A few random thoughts on Seattle's player personnel

[Sarlacc83]

And remember, if you are not one of the top 10-12 players on the team, you are at risk. I don't count Giacomini anywhere near that group.

Giacomini is also (relatively) cheap and he's the proper amount of nasty. I like Bowie, but as a LG, not RT. Besides, if Giacomini was a top 10 player on our team, he'd have been switched to left tackle.

 

[aawolf]

What about Bennet and Avril? These two can play all over the D-line and I think keeping them allows us to cut Clemmons more easily.

Also, if your in favor of cutting McQuistrian. who do we have as a back-up Tackle? Are we just going with Bowie? Shouldn't we look for a Tackle in the Draft?

 

[Slick]

Unger's brain and penchant for making calls on the line will keep him at center. Like Kam 1 year ago, I believe they are hiding the fact (for strategic reasons) that he's quite hurt but playing through it.

JP has been a great backup and may earn a contract starting elsewhere. Good for him.

 

[gabel]

I think Schofield is actually a better all-around player right now than Clemons is at this point in their careers.

Do not agree. I just re-watched the game going over most plays twice. Clemons was a beast. I think he makes to much money given his age and high probability of injury and most likely will not be with us next year. But Schofield is not in his league and can be had a relatively low price.

 

[McGruff]

And remember, if you are not one of the top 10-12 players on the team, you are at risk. I don't count Giacomini anywhere near that group.

Giacomini is also (relatively) cheap and he's the proper amount of nasty. I like Bowie, but as a LG, not RT. Besides, if Giacomini was a top 10 player on our team, he'd have been switched to left tackle.

Breno had a cap hit of almost $5 million this year. No reason to expect he'll sign for much less than that. He's not cheap, and he's not so good he can't be replaced for a quarter the cost.

 

[McGruff]

And remember, if you are not one of the top 10-12 players on the team, you are at risk. I don't count Giacomini anywhere near that group.

Giacomini is also (relatively) cheap and he's the proper amount of nasty. I like Bowie, but as a LG, not RT. Besides, if Giacomini was a top 10 player on our team, he'd have been switched to left tackle.

Bailey is the new Pork Chop . . . he can play 4 positions. Bowie can too. McQuistan is an old free agent who has become a role player at best. He's gone.

 

[Sarlacc83]

And remember, if you are not one of the top 10-12 players on the team, you are at risk. I don't count Giacomini anywhere near that group.

Giacomini is also (relatively) cheap and he's the proper amount of nasty. I like Bowie, but as a LG, not RT. Besides, if Giacomini was a top 10 player on our team, he'd have been switched to left tackle.

Breno had a cap hit of almost $5 million this year. No reason to expect he'll sign for much less than that. He's not cheap, and he's not so good he can't be replaced for a quarter the cost.

Go to this page and look at his value relative to other RTs: http://overthecap.com/top-player-salari ... osition=RT 12th for his position, and the people below him are far worse, but I'm not going to belabor the point because for some reason people think RTs should be good as LTs.

 

[McGruff]

And remember, if you are not one of the top 10-12 players on the team, you are at risk. I don't count Giacomini anywhere near that group.

Giacomini is also (relatively) cheap and he's the proper amount of nasty. I like Bowie, but as a LG, not RT. Besides, if Giacomini was a top 10 player on our team, he'd have been switched to left tackle.

Breno had a cap hit of almost $5 million this year. No reason to expect he'll sign for much less than that. He's not cheap, and he's not so good he can't be replaced for a quarter the cost.

Go to this page and look at his value relative to other RTs: http://overthecap.com/top-player-salari ... osition=RT 12th for his position, and the people below him are far worse, but I'm not going to belabor the point because for some reason people think RTs should be good as LTs.

Doesn't matter where he is relative to other team's RT's . . . it matters where he relative to our roster. That's the way JS and PC do it. They grade our roster, and is Breno better enough than Bailey/Bowie/rookie to warrant a $5 million contract?

