Branden Jackson was re-signed by the Seahawks today
“I thought something was brewing when they cut Hunt and Jackson. Now I’m waiting for them to re-sign both for $1m each.”
This is a reply I made in the comments section this week.
I was joking, sort of.
Yet earlier today, this tweet surfaced:
That was fast: The #Seahawks are re-signing DE Branden Jackson, source said. He actually was just released by Seattle more than a week ago, but will re-sign under a different deal on Wednesday when he clears protocol.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 3, 2020
Branden Jackson joined the Seahawks in 2017. He’s played three seasons in Seattle, featuring in 36 games.
He has 3.5 career sacks.
It was never obvious why the Seahawks tendered him for $2.1m in the first place. What exactly were they protecting? Now, some months later, they’ve cut him and re-signed him — probably saving about $1m in the process.
A week ago I wrote an article asking whether another move was on the cards following the Jackson and Hunt cuts. The answer, categorically, was no. Nothing happened. It won’t be a big surprise if Hunt follows suit and similarly re-joins for a discounted price.
At least with Hunt there’d be a reason for the move. Currently Seattle’s depth at center is B.J. Finney — a career backup signed this year after mixing between positions in Pittsburgh — and second round underachiever Ethan Pocic.
Hunt might have struggled at times as a starter but it’s a sad reality that he could easily end up winning a camp battle to start once more.
Jackson rejoining, though, is much more of a head-scratcher.
The lack of sacks are not the only problem. He had only seven pressures last season in 15 games. He had only four hurries. His PFF grade of 50.4 ranked 96th out of 109 defensive lineman in 2019. Only one other player had a worse pass rushing grade.
He simply hasn’t been able to impact games.
His run defense grade (59.6) wasn’t anything to write home about either.
Thankfully this new contract will probably have no guarantees and down the line the Seahawks could simply cut him again or replace him with another player. Yet it’s somewhat indicative of Seattle’s problem.
In an interview with John Clayton at the combine, Pete Carroll said improving the defensive line and pass rush was ‘definitely the focal point and it has to be‘.
How many people honestly thought, upon hearing those words and acknowledging the off-season priority, that we’d still be talking about Branden Jackson in August?
Every team needs depth but you also need to justify your retention. After three seasons there’s extreme clarity on whether he’s good enough.
I want to be fair to Jackson. His team mates speak very positively about him as a person. Clowney name-checked him during his ‘gym interview’ a few weeks ago. He seems to be well liked and a positive influence in the locker room. There’s something to be said for that — but you also need to produce results on the field. Jackson simply hasn’t delivered.
You could easily make the argument tendering him for $2.1m was a waste. If Hunt wasn’t retained either, that’s $4.2m you could’ve used on a player to actively improve your stated priority for the off-season.
There’s still time to rectify the issue. The season, if it starts on time, is well over a month away. Both Jadeveon Clowney and Everson Griffen remain available. We know Clowney isn’t going to budge on his demands — so in the next couple of weeks it’s time to make a call once and for all. Either come to an argreement for multiple years that can include a low first-year cap hit or move on and sign Everson Griffen. Inject some proven quality onto the line — and then get a defensive tackle too.
It’s not ideal to be addressing the biggest issue of the year this close to the start of the season. Griffen and a cheap interior lineman aren’t likely to transform a D-line recently described by PFF as the worst in the league either.
They need to do something though — otherwise all of the big investments at linebacker and safety will simply end up being undermined.
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I don’t mean to sidestep the re-signing of Jackson (I’m clueless to why he’s already back), but what are your thoughts on Carroll mentioning playing “4 LBs at times”? I don’t know what to think about it right now.
Yeah I’ll need to see that to understand it. Presumably he’s talking about trying to mimic some of the New England/Super Bowl approach to dealing with the Rams. But tossing that info out there now doesn’t seem like a great thing to do.
Rob,
Thank you for your take. I truly value your opinion and I was completely taken by the comment. I’ve already seen speculation of a 4-4-3. I wondered if a 3-4 hybrid would be used and the previous “LEO” position with a standing RUSH LB/DE would be part of that. In a 3-man front, I’d be really comfortable with a SNACKS in the middle.
With questions throughout the majority of the offseason, I’m still trying to figure things out. I personally like the draft of Jordyn Brooks and think he takes KJ’s spot and KJ switches sides. Regarding the “quantity vs quality” approach at the DE position is a extremely frustrating, especially with the lack of depth at DT. Bringing Jackson back has me scratching my head. I still ponder if a Collier move to DT could be a possibility and that is why we haven’t added to DT. Josh Avery was just waived today, so that’s one more DT not on the roster.
I’ve given up hope of an upgraded DL at this point in the season. I know it’s theoretically possible, but it seems they’ve made their bed.
It looks like we’ll suffer to witness a scheme shift again to try and get the best players on the field with our safeties and linebackers- perhaps more big nickel packages.
There’s just no way they can roll with base defense as often as last year with the current roster.
Kyler Murray & Lamar Jackson force them to make scheme adjustments. Its no coincident that they drafted Brooks & traded for Adam, they need ultra athletes that can play sideline to sideline and defend against those sweeps & QB draws. Pass rushes won’t matter much if you can’t stop the runs at the first place.
There are multiple ways to get to the QB, and the money teams give to DE simply diminished its position value.
One Clowney ≠ two K.J. Wright (when healthy)
I think they need Snack more than Clowney.
Listen… you’re not wrong about needing to play sideline to sideline against players like that. It’s true (although they won’t play Lamar unless it’s a SB for a long time now).
But let’s please stop placing the words ‘pass rushes won’t matter much’ together.
Pass rushes always matter.
You can just as easily say if you can fly around at the second level but the QB has all day to wait for players to uncover, it won’t matter having all those expensive pieces at LB and S either.
The two things have to connect. The point some of us have made, fairly, is you’ll only undermine the massive investment in LB and S if you roll out the worst D-line in the league.
Who would you pencil as the ‘front four’ at this point in passing downs? Regardless of scheme or coverage quality, 4 guys need to get home against 5 lineman, generally speaking, in 3-5 seconds. We pups this get there last year with the 4 we had.
Teams may not challenge us on the outside anymore, but they’ll be content to sit in the pocket all day and chunk big plays downfield.
Right now the four on passing downs will presumably be Mayowa and Irvin off the edge with Green kicking inside next to probably Jarran Reed.
Which, IMO, is a terrifying prospect.
I feel like saying it is a terrifying prospect is pretty hyperbolic. If Mayowa and Irvin combine for 10 sacks next year and the team overall gets 5 more sacks than it got last year, isn’t that a pretty realistic expectation? Pretty low bar? And I feel like that wouldn’t be the end of the world, and could lead to a decently better defense with improvement in other positions, and how great the Seahawks offense has the potential to be I feel like an even slightly better defense could mean a much better team.
That’s such an internet thing to say.
