the Trust sells off all of their assets, then wouldn’t the Vulcans and Allen be out of jobs and no longer on the payroll?
You are referring to this report?
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/06/04/seahawks-trail-blazers-remain-not-for-sale-nearly-five-years-after-paul-allens-passing/
Feel like once every four months or so I have to comment this to someone that there is NO timetable for a sale.
As a retired commercial real estate broker, I know that a lot of the incentive to many commercial RE purchases is the ability to write off as a tax deduction, the depreciation of the various assets over time. The BEST method is called “component depreciation” which allows individual components like roofs, furnaces, etc. (think players) to be depreciated over their individual “lifetimes”. I would think that in the NFL, they have a similar ability to depreciate assets (individual players) over their projected career lifetimes that can effectively be written off as big tax deductions that helps offset their income – along with their heavy operational expenses. Multi-millionaires & Billionaires do not buy anything unless there is significant income potentials or significant write-offs (tax shelters) and often, they very much prefer BOTH (that’s how they got to where they are at). With the value of NFL franchises currently being in the several billion-dollar range – this is very likely true in the NFL as well. ——————> Anyone know for sure?
Can you write off a box safety as component depreciation?
I tried it this year, but the IRS had some questions.
Long story short – no.
Sure. That’s the benefit of wealth. You can invest significant money in a company, the company ‘loses’ money but gains value for years. Daniel Snyder paid $800m for the Redskins and sold the Commanders for over $6b, a 650% return on investment in 24 years.
Fixed income, guaranteed by those massive TV contracts they negotiate mean their operating budgets rarely have to strain much.
You can definitely use that depreciation method for players. I remember studying that at college and what’s more, the owners almost always have others business ventures that they can “pass-through” the losses to.
I’m not sure of the finer details like I was as a younger man, but I do remember seeing examples of how a team could make, say $100M in a year, but then take the roster depreciation as a $150M loss and pass through the difference of $50M to offset another businesses gains. So if your other company made, say $50M that year, along with $100M from the team, you would actually owe nothing in taxes for either.
Loads of other moving parts, but that stood out to me as one of the more insane benefits of being an owner.
Great system, where a rich guy can take millions in tax breaks and then complain about welfare queens.
Agree. At the risk of being somewhat political here, what’s the answer? Flat Tax?
Eliminate income tax altogether and replace it with a national sales tax. Also wanting to avoid politics of course but I read a book a few years back proposing this and I was blown away. It’ll never happen though as the current tax structure benifits the elites and politicians both too much.
Yes it does
Parking the overhaul of US tax reform for a minute, the easy answer for me is to not allow for team salary to be categorized as a depreciable asset.
In general young players get better and eventually older players fall off. It’s more of an offset. Also what a player is paid is often in wide disparity to what a players ‘value’ is.
There’s also the issue of dead cap – still counts as salary cap (therefor depreciable) but the player (asset) is no longer even a part of the business. If you sell a tractor, you can’t continue to take a write-off for depreciation two years into the future.
Owners and their tax lawyers likely duped the IRS by using examples of aging vets that would retire in the near future. “He’s worth $5M this year, $4M next, then $2M and then he’s retired and of no value to the roster.”
What they left out is the other side of the roster. The young players on fixed rookie deals who are increasing in value each year, often exponentially. Oh ya, and there is a system in place where every NFL team gets 7 new, young players each year at essentially minimum wage, to replace those costly old vets.
Chris Simms on Geno Smith. Pretty high praise.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/06/04/seahawks-trail-blazers-remain-not-for-sale-nearly-five-years-after-paul-allens-passing/
New coach coming in hot next off-season, lets go
https://twitter.com/Seahawks/status/1666623825314734080?s=20
In this Twitter thread, there’s a tweet about the NBA expanding by 2 in ’24 and the Seattle “Supersonics” will be one of the teams. I sincerely hope they regain their history. The OKC Carpetbaggers don’t deserve that history.
PS, Eff David Stern
The Okie Noodlers.