I don't think so. We are at a point where we are going to have to pinch pennies and churn the middle of the roster in order to keep the top. Guys like Breno and McQuistan are going to get caught in the blender because younger guys are comparable in skill and cheaper.

 

[Hawks46]

-Agreed on Rice. The only question I would have is, how effective will he come back after an ACL on top of preexisting knee conditions ? One of his knees is already arthritic. I would like to see him back, but he would have to be at a vet minimum, which won't happen. We also might need the roster spot to develop a younger, big bodied WR from the draft.

-Sweezy. Argh. I honestly don't see what you guys did at the point of attack. He consistently gets blown off the ball and his pass pro is average. I wouldn't call him a lock for a starting position at all and I would let him compete with someone.

-Agree with Giacommini. He deserves another contract; he's mean and physical but has cut down on his penalties. Competition with Bailey would be good.

-Bailey and Bowie. It's going to be interesting on how well they develop, and also what that means for our draft. It really sheds light on how difficult player development and drafting really are. Personally, I think interior OL is the weakest position on our entire team....so do Bailey and Bowie upgrade that with their potential, or are they at their ceiling and do we need to draft OL ? My personal opinion is that we're not going to see too many draft picks make the squad on the defensive side, so go heavy on offense for the inevitable departure of some of our defensive stars. OL depth is also not a bad thing.

-Irvin. Halfway through the year, I thought Irvin would be our best LBer next year. He has all the tools to be so dynamic. Splitting time with Smith never really benefitted either player, but the way Smith has stepped up in the playoffs, I think it's his job to lose. Which means what to do with Irvin ? Safety would be very intriguing; he played it in HS and JCO. I still think he'll get better at LB if they keep him there. It's going to come down to whether or not we can afford KJ Wright. If we lose Wright, I think we can slide Irvin over.

TE. I don't know what Miller's contract status is. I've heard he has a very minimal hit next year, but most on this site feel he has a monster contract next year that causes him to get cut. It's going to be hard to replace his blocking but Willson came on at the end of the year very well in that regard. I also noticed that all those TE leak routes to the flat were ran by Willson late in the year. He has the speed to get the edge where Miller doesn't. It's an almost guaranteed 7 extra yards when he's open.

Okung and Unger. I really hope it's just injury with these guys. Okung is worrying me as all his lower extremity injuries seem to be mounting up; he's just had a really difficult time staying healthy. When he is healthy, he's borderline elite but he was slowed by that toe injury ever since he came back and had an all time high amount of holding calls as he wasn't fast enough to slide with DE's. Kearly already stated what's up with Unger's performance and I hope it's just injury. Center is a position that if you find the right guy, it can produce right out of the draft.

Our roster is still very strong and deep. I think interior OL and WR are really our only weak points.

 

[Natethegreat]

I disagree about Rice. As much as I think this team needs a tall rangy receiver I don't think Rice is it, even at a much reduced rate. He is constantly injured and with Harvin's frequent injuries I don't want a situation were our two "supposed" top receivers are out most of the season again. Not only that but he just isn't a very effective when he is out there anyway (and no I don't buy the argument he makes any difference by just being out there).
Time to move on from Rice and pick up a big receiver in a draft that is loaded with receiver talent.

 

[Hawkscanner]

*Sigh* Bruce Irvin is a bit of an enigma for me right now. I mean, can you honestly as you sit here today think of any spectacular play that he made anywhere during the regular season or postseason? I can't. But at the same time, I don't know that I can really point to him as being a glaring weak link in either our run or pass coverage either. To my eye, he's been solid at best at LB -- neither a liability nor really what you'd call an asset either. Carroll brought this guy in because he could do 1 thing and do it well -- rush the passer. And that's not a bad thing nor makes him a bust by any means. If it were me, that's what I'd get back to with Irvin -- have him rush the passer and move someone else in to that WLB Position.

I know Irvin made several big plays this year. @Stl he was a monster. He had the INT on great coverage. He had that incredible FF where he chased Clemons field and stripped the ball before he could throw it. He also had a sack and 9 tackles. To me that showed what his potential is. After that game though he really dropped off the rest of the season.