‘Hyperbolic’
Ok then swap terrifying for…
‘It looks absolutely shite’
The reason I come to your website and have been following you on twitter for years is because you’re literally my favorite analyst when it comes to the Seahawks. You’re so knowledgeable and hard working, and typically level headed, which is why I don’t understand the extreme level of negativity here. Like, clearly our d line isn’t filled with world beaters, but several of them have had very productive seasons and I really feel like it is extremely likely the line ends up better this year than last year. Maybe not substantially better, but better. There is certainly value in hyperbole sometimes as a way to express how you feel about something, but I really feel like your reaction here is surprisingly extreme. Bruce Irvin has had more sacks than Rasheem Green got last year literally every season but his second second in the NFL. He is not absolute shite..
It’s not an extreme level of negativity though.
It’s simply an honest appraisal that doesn’t happen to be complimentary.
I don’t why people can’t distinguish that. I’m not obliged to be positive.
JC3: I would love to have Clowney. But I agree the Hawks would Snacks/run stuffer more than Clowney. We will see.
The Snacks do not need Snacks Harrison more than Clowney.
Come on.
Rob, thanks for your content and your patience.
Pete and John surely cannot have both lost their minds, there must be some thinking going on with these moves this offseason. Maybe I’ve missed an article you written. If not, I’d be quite curious as to what you think about why they’ve made these moves this offseason. There must be more to Pete being just zoned in on ‘we’re planning on bringing Clowney back, we want him back’, but when that doesn’t happen they apparently have no back up plan and so it’s Mayowa time!
What is the best outlook with these moves? 15 o linemen, 10 tight ends, practice squad d line, etc. Does Pete truly believe he can manufacture a pass rush apparently at will? Was the defense so vanilla last year that by default it has to be more successful and reliant on players making plays and being able to read offensives better this year?
This team seems to have the potential to put up points and score with anyone.
I’ve written many articles and comments touching on why I think they ended up in this situation.
Man that press conference was tough to watch.
I think Pete was raring to go and spar over the Adams trade. I think his most animated answer was near the end when he was asked about Adams and I think he saw it as the last chance to say something (thus, we got the defensive language about Schneider and the deal). With respect to the Seattle media, fewer questions about the status of Dissly & Penny and more challenging questions of the most aggressive trade in team history would’ve been preferable. It would’ve been good to hear Pete Carroll’s full thoughts on the deal, the price, the remaining issues within the team.
Most coaches I’ve come across want to be challenged. It’s their chance to defend themselves and get their views properly across. Again, from experience, coaches have more respect for the reporters willing to challenge.
Well, fewer questions from Seahakws employees about retirement and how their wife is doing and how PC is in a more COVID susceptible age bracket would help too.
Good grief.
Yeah…
It’s all a bit too… cosy.
I agree. I’m curious though as to how you would ask challenging questions of the front office that they would actually be able to answer. I thought about this the other day when you were discussing the Peter King interview with JS.
How do you ask about why they still haven’t re-signed Clowney or moved on to a backup plan to fix the pass rush? Since they are still clearly hoping to get Clowney back and negotiations/stalemate are ongoing, it seems like he would simply give you the cookie cutter answer (JD was great for us last season and we remain open to him coming back, in the meantime we had to move on and sign Irvin/Mayowa), if not simply declining to answer at all.
How do you ask if the Adams trade means Blair has basically been written off as a R2 pick when he is still on the team and they can’t just throw him under the bus? Same with Collier. I feel you would probably just get the typical (Blair was learning the playbook then hurt, Collier was injured, we still have high hopes for both, etc.)
I’m not asking in an accusatory way or saying it’s not possible. Just genuinely curious how you, as a professional, would look to ask these type of challenging questions in order to actually get a meaningful answer. We all know they can’t just openly show their cards like that, and if a reporter were to continue to press them on it, he/she probably wouldn’t be invited back the next time I imagine…
I’m not going to suggest I have all the answers or the art of interviewing down to a tee because I don’t.
But I’ve done 1-on-1 interviews for the last 18 years and have some thoughts to share. The point is not to go in there thinking, ‘I have the exact question that is going to tease out the perfect answer’. Usually it’s just to probe, to poke, to ask direct questions. ‘Why did you make this trade?’ — it’s a simple question, right? But it’s actually a question that would likely receive a wide-ranging answer. It would’ve given Carroll an opportunity to go down any avenue he wanted. Praising the player, the deal, the schematic fit. Yet nobody asked such a simple, basic, direct question.
The follow-up opportunities to that initial, basic question are endless.
Other questions could be:
— How do you justify the cost, using two first round picks plus?
(Just see what he says — it could be that he scoffs and says he’s just a great player. So be it. You move on. He could also react quite passionately and give a more heartfelt reason for making the deal, or be more combative, or reveal more information than he otherwise would’ve done because the question is phrased as a challenge, even if it’s masked innocently)
— How concerned are you with the state of the defensive line?
(He could say, ‘not at all’ — but then you could point to the PFF ranking as a counter response. Either way it’s a challenge and most people when challenged are forced to either acknowledge the point and be honest or defensive and it would’ve been interesting to see what he said.)
— Instead of asking if there’s a chance to sign Antonio Brown, why not ask him what he thought about Russell Wilson working out with Brown and whether Wilson has been pushing for Carroll to sign him? That way it’s harder for him to bat it away as he did.
I could give some further examples but I think you get the jist from this.
Thanks. I see. A great interview is definitely an art form.
I would love to see you get a stab at a one-on-one with JS someday. As you said, instead of feeling intimidated by being probed/challenged on some things, he might actually appreciate the way someone with an in-depth knowledge of the Seahawks could lead the conversation and give him a chance to explain the thinking behind some of the moves.
The press conference format definitely isn’t ideal, because there is usually no real dialogue going on, no back and forth to follow the train of thought and probe. Everyone has to get in a question, and it usually seems like they are just looking for tidbits to publish instead of digging deeper.
The questions that really get me are the ridculous “how is it dealing with Covid restrictions”? What do they thinks he’s gonna say “we suck and I hope we all get covid?”. Its an utter waste of time. Asking him about personal risk I was OK with, but every press conference is now 60% “how are you handling covid” and nobody in the world cares about that answer anymore. They had him for 40 minutes and they wasted a good half of that time.
I liked the personal risk question, even if the answer was utterly predictable–“if I get it, I’m going to compete, and kick its ass,” or something like that. Classic Pete, bless him.
Yeah it was actually IMO nice to hear that, even though it had jack $hit to do with football. Its been a while since ive heard a leader have a sane response when taliing about covid.
Granted, i dont want to have any more interviews about it. It happened once, now lets talk X’s and O’s
Camp body?
Maybe the same could be done with Moore?
Looks like the Seahawks are trying to improve their pass rush by improving their secondary. At least there are still talented DL players out there that we can add before season start.
You can’t improve the worst DL in the league via the secondary.
You need talent.
The two areas compliment each other.
No preseason and less training camp was probably a big factor on bringing him back. If you’re bringing in a guy for the veteran minimum it’s nice if he’s already familiar with the system, especially in a year like this. Not a big fan of Jackson but other than Green and Collier who else do we have that can play the 5-tech?
Rob, would rather have seen the Hawks give up two first to trade up the 2020 draft and grab Isaiah Simmons? Perhaps that was the Seahawks plan A, but with teams unwilling to trade this past draft, maybe they went for Adams as a plan B. Just some speculation…
I don’t think they ever seriously considered moving up. Schneider said after the draft they’d identified linebacker value at the end of R1.