To each their own, but the NBA lost me as a fan and I can’t see ever coming back.
The Sonics were the nail in the coffin, but I just don’t even like the product. I think Lebron went to Miami to play with his buddies the next year and I just couldn’t care anymore. A few supermax players choosing where they want to meet up together (some big market) just isn’t my ideal.
Watching one superstar pound the air out of the ball for 20 seconds before trying to go one-on-one with the other 4 guys standing in the corners also bored me to death. I haven’t watched more than a few minutes of NBA in the past 15 years and don’t miss it at all.
I’m happy with being a Kraken fan now and am happy to bow out of any NBA conversation at a party.
+ 1
+2
geaux heauwx!
Looks like JSN is having a solid camp so far. Watched a clip of him running right by Witherspoon and separate well.
Reports that Eskridge took a major step this off season too though. WR3 spot going to be interesting this year.
Dee Eskridge’s worst enemy this year is going to be fair catches on kickoffs.
Dalvin Cook on the market
https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1666806520359849986
He’s better than Adams yet the Vikes are willing to move on but Carroll stubbornly hangs on the Jamal. Sigh.
Zeke Elliott just frowned.
I think the new meta is to try to draft 2 RB every 3 years and never give a big deal to a vet over 27.
Wonder if Cook’s market will feel as cold as Hopkins.
So wait, you’re saying the Seahawks are trend-setters once again?
I’m getting dizzy. I need to lie down.
Someone get me a drink.
It’s funny, because the rest of the league (or at least the media) seems to be discounting RB’s via the – you can find one late – argument.
I absolutely love our RB room this year. Moreso than any other time in the last 10 years. I hear a lot of gripes about ‘wasting’ the 2nd rounder on Zach, but they are largely the same ones who bemoaned the KW3 pick last year. The fact that we got McIntosh in the 7th was such a boon IMO. Rounded out the RB room with an amazing talent, who fell due to testing, at almost no cost.
I do think that with the 5th year option, you are going to need to be thoroughly unimpressed with your other options to take one in the 1st round. Using the franchise tag is going to be the same cost as the 5th year option for an RB, but multiple millions more for a premium position.
I’m with you on the RB room @Brodie. Very strong and quite deep.
Yeah, the last time I felt this good about the running backs room I was wearing a Mack Strong jersey.
Not trend setters at the Safety position cha
But yeah, maybe so at RB
Make that drink a fine Irish whiskey.
Don’t know anything about Jacob Sykes’ physical profile, but love his mental makeup:
https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2022-11-11/ucla-football-defense-jacob-sykes
Frank Clark to Denver
Just listening to Pete’s press conference and I really get the feeling that Witherspoon is gonna be the slot guy this year. He might start outside in 2 corner formations, but Pete was full of praise for Mike Jackson.
Which I’m honestly all for, he is a versatile cover man that can eliminate some of the excellent slots we have to deal with, wouldn’t mind the odd slot blitz from him either.
He really did make it sound like Spoon all but has locked down the slot CB role. My question is, how much will that get him on the field?
My thought was that he would still start outside, but move into the slot when the go 3 corners. Pete mentioned that he moved around in college and that he doesn’t have any concerns about doing that with him (vs say Tariq who he said he was more nervous about moving).
Tyler Lockett in his press conference said,
Maybe he is referring to EPA per play on screen passes. I don’t have a link for you but this is a pretty readily available stat at most advanced metrics sites.
Really impressive the way all these rookies speak. Character clearly #1 again and it shows.
Ready To Work | The Sound Of The Seahawks: S2 Ep. 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF2nDA7-DyQ
JSN with the message from Calvin Johnson
https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1666822640949149696
Lead foot culture of the Georgia Bulldogs
https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/uga-speeding/
Bummer to hear McIntosh was involved. College kids with new hotrod chargers…I’m all for NIL going to the athletes, but it’s a double edged sword when they get LOTS of money/perks while being protected by their Coach.