Here is his line from that game. 9 tackles (8 solo) 1 sack 1 FF 1 INT. The rest of the season though 31 tackles 1 sack.

Ahhh ... I stand corrected (a bit) on that one. I'd written those comments off the top of my head, so do remember him in that Rams game now. Outside of that game though, he really didn't shine this year (when compared to the rest of Seattle's LB's that is). I mean, he did have 6 tackles in that 17-19 Loss in San Francisco, but it really didn't feel to me like he was a guy who truly made his presence known this year -- in the same way that K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner did that is. I agree with Kip here in saying that I think Irvin would be better served doing what he does best -- Rushing the Passer on Passing Downs -- and either letting Malcolm Smith start in his place and/or bring in another LB who is extremely good at stopping the run and letting those two (Smith and LB to be determined later) split time. That's all I'm saying.

 

[VancitySeahawk]

In my opinion..

Cut/Release the following:
Rice (paid like a number one, is injury prone and has chronic knee issues).
Clemons (sad to see him go, but we need to give Bennett his money)
Heath Ferrell (Sad to see him go, but he saves us 1.5 mil in cap space. Maybe he can restructure?)
Miller (great guy and player but we just don’t use the TE enough in our pass game to justify his cost).
Bryant (sad to see him go but hes a cap casualty. If we kept him, we would have a lot of money tied up to the DL with Mebane, Bennett and Avril).


This will save us close to 23.5 million next year.

 

[Ozzy]

I'm in the minority with Rice but I agree. Would love to bring him back if the price is right. At his current cost I would say no way. But he brings an element that no one else does and I think Harvin, Rice, Baldwin etc. would be a great group to have.

I agree with almost everything else. Unger is a tough one for me. Not sure if it was injuries or if he's just regressed. I trust the staff to figure it out though.

 

[morgulon1]

This last Sunday we won the Superb Owl.

 

[Hasselbeck]

I'm sorry, I think Rice is on the downslope of his career now.. he already had knee problems and now he has an ACL tear to recover from. It's unfortunate because he could have been a brilliant WR if injuries didn't derail a lot of his career.

Not to mention it would almost be a crime to NOT draft a WR this year. The WR class is incredible this year.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

This roster relies very heavily on rotation, both on the interior O-line and the defensive front seven. Projecting the roster depends on figuring out whether the rotation is an active desire of Pete's (would fit in with the competition mantra) or whether he just hasn't found "his guy" yet.

 

[HunnyBadger]

I like Bruce, but one thing I notice about him is he seems to shy away from tackling. He seems better in coverage than he does stopping the run.

 

[Hawks46]

*Sigh* Bruce Irvin is a bit of an enigma for me right now. I mean, can you honestly as you sit here today think of any spectacular play that he made anywhere during the regular season or postseason? I can't. But at the same time, I don't know that I can really point to him as being a glaring weak link in either our run or pass coverage either. To my eye, he's been solid at best at LB -- neither a liability nor really what you'd call an asset either. Carroll brought this guy in because he could do 1 thing and do it well -- rush the passer. And that's not a bad thing nor makes him a bust by any means. If it were me, that's what I'd get back to with Irvin -- have him rush the passer and move someone else in to that WLB Position.

I know Irvin made several big plays this year. @Stl he was a monster. He had the INT on great coverage. He had that incredible FF where he chased Clemons field and stripped the ball before he could throw it. He also had a sack and 9 tackles. To me that showed what his potential is. After that game though he really dropped off the rest of the season.

Here is his line from that game. 9 tackles (8 solo) 1 sack 1 FF 1 INT. The rest of the season though 31 tackles 1 sack.