Darrell Taylor on the NFI list with Colby Parkinson…
Fortunately Robinson is good for 8 sacks this year.
Coincidence: I recently suggested Taylor was capable of 8 sacks.
Jeeze… Was that planned? Does that mean he is out this year or has to serve a minimum number of games out?
Players who report to training camp injured or ill due to injuries or illnesses sustained outside of NFL practices or games can be placed on the active/non-football injury or active/non-football illness lists while they recover. A player cannot remain on an NFI list if they participate in a practice or game during the preseason. Players on these lists still count towards the 90-man roster limits prior to the start of the regular season. If a player on the active/NFI list is still injured or ill by the final roster cutdown date, they can be placed on the reserve/non-football injury or reserve/non-football illness lists and not count towards the 53-man roster limit.
Probably could have looked that up myself huh? Thanks for your time haha. So we won’t know til we see him then i guess.
Maybe that’s the answer to “why did the Seahawks bring B Jackson back?”
Hopefully not a serious injury for Taylor. Parkinson broke his foot IIRC.
Pete Carroll 2020 Pre-Training Camp Press Conference notes
https://youtu.be/-GQGMhOcVkU
In general
– First time on the practice field in 2020. Feels good.
On injuries:
– Penny will come in on Thursday. Good reports so far.
– Will Dissly didn’t miss one minute of rehab in 9 months. Came in and passed his physical because of that. One of the grittiest and hard-working guys we’ve ever had. We’ll bring him along and make sure we take care of him.
On Jamal Adams:
– Jamal Adams has some traits of all of the great safeties PC has coached over the years. He is most dynamic as an aggressive player, where he has chances to make plays around the line of scrimmage and in coverage.
– He’s an aggressive, attack oriented guy. Very decisive, creative, and physical. Has the athleticism to make the plays happen that he sees.
– Just like with Kam an Earl, who were very different from each other, we will try to highlight the individual qualities of Adams like we did with each of them.
– Adams to Polamalu is a good comparison. Stature is different, but there are similarities in the nature they play with. Savvy to see things before they happen and then confidence to go get it. Because of their confidence, there are times they can control the game. The last thing you want to do with those type of guys is to make them over-responsible, make them feel like they can’t have that kind of freedom. As soon as you go there, you lose the magnificence they bring.
– Jamal is really disciplined and asks about all the principles, but it’s so that he can be freed up and that will help the other guys as well. He’ll affect Bobby, KJ, and JReed.
– How do you learn about what he brings to the locker room? Talk to a bunch of coaches, people. Such an extraordinary deal that JS brought about. This started months ago when there seemed to be no chance that this guy could be here practicing at the VMAC. Would he fit, was the cost worth it, could he get along with his coach, will he help his head coach…? He’s going to do anything he can to help his team win. He’s humble to give everybody credit who helped him be the player he is. We don’t know it for a fact in the locker room, but the fire and the juice he brings on the field impacts everybody.
– He is fiery, and that can be interpreted as selfish. He cares so much that the passion just explodes out of him. And that’s what so many of our great players have had and everyone feeds off it. Let it go, cut it loose, and get to that primal mentality that this game allows. That said, it’s still about being a great teammate. PC has no doubt about that.
On defense:
– Marquise Blair will get an opportunity in the slot. “Part of the pressure packaging”. He has a whole structure to his game that we would love to fit in.
– Shaquill Griffin really exploded in year three. Tre Flowers will be expected to be very aggressive and physical. No new info on Dunbar. Ugo was a nice factor at the end of last season and will compete with Marquise at nickel. We have experience, we know what we’ve got, and we’re physical.
– Fastest path to Jordyn Brooks starting? He can play all three spots, but WILL is the most obvious spot and we’ll start him learning there. KJ also had maybe his best year for us last year. Competition will settle it. Maybe even ways to get all four of them (with Irvin) on the field at once.
– Offense has had a chance to spend some time together playing catch on their own (with RW), defense takes a little longer to get going.
On COVID, etc.
– About quarantine and the challenge of not having pre-season. We have to be ready physically. Will ramp it up in practice and have some game-like opportunities in practice leading up to the season. One of six teams with no COVID-19 cases so far. We’re “competing” in quarantine and want to kick ass in every aspect of this challenge. One day at a time.
– Foresee anyone else opting out besides Chance? We have had discussions and will support them, but no new info as of now.
– Going into a hotel “bubble” like the Saints? The bubble is much more mental. The commitment and the discipline from our guys makes the bubble. The communication with our families and change in lifestyle has been our “bubble”. Our team leaders are super important in this to hold everyone accountable.
– On the 22nd and 26th we will play in our stadium to get as close to gameday experience as we can. Not sure how, but we’ll try to get the fans involved.
– How has PC, being in the older age group, felt being around the team? PC says he feels just like anyone else. Just he and his wife being disciplined. It’s about mental toughness, being hard on yourself. “I’m taking it as a personal challenge. If I happen get this stuff, I’m gonna kick ass on this stuff. If I don’t, it’s because I’ve been able to find the way to luck my way through it.”
– I’m so disappointed that we weren’t tough enough nationally. I hope our program shows a great example of what it takes to beat this thing.
On WRs:
– Expectations for DK? It’s been a great story. He had so much to prove in his first year. Smart, tough, consistent, applied himself. Overcame the disappointment of the plays he couldn’t make at times that are well withing his range. Spent at least a month this summer with RW. What gives him a chance to be a really exciting player is his mentality: he knows exactly who he is and what it’s all about. He’s not going to let anybody get in the way of him being all he can be. Now we know we can move him around, do a lot of different stuff. We were hesitant because he is a young player, but now we know. He’s really a bright football player. We hope to use him more than ever.
– Is there a place for Josh Gordon on your team? He fit in really well, we are very open to that thought, but it’s not in our hands.
– AB still considered now that his situation with the league has been clarified? Like we always say, JS is competing at every turn to help our club. He’s all over it, he knows what’s going on right now as much as you can. It’s a very complex situation and we need to see where it fits somewhere down the road.
Thanks Sea Mode, appreciate you putting that together.
It was quite a long one (40 min!), so glad to help for those who prefer to read over it quickly.
I’ll watch it tonight but wanted to see if he said anything important, which he didn’t. How many “Fired Up!”‘s did he use, and the word “Compete!”? Just kidding…
That sounds like a training camp and preseason drinking game, lol.
Similar to the Brock Huard ‘Essence’ drinking game.
Anybody ask Pete why they didn’t even remotely address the number 1, 2, and 3 need this offseason?
No.
But JS did bring up the other day that one of their priorities was to add speed and aggression on defense to have a better answer to NFCW offenses. So at least they took a step forward there with Taylor and Adams.
That’s all I’ve got…
Thanks, Sea Mode!
More fuel to the fire that their plan, or lack thereof was just complete utter horses*!t. This is actually bordering on embarrassing at this point.
Rob, great article and follow up comments by posters about Pete Carroll press conference.
Local radio hosts at 710 like Danny O’Neil, Brock Huard, or Mike Salk talk with frustration or criticism of Hawk moves or strategy and then when they get Carroll in an interview, they soft ball him or don’t even bring up the question, Frustrating.
As someone who admits he has spent way too much time and energy on the Jadeveon Clowney watch this offseason and was so sure they would bring in both Clowney and Griffin to bolster their pass rush for 2020, I am asking tongue and cheek about what Branden Jackson re-signing means to Clowney situation. As one poster stated on Seahawks.net, probably bringing back Jackson probably has more to offensive lineman Chance Warmack opting out than having anything to do with Clowney. Like you said, Clowney name checked Branden Jackson a few weeks ago so I can hold only hope Clowney being resigned….hahaha, Clowney demanded Jackson be resigned before he would return…..hahaha
We could look at it this way. Everything this season is all about getting Clowney to come back “…I won’t come back unless you get me some more pass rushers, look at what happened to me last year in 2019 as only one rushing passer….I only got a few sacks and my value went down.” Seahawks sign Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa….:he Jamal Adams signing is all about getting enough star power to entice Clowney back! 🙂
i feel like the Hawks have taken such a big, win-now swing with the Adams trade that they have little other choice but to cave to Clowney’s demands and offer him a long-term deal with a low year 1 cap hit.
Doesn’t make sense to go “all out” for it only halfway…
Don’t go trying to apply any kind of logic to this now…we are way past logic…just saying.
The thing is… if they did that with Clowney and it didn’t work out…
Who would criticise them?
I wouldn’t. Would anyone else?
If they line up a defense that includes Clowney, Wagner and Adams — I’ll take my chances there. And if Clowney ends up being an expensive bust, well better that than simply hoping for the best with what they have.
100%.
that’s great point 👍. I hope both parties agree on deal, it will be win-win situation. Having said that Hawks should initiate and give more money than previously offered, showing positive gesture. Showing some intend
I think that’s the corner they’ve boxed themselves into if they truly are interested in competing in 2020.
Spend the $ to fix the pass rush and deal with the consequences of cap room and no first round picks later.
That said, Clowney and say Mebane would take a huge bit of pressure off the other DL’s and could pair with Reed to make an impact. Far less pressure on the other guys.
It just feels like the Clowney ship has sailed at this point, hard to imagine him coming back now or PC/JS giving in to his demands this late in the game.
Also, why bring back B Jackson if you have a good shot at signing Clowney?
Exactly!
So last year we went into the season with 9 DL on the 53 man roster.
Right now we have:
Collier
Jackson
Green
Ford
Reed
Irvin
Mayowa
Robinson
Taylor
Thats already 9 guys. Plus based on the Seahawks carrying at least 3 DTs in the past. They will almost certainly add one more DT.
So I am pretty sure we are done adding pass rushers
Like it or not, I think the Seahawks think they have the pass rushers they need. They will add Clowney as a bonus if it works out, but I think they are fine with going in with this group. Should be interesting.
The seahawks don’t make decisions based on how many they already have on the roster when there’s an 80 man roster.
But there is no reasonable cuts among these players. They added 4 DEs and will add one more DT. Thats a lot of dudes to rush the passer. Whether they are good or not is another story lol.
Right now we have 6 rosterable DEs that you can’t really cut:
Collier
Jackson
Green
Mayowa
Taylor
Irvin
I guess with Taylor hurt they might get a replacement level player, but I think for the most part they are done at DE.
6 guys to rush the passer plus pass rushing snaps by Griffen and Adams is more than enough people for games.
I don’t think that is a very good group but I think they have enough DEs on the team already.
I forgot Robinson, so actually 7 DEs that are tough to cut.
For reference I was trying to see how many pass rushers the Seahawks typically use during a game. I picked the superbowl against the broncos cause that was when we had a big stable of pass rushers.
That game, there was only 4 total DEs used.
Clemons
Aviril
Schofield
Bennett
We have easily 6 guys that are 100% locks for the roster. I really don’t think the Seahawks feel like they have not added to DE.
Jackson is roster fill. He could be cut two seconds after they ink a Clowney or a Griffen.
Taylor, who knows his injury status at this point.
Robinson is not guaranteed a spot. In fact, stashing him on the PS might be easier with no preseason games for other teams to get tape on him.
And there are lots of other positions they can trim from if they need an extra DL.
There’s plenty of room for an addition. A necessity, I’d argue.
See my post above, I kinda addressed this.
We only use 4 DEs in a game. We have 6 roster locks. Even without Taylor we have 5 roster locks at DE. Jackson like you said is fillilng in for now.
Locks:
Collier: 1st round pick
Green: Player bunch of snaps last year
Mayowa: Obviously a lock
Aviril: Obviously a lock
Taylor: 2nd round pick, would be lock if he wasn’t injured
I think the Seahawks think they are totally fine with the numbers right now. The Taylor think hurt them a little in terms of depth so they went out and go Jackson who was on the roster for many games. 5 NFL quality DEs is plenty going into a game. The rest of the players will be fillers or on the practice squad.
Plus Griffen/Adams takes snaps away too.
You’re pidgeonholing yourself. A number of the guys you list aren’t exclusively DE.
Collier and Green can play inside, they won’t exclusively be DEs
Irvin has been told he’ll get significant snaps at SAM
Taylor and Robinson likely won’t be active every game
And where are you getting the idea that they have 5 NFL quality DEs ?? They had the worst DL in the NFL last year according to PFF, and that was WITH Clowney and Q Jeff. They lost those two and added….Benson Mayowa, Bruce Irvin and two rookies.
NFL quality meaning simply, that they are 53 man roster type of players. Does not mean they are good NFL players. There are a lot of NFL quality players that are career backups. I think you misunderstood the context in which I used it. I totally agree with you they have not done enough at all regarding the pass rush.The quality of the players is bad, but the quantity is typical of what they usually carry in a given year.
Hope that makes sense.
TLDR: We got the requisite amount of 53 man roster locks at DE, but the locks were very poor locks.
You mentioned PFF so I actually went and looked at where our current DEs rank among DEs last year.
Branden Jackson: 55.3, Rank: 96
Bruce Irvin: 62.9, Rank: 70
Benson Mayowa: 60.1 Rank: 83
Rasheem Green: 57.3 Rank: 89
LJ Collier: 48.6 Rank: 99
Taylor: 2nd round pick, uncutable
Robinson: 5th round pick with high upside, doubt they cut him
If PFF is accurate all 5 of these players are locks for a NFL roster spot.
All 5 pass rushers rank in the top 100 (although pathetically low), but the fact remains that a top 100 DE in the NFL is not cutable at all. LJ collier is the lowest, but he is still a 1st round pick they are not giving up on him.
We have right amount of DEs, they just suck.
Oh my goodness.
If they agree to terms with Clowney or Griffen, they are not going to hold off signing them because they are “full” at the DE position. Jackson is gone in a heartbeat, back to the ghost roster. Or they might even try to slip Robinson onto the PS. One way or another, they make the upgrade happen.
You mentioned PFF so I actually went and looked at where our current DEs rank among DEs last year.