Ahhh ... I stand corrected (a bit) on that one. I'd written those comments off the top of my head, so do remember him in that Rams game now. Outside of that game though, he really didn't shine this year (when compared to the rest of Seattle's LB's that is). I mean, he did have 6 tackles in that 17-19 Loss in San Francisco, but it really didn't feel to me like he was a guy who truly made his presence known this year -- in the same way that K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner did that is. I agree with Kip here in saying that I think Irvin would be better served doing what he does best -- Rushing the Passer on Passing Downs -- and either letting Malcolm Smith start in his place and/or bring in another LB who is extremely good at stopping the run and letting those two (Smith and LB to be determined later) split time. That's all I'm saying.

This is common with players who are learning a position. You're thinking about being in the right spot at the right time and being assignment correct, so it slows you down a bit. Irvin plays very fast, and most players comment that they feel the game slows down for them in the 2nd year. Irvin will likely play faster and more explosive next year, but Smith has played so well, how do you bench him now?

Imagine this: Smith runs a 4.4 forty. So does Irvin, but Irvin is a few inches taller and weighs about 255 lbs comapred to 226 from Smith. That's a heat seeking missile...it's dynamic plays waiting to happen.

As for Montana's post: I think you're right on both accounts. I think they like to rotate DL so they can stay fresh, they were rotating the OL because they hadn't found the guy yet and were wanting to see what the younger guys could do (also read: Carpenter and McQuistan aren't cutting it).

 

[Blitzer88]

Good stuff again Kearly.

 

[Hawkscanner]

*Sigh* Bruce Irvin is a bit of an enigma for me right now. I mean, can you honestly as you sit here today think of any spectacular play that he made anywhere during the regular season or postseason? I can't. But at the same time, I don't know that I can really point to him as being a glaring weak link in either our run or pass coverage either. To my eye, he's been solid at best at LB -- neither a liability nor really what you'd call an asset either. Carroll brought this guy in because he could do 1 thing and do it well -- rush the passer. And that's not a bad thing nor makes him a bust by any means. If it were me, that's what I'd get back to with Irvin -- have him rush the passer and move someone else in to that WLB Position.

I know Irvin made several big plays this year. @Stl he was a monster. He had the INT on great coverage. He had that incredible FF where he chased Clemons field and stripped the ball before he could throw it. He also had a sack and 9 tackles. To me that showed what his potential is. After that game though he really dropped off the rest of the season.

Here is his line from that game. 9 tackles (8 solo) 1 sack 1 FF 1 INT. The rest of the season though 31 tackles 1 sack.

Ahhh ... I stand corrected (a bit) on that one. I'd written those comments off the top of my head, so do remember him in that Rams game now. Outside of that game though, he really didn't shine this year (when compared to the rest of Seattle's LB's that is). I mean, he did have 6 tackles in that 17-19 Loss in San Francisco, but it really didn't feel to me like he was a guy who truly made his presence known this year -- in the same way that K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner did that is. I agree with Kip here in saying that I think Irvin would be better served doing what he does best -- Rushing the Passer on Passing Downs -- and either letting Malcolm Smith start in his place and/or bring in another LB who is extremely good at stopping the run and letting those two (Smith and LB to be determined later) split time. That's all I'm saying.

This is common with players who are learning a position. You're thinking about being in the right spot at the right time and being assignment correct, so it slows you down a bit. Irvin plays very fast, and most players comment that they feel the game slows down for them in the 2nd year. Irvin will likely play faster and more explosive next year, but Smith has played so well, how do you bench him now?

Imagine this: Smith runs a 4.4 forty. So does Irvin, but Irvin is a few inches taller and weighs about 255 lbs comapred to 226 from Smith. That's a heat seeking missile...it's dynamic plays waiting to happen.

As for Montana's post: I think you're right on both accounts. I think they like to rotate DL so they can stay fresh, they were rotating the OL because they hadn't found the guy yet and were wanting to see what the younger guys could do (also read: Carpenter and McQuistan aren't cutting it).

No, you're absolutely right in what you're saying. I get that. It's just if I'm Schneider at this point in time ... I'm not putting all my eggs in that basket. I'm thinking ahead here and am looking at bringing in another LB somewhere in the draft (maybe in that 5th to 6th Round range). If Irvin ends up beating out that LB in training camp -- great. If not, then at least we've got more options to go with.