Branden Jackson: 55.3, Rank: 96
Bruce Irvin: 62.9, Rank: 70
Benson Mayowa: 60.1 Rank: 83
Rasheem Green: 57.3 Rank: 89
LJ Collier: 48.6 Rank: 99
Taylor: 2nd round pick, uncutable
Robinson: 5th round pick with high upside, doubt they cut him
If PFF is accurate all 5 of these players are locks for a NFL roster spot.
The math doesnt add up here.
32 teams, with 2 DEs each would be top 64 are starter level, top 128 are replacement level, and anybody after that should never see the field.
Except, not every team runs true DE’s. I don’t knwo the exact number but I would be comfortable saying roughly half the teams run a 3-4, which uses OLB as the rush ends. TJ Watt is one such example.
So lets conservatively say 12 teams run a 3-4, which drops your DE pool to top 40 are starter level, top 80 replacement level, and anything after that should never see the field on a Defensive snap.
That gives us 4 of our “starters” as below replacement level and Irivin just barely floating above the cut.
This is all rough guess numbers, but you get the picture. Strictly speaking the numbers say the Pass rush isn’t even replacement level.
What Rashi doesn’t realise is PFF only ranked 109 qualifying defensive ends.
So it’s all well and good saying they are ‘top-100’. What this actually shows is they are all among the worst DE’s in the league.
That checks out with my rough math above. Just over 5 DEs per team using 20 teams as a base. If anything it is a low estimate.
Bottom line: our current crop of ends would be questionable to make the roster on most teams that run a 2 DE scheme. Starting? Pshhh…
Exactly.
It’s pretty funny that we’ve now reached a stage where fans are trying to defend the off-season by suggesting players ‘just’ in the top 100 at DE make for a good group… when there’s barely 100 DE’s in the league 😂
Anybody ask Pete why they didn’t even remotely address the number 1, 2, and 3 need this offseason? ~Aaron
This is the simple answer. If you ask too nosey of questions, you’ll be escorted out the door and press pass burned. I kid….. sort of….
Seattle has a pretty soft sports radio / printed press…. imagine if this was New York…. “Knives Out” doesn’t even begin to describe that experience between the press and teams. So, no hard ball / difficult questions are normally lobbed at PC.
The Seahawks brought him back because they’re trying to assemble a bunch of lackluster DE’s.
Goal achieved.
So Diggs is starter at FS, anf Blair will play nickel.
When i listen to Pete , I dont get to much into his answers on questions, because you cant read to much from that (he knoqs what he wants to.say without saying to much)…but he has moments when he speaks about something else and then guce important point of view for some things…
Just like he answered about.his CB and mentioned Ugo, and then he said he will bettle with Blair…so yeas he is planning to put Blair into nickel position…
Man what a gift it would be if Blair could successfully cover the nickel. His tackling ability would be so valuable there. Hope it works out.
To me this is just more evidence of total lack of plan. NB was a glaring weakness last year, nothing was done to address it, and now they are going to attempt to move a guy over to compete in the spot, last minute, after trading the house for a player that plays his same position. Also, planning to move a S to NB last second, with no off season, mini camp. Im just kind of dismayed and shocked. This is nothing like the team building strategy that we have seen in the past.
…to be fair they traded for dunbar which probably played into how they were addressing the nickel position. they are also still trying to figure out the clowney/griffen situation, and they’re very open to bringing in gordon/brown. i think their happy with their (short-term) o-line moves too. it may turn out to be an epic offseason… but today, still a distant fantasy.
So here’s a thing
Well, good luck to him. I’m not sure he can be considered a high-end edge talent at this point though.
Hopefully they will sign him
Nothing like signing a guy to weaken your pass rush. I think the 49ers were intimidated by the BJack signing that they needed to go make a signing of there own to counter.
A good old fashioned inter-division arms race but a bad version…
Someone tell them to sign T2 as well!!
Chiefs signed T2 last week.
Dion Jordan too.
Ok we’ve officially entered Bizarro World. The Niners are raiding the bottom of the Seahawks roster for pass rushers.
This just made me think of the baloney ‘Clowney is just waiting for a physical and he’ll sign somewhere’ arguments we endured all summer.
Yep. Was never a real issue as we discussed. It’s clear he has a value in mind for his services and until it’s matched he’s going to work to his own schedule —- which is his prerogative. I could see him sitting out.
I wonder if a silver lining for some of these guys could be if they wait into the season and see how this all plays out, and letting teams get their protocol bugs worked out. Maybe teams have all the pieces for a SB run but lose a DL or two to injury or COVID. Having some top teams to choose from, being a hero, getting an “easier” shot at a ring, and then enter 2021 FA might be attractive to some guys.
As more and more players opt out some of these guys will be in more demand. For example, Snacks and other available low cost DTs may now have multiple suitors due players opting out. Same will be true for Griffen and even Clowney as teams will have more money to spend to fill the holes.
Especially on the line. Hard to keep a 6’ distance there:
The opposing teams’ OL won’t have any problem opening 6′ holes on our DL.
Minnesota WR Rashod Bateman opts out of the season.
Ooh boy. I ain’t opening that can of worms. For what seems to be his reasoning.
Oregon S Jevon Holland’s reads as a much more mature young man that’s scared of the unknown and that’s ok.
This is Bateman’s statement per the ESPN article on it, not sure what can of worms you’re seeing here. Seems pretty reasonable?
“In light of the uncertainty around health and safety in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have to set my wishes aside for the wellness of my family, community and beyond,” he said. “Because of this, I have decided to opt out of the 2020 college football season and I will be taking the next steps in my journey by declaring for the 2021 NFL draft.”
All i know, is we better sign a DT ASAP, because with covid they are dropping like flies and other teams are now knocking on their doors. Cant be long before snacks isnt an option or we get in a bidding war we cant afford.
Let’s revisted the 2011 NFL Draft. Falcons trade 2011 1st, 2nd & 4th and rounds. 1st and 4th round picks in 2012. The Falcons took Julio Jones with the 6th overall 2011 pick from the Browns.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2690609-bleacher-report-looks-back-at-browns-falcons-draft-day-trade-6-years-later. That trade worked out GREAT for Atlanta.
Compared to what the Falcon gave up. Seattle gave up 2 1st round picks and a 3rd round pick for Jamal Adams.
What did the Seahawks trade to acquire the pick used on dk Metcalf?
I addressed why this isn’t much of a comparison in the article a few days ago.
To acquire the pick used to select Metcalf, the Seahawks sent a third-round pick (No. 77 overall) and one of their fourth-rounders (No. 118 overall) to New England.
Rob, how is it that Clowney is the number 1 topic associated with the Seahawks outside of Jamal Adams and yet no one asks a single question about Clowney at the presser? You mentioned some questions and approaches you’d take, but are reporters so scared of making Pete angry that they don’t get their stories? Notice how Joe Fann and Softy, who are the only two that ask difficult questions, get brushed to the side?
I don’t think they get brushed to the side.
I wish Softy was able to do more interviews because he probes and pushes but he works for the rival to the flagship station.
But yeah, I thought there were some topics that could’ve been brought up yesterday that weren’t.
Well, PJ Hall is available.
/sarcasm on
Sounds like a perfect addition to our under-achieving DLine. Should fit right in.
/sarcasm off
WAS available.
Woulda been open to him tho honestly.
Well, technically…
Not sure how many are going to be able open this but here goes. It is an interesting look about Jamal Adams helping the pass rush. Yeah i know, i know but the analysis is interesting. The bigger take aways are that for all of the, you have to win with 4 in Pete Carrolls defense talk, Seattle blitzed 43.49% last year (2nd in league). Yes they had to bring it because the DL was so bad, but with just as bad a DL this year, do you expect them not to try and make pressure again this year? Along with this, a move to nickel should provide better coverage in the middle zones so as to bring the safety blitz more often. Despite lesser talent Seattle did bring the SS a fair amount in the first 4 games before bowing out to ineffectiveness. Jamal Adams has a pass rush win rate of 21% leading all non DL.
https://theathletic.com/1969137/2020/08/04/teds-film-room-how-can-jamal-adams-help-the-seahawks-pass-rush/
I saw that this morning. For those that don’t have an Athletic subscription, this story is basically taken from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=PCeQFVtog7w
Worth watching and I believe it was posted in a previous article.
Biggest takeaway is when he puts the pulling guard down. Reminds me of Kam.
He’s a playmaker, no doubt! Let’s hope that Pete gives him the freedom to make plays within the play.
thanks for sharing. That so awesome, we are getting a talented player he wins more games this year. We need pass rush, I agree but no point passing such a talent. I didn’t like people stuck at compensation and never weigh what we are getting.
Seattle can’t have been the second most blitzing team in the league. Their top blitzer was Bobby Wagner with 70 blitzes. Two players in Todd Bowles’ defense blitzed 158 times alone. Baltimore had two players who blitzed 247 times. That’s two teams who are blitz heavy and have the individual blitzing stats to back it up. So I would challenge those numbers. Bowles and Williams blitz constantly. Seattle is a much more conservative defense.
Seattle’s top blitzer, Wagner, blitzed 70 times. That was 28th highest among players in the league. Mychal Kendricks blitzed 59 times (41st most) and K.J. Wright blitzed 40 times (70th most). These are not unusual numbers for a team that played a ton of base and couldn’t rush with four to save their lives.
For the purpose of the conversation I’ll assume the blitzing numbers in this article are right and the Seahawks blitzed second most in the league. It’s fairly obvious they were just rushing the LB’s to make up for the fact they were creating no pressure up front and even with that extra pressure the pass rush was horrendous. So this article doesn’t really point to a route to success. All we’re saying here is they might rush the linebackers again if the front four are inept and perhaps Jamal Adams can do a better job than Bradley McDougald rushing from safety.
That’s not a serious solution or a fix.
We can spend the next five weeks trying to convince ourselves that Seattle’s league-worst D-line can be propped up by every other position but we’ll just be kidding ourselves.
It’s as simple as this. Seattle’s D-line isn’t good enough and unless they do something about it, there’s every chance it’ll undermine everything else they are striving to achieve.
Correct There is no substitute for what Seattle needs. It is interesting the broad spectrum those outside of the Seattle harcore fans have.
Blitzing 43% of the time in 2019 seems insanely high.
FWIW, PFR has it at 26.9%, right in the middle, last year.
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2019/opp.htm#all_team_stats
That seems a lot more plausible.
43% and second most in the league felt way off.
Baltimore is at 55% and NYJ are just under 40% here as well. These seem more in line. I’m frankly surprised we were as high as 27%
Meanwhile the 9ers were 29th in blitz percentage at 20.9%, but #3 in the league in pressure percentage.
The Chargers were dead last -32nd, in blitz percentage (by far) at 13.7%, but 13th in pressure percentage.
Man. You could write a thesis on NFL defenses just by sorting those tables.
Here’s an interesting one:
Passing yards allowed:
Hawks – 4223
9ers – 2707
Rushing yards allowed:
Hawks – 1883
9er – 1802
So we gave up almost 100 more yards passing per game than the 9ers, but only 5 more rushing yards per game.
And people wonder we discuss the issues with the pass rush so much.
From that list, of the top 10 blitzing teams, only 3 of those are in the top 10 of pressure percentage.
Only 2 of the top 10 blizers are in the top 10 of least points per game allowed.
Careful what you wish for when you blitz, boyos.
Evidence that for most teams, blitzing is a necessity, not a desire.
IF you have a front 3 or 4 that is dominant, then the need to blitz 4+ guys is reduced. Ideally you want to blitz occasionally… and have more guys to play coverage at the LB and S levels. This was why the 2013/2014 Seahawks were so dominant. The front end of the defense could handle most offenses, leaving the backend to feast.
This might be a bit understated, but the 49ers defense was special.
They really should have won a SB with them. Good thing they have Jimmy G.
PFR stat is for blitz percentage per QB dropback, not percentage ‘of the time’ a team blitzes.
Does not change the fact that the Seahawks rarely blitz.
Just read the first paragraph… “However, Seattle hasn’t done much to address its pass rush, which is crucial to making Pete Carroll’s signature Cover-3 system work.”
And this is the sad reality. We have a shiny new toy, but how will this toy be valued? What stats are actually worth to give away two first rounders, a starter and a third rounder?
If he won’t blitz as often, he will see his TFL and sacks numbers go down. His tackle numbers are roughly Tylor Rapp level. Far less than Terrell Edmunds or Budda Baker.
So, the bet is largely on Jamal Adams the locker room presence. Color me sceptical.
I guess I don’t see the point of getting too flustered about the guys they tendered, or in general our end of the roster depth signings at this point in the offseason that don’t have major guarantees.
Worth considering that any decisions on street free agents are likely on hold until the end of the opt out period, as teams assess their new gaps/cap and FAs assess their options (and desire to play this season amidst COVID).
I fully get the importance of the pass rush and the huge glaring need there that remains. But keeping tabs on Jackson doesn’t mean much today one way or the other.
Jayhawk Defense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaNmQdLxGko
Hey Rob, thanks for putting out articles through the summer to give us something to distract ourselves during this pandemic, it doesn’t go unappreciated. With that being said, what can we realistically expect out of our rookies on the DLine this year? I feel like Taylor and Robinson will help the depth but not enough to be a formidable front, at least during this year. I’m excited to see what they can do when they inevitably get thrown out to the wolves. Is there any chance they can have a bigger impact than we reasonably expect at this point? I’m also excited to see what brooks and Jamal Adams bring to the defense. It seems to me like they are building for the next couple years rather than having Adams put them over the edge this year, as that’s the only thing in my mind that makes sense.
My expectations are very low for Taylor and Robinson this year, especially with Taylor now on NFI and seemingly still recovering from the injury he had last season.
It will be a sad thing if they traded up for Taylor and his injury makes him 2020’s L.j Collier
I was having a debate with a buddy last night on the Hawks seeming reluctance to spend their remaining cap space, specifically on a much needed DT…but also maybe a DE like Griffin. The debate sort of morphed into one of do the Hawks need to go all in now, or plan for the next 2-3 years as their window.
The thinking is this: There are more than a few contracts that are up after this year. The (projected) salary cap stagnation is going to significantly put a damper on the ability to keep pace with ballooning positional prices. The addition of Adams and the absolute need to pay him after giving up so much, further complicates the matter. Carson is a big question mark after this year and how much he will cost. If he stays healthy and produces, his price goes up. If he has issues again, Hawks could conceivably get him on a rather cheap deal. KJ, Brown, and some other important vets are also question marks of retirement/cut/injury risk/etc.
So the question I ask is should the Hawks drop trouser and go all in right now. Sign a DT, Flash (if reinstated) AND Brown knowing he will be available for the home stretch and playoffs, at the risk of having to carry some dead money in the next couple seasons in order to do so?
Or,..
Should they plan for the next 2-3 years to be the true window and not push to sign some of these guys right now?
Or…
Is there a middle ground?
Well for me, if you’re making the decision to trade away your next two first round picks for a safety — you’re in the market to win now at all costs.
That was my argument as well. Blow the cash you have on hand and go all out this year. If we go into the season with cap space to spare its already lost imo.
Personally I think some of the concerns about the 2021 cap being severely lowered are a bit overblown. The cap affects all teams and free agency.
So how are the Hawks doing in comparison to other teams? The Seahawks currently are #11 on the list of teams with the most cap room for 2021, with 48 contracted players. How about 2022? #8. RW, Wagner and Jamal Adams are signed through 2022 (although I’d argue they need to sign Adams to an extension ASAP)
Wouldn’t shock me to see that if the cap is much lower in 2021 to see a lot of players try for a 1 year and reset deal, or try to go for a bigger bonus on a longer deal so teams could minimize the 2021 cap hit. In both those scenarios the Hawks are in good shape.
My concerns though about what the Hawks would do are twofold
1-given the way they used resources last year and this year, do they really have a grip on the strengths and weaknesses of this roster? So would they use future cap space wisely or just overspend for veterans whose best years are behind them again?
2-what are they going to do with the 2019 draft class? Collier, Barton and Blair should be pushing for starting playing time in 2020 and/or be locks to start in 2021, but for sure aren’t on that path at the moment. And what about the 2020 class? With their next 2 first round picks used up, their cheap young talent HAS to step up and play major roles. If not, that 2021 and 2022 cap room is going to evaporate in a hurry when they have to fill those guys’ spots because they haven’t stepped up.
I would be interested in a list of possible cap casualties at the defensive end or tackle position. Any ideas about possibilities there?
I started this, but don’t have time to finish or comb through to see why some of these may or may not make sense. I’d go to overthecap, check the teams that don’t have any space and then look for guys with no dead money and decent cap savings.
From teams that are tight against the cap:
William Gholston – DT, Tampa Bay (29) $4.75M cap saving, no dead cap
Samson Ebukam – EDGE, LAR (25) $2.13M savings, $151k dead cap – unlikely as he’s pretty good/young
Daniel McCullers – DT, PIT
Wondering if the is any chance we can afford to trade for Ngakoue?
Also Sheldon Rankins may be an affordable option at DT given the Saints won’t have cap room to resign him next year?
Whilst not an ideal offseason, I’m starting to get very excited in terms of what we are putting together on defense as a work in progress.
No chance for Yannick. Can’t afford his salary this year. Jacksonville would have to be willing to pay about $10m of it.
The reason I’m not excited is because they’ve had months to fix their biggest off-season issue and while many are hoping or expecting they will still solve that problem, I’m not convinced they will.
I’m sure they know it’s not fixed as well.
It’s incredibly frustrating but they must have a plan which I believe is to fix the DL last.
Cool related article on Ngakoue in SI. States both ESPN and PFF have done stats which indicates success of defense is predicated more on coverage than on pass rush. Also points out that depth rather than stars is very important in terms of pass rush. Whilst Aaron Donald was the best defender, his defense ranked 20th best in terms of points allowed.
Nevertheless you still need pash rush and I think we are a year or two away and now throwing bodies at it to see what sticks and find depth and a quality rotation . When a lot of these 1 year deals end next year, I believe they will be in the market for pass rush (again).
Not saying I agree with it but it is what they did the last time in terms of building from the back and then signing Avril & Bennett to round things out. I can see them signing veterans and not wishing to pay for 1 premier pass rusher – maybe Kerrigan or Miller wants a shot at a super bowl.
Hopefully lightening strikes twice.
Article link
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.si.com/.amp-jaguars/nfl/jaguars/news/based-on-production-what-do-the-numbers-say-about-yannick-ngakoues-value
You don’t leave your self-stated priorities to August.
As discussed a few times already, I don’t think they anticipated the Clowney situation and that in turn created a massive problem from which they’ve never really recovered.
They might still be able to do something to help a bit… but the pass rush isn’t getting fixed. Not properly. Benson Mayowa and Bruce Irvin isn’t the difference between a good and terrible pad rush. Those two additions wouldn’t have been enough even if they’d kept Clowney. They needed to add and build. They didn’t.
It’s perfectly acceptable for people to stay optimistic and hopeful but I don’t think we need to try and talk ourselves into thinking this was their plan all along.
But they’ve failed in this situation and while it’s perfectly plausible for people to stay optimistic and hopeful — I don’t think we need to try and talk ourselves into thinking this was their plan all along.”
I think that’s super fair. It’s really too bad (obviously) that Clowney hasn’t resolved this off-season.
Because if you think about it – they took a look at a subpar 2019 defense, and added quite a few new parts, taken in whole they’ve added:
Adams
Brooks
Dunbar
Irvin
Mayowa
Taylor
That’s a turnover of nearly half the defense (and I know the Dunbar situation – I dont blame the Hawks for his dumb actions) – so they did at least notice what we all did from last year.
The lack of a more impactful plan B on the Clowney front continues to hurt though.
I guess what gives me a little hope is that they do sign/trade for some people late in the offseason. Clowney last year obviously, but also Tony McDaniel on the second go around. They also traded for Sheldon Richardson and Justin Coleman in late August/early September. Still some time to get more help.
If their pass rush is a year or 2 a way, it makes the trade for Adams even worse. He’s what you add when you’re mostly set everywhere else. Sadly at the moment we are not close on the D-Line
If you are the sort of person who trusts in Pete, then you really should give him a chance to improve the defensive line with the two defensive ends he just picked. The lines performance may be better than we project.
And for all the whining regarding Clowney – the terrible stats on the defensive line last year occurred while he was playing for the Seahawks. In other words, it would take more than one person to improve this line. Some of these defensive draft picks have to prove out and become starters. Whether from this year or last years #1 defensive line pick.
“Whining” ?
How do you not understand that Clowney was the best part of last year’s DL and not having him or anything close to a replacement of him means the Hawks are worse off, full stop, period?
I agree that he was the best defensive lineman last year, but that still isn’t enough. They need to develop other players. One man is not enough.
“One man is not enough”
So let’s get rid of him and replace him with a backup and then have the backup be the one man instead.
But yeah… don’t question this if you like Pete…
These are two of the worst arguments unfortunately Alaska that I’ve seen this off-season.
Firstly, I don’t have to express blind faith in order to have trust in Pete Carroll. I like Carroll and respect everything he has done in Seattle. Any regular visitor to this blog won’t need me to say that. However, it’s also perfectly fair to challenge or criticise the decision making this off-season. If I think they’ve done a crap job addressing their self-confessed priority — then I’m going to say so and explain why, in detail. And I have done.
Secondly — the Clowney point is so easily countered I’m shocked it still comes up. Here are the pressure percentage marks for 2019:
Robert Quinn — 33%
T.J. Watt — 28%
DeMarcus Lawrence — 27%
Myles Garrett — 26%
Jadeveon Clowney — 25%
Joey Bosa — 25%
Aaron Donald — 25%
Shaquil Barrett — 25%
Dante Fowler — 23%
Za’Darius Smith — 23%
Preston Smith — 23%
He was also among the league leaders in hurries and pressure. You know what other statistic he led the league in? Double teams. He had absolutely no help on an embarrassingly bad defensive line last year. The ‘terrible’ stats on the defensive line last could’ve been historically bad if it wasn’t for Clowney. He was a one man band. Rather than suggest he was part of the problem, maybe you should recognise the situation he was placed in and consider how well he might’ve played on a line with actual NFL players.
I like Clowney too, I don’t dispute any of what you have said. He would be a great addition to the team – but he isn’t on the team. So how long will this go on? Are we still going to be talking about Clowney at mid-season? During the playoffs? Next year? Is there some expiration date on this?
Really this whole defensive line fiasco started years ago. I didn’t see so much questioning back then.
I just noticed comments about Taylor being injured – so there is another issue.
And I’ll stand by my comment that they need 2 good defensive linemen to make the line great. Clowney helps but it isn’t enough. Your comment about double teams is especially pertinent to that argument. Maybe they can develop that second guy from what they got. They need to do something.
What are you even arguing though?
You’re accusing people of ‘whining’ for wanting Clowney. Then you’re saying they need more than just Clowney.
You haven’t been paying attention then.
This is where Ziggy is at.
The Niners looked at Ziggy. They looked at Dion.
They chose Dion.
Ziggy Ansah… Luke Joeckel… Eddie Lacy…
‘The three amigos’
Don’t even remind me how much cap space we spent on the three combined…
“Can I have your watch when you are dead…?”
I think the Hawks will still do something on the line with what money they do have left, but I also think it won’t be until after the opt out day for players. Philly got hosed on their DT pickup after he opted out.
This seems like a fair point. But we’ve been saying for months they’ll do something and they haven’t. So I’ve given up pinning a date to the likelihood of some action.
Pro Tip for all future articles Rob
Pre-type your title:
“Why have the Seahawks ________?”
And then just fill in the latest move.
That’s gonna save you all kinds of time!
Interesting restructure of Stefon Diggs deal. Wonder if more teams will use excess cap this year to pay current players in order to reduce the cap burden in the future given the uncertainty on the total cap.
I think that was more a case of convincing Diggs not to opt out.
What’s everyone’s opinion of us picking up D.J. Reed off of waivers from San Fran? He is supposed to miss the majority of the 2020 season because of a torn pec injury, so the 49ers let him go.
Probably just going to stash him for the future on IR. Have a look next year.
Exactly! Torn pec and won’t be ready until November. IR for sure with future depth consideration.
That was my thought too, but wondered about the cost and why they did this? Makes me think Reed was a John S. target and the 9ers got him first. Just curious about it since he is another DB for us.
It’s revenge for them going after our scraps (Ansah/Jordan).
Seriously though, I threw out the idea of moving Blair to DB, considering Dunbar’s situation. After Thorpe, our DB’s are non-existent. I’m not sure if any have played a single snap.
The depth at cornerback is staggeringly poor.
Clearly the lack of D-line improvement is the big issue in Seattle.
But there’s also the lack of cornerbacks (and possible loss of Dunbar now) and the fact they decided to change-up the O-line with rookies and backups in the exact year they would have no time to build any chemistry.
And then there’s all the stuff on how they spent their money etc.
It all adds up and is why the off-season has been critiqued so much.
The trade for Dunbar would have really helped. If he won the starting job, great… Flowers is the backup or big nickel and thorpe is 4th string. Losing him has forced the play of Flowers, which is fine in itself. It does take away a lot of flexibility in terms of nickel and dime and essentially eliminates our depth.
I am surprised, and we’ve touched on this plenty, that we have invested so little at CB in the draft. We struck gold with a 5th rounder (Sherman), a CFL player (Browner) and a 7th rounder (Maxwell) early on. Since then, we’ve really only drafted Shaq at CB. I think he’s the only corner we’ve drafted in five years.
Maybe this move (DJ Reed) is so that they can make it six? Seems that they clearly don’t want to use draft capital at CB. I could be wrong, but I think Shaq is the only corner we’ve ever taken who wasn’t a day 3 pick or UDFA.
Once again Hawks surprise by not signing a DT and signing another safety
Kind of surprised they didn’t sign another TE
Still no Clowney or Griffin…….
Springs: Reed is a low risk signing. He might not even play(2020). But when healthy Reed can play multiple positions.
Question for Rob: What percentage do you think we will actually have a Super Bowl game. I personally think their is a good chance we will actually have a Super Bowl Champion.
Also in Baseball one team (Florida Marlins) had a spike in positive tests. This was way out of the norm compared to the rest of the league. What would happen if one team has a spike of lets say 20+ positives. But it is not pervasive through out the league. Maybe it happens to one team(after the teams have played their byes Would the game be forfeited or the team have to play shorthanded?
I don’t know. It could be forfeited I guess. The key is to do what the Premier League did and avoid such a thing happening which is very possible if players abide by the strict protocols.
Thanks Rob.
Can someone help me with this? I just don’t get to his signing.
(assuming you mean Reed)
Cheap low risk deal if he can actually get cleared to play this year that IF he does play…instantly solves multiple positional depth problems and likely challenges for starter reps at all.
Tom Pelissero
@TomPelissero
Several roster changes we’ve discussed are now official for 2020:
– 16-man practice squad (up to 6 with no limit on accrued seasons)
– Protect up to 4 P-squad members each Tuesday
– Starting 4 p.m. ET Sept. 6, unlimited players can return from injured reserve, after 3 weeks
This tweet highlights an overlooked part of roster mgmt this season, possibly next year too. Hope the unlimited IR return is here to stay.
Jackson on the PS with no guaranteed $, is a solid signing. Move the needle? Nah.
Reed an IR stash, who could come back for a stretch run. Theres no downside to picking DJ up, even if he doesnt see the field til 2021.
Unlimited IR is a welcome change. Reed may be back by November. Could pay off.
CBS Sports just posted something about the Seahawks having interest in both Clay Matthews and Everson Griffen. It appears the pursuit of Clowney is a done deal.
That shouldn’t come as a surprise.
The Seahawks should have heavy interest in anyone who has ever come within 3 feet of the QB after starting on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage. A career sack would be a bonus at this point.
I’ll be more enthused when they get the deals done. Not holding my breath.
I have a slightly different take on the reports. New article posted now.
https://nfltraderumors.co/seahawks-have-interest-in-de-everson-griffen-lb-clay-matthews/