So, my question is,......Moeaki or Willson??

[kearly]

Luke Willson is an awful football player. I dare anybody to watch every offensive play of the Super Bowl and concentrate solely on him and tell me that guys deserves to be on an NFL roster. I have never seen a professional athlete look so lost. He completely whiffed several blocks, was ineffective on the rest, and gave up after 1.5 seconds and started watching the play. Seriously, watch replays. Every running play, you will see 82 standing around the pile watching because he had just missed his block and decided to watch the play instead.

McCoy is the correct answer.

McCoy also can't block and also struggles with drops. I think he and Willson are kind of similar in that they are both deeply flawed TEs who compensate with a specific skill. For Willson, that skill is his ability run and avoid tackles after the catch. For McCoy, that skill is catching while being contested.

I think both are Ricardo Lockette caliber. Good at one thing, bad at everything else. As the 44th member of the roster, that's just fine. But forcing these guys into starting roles is a mistake.

Without Miller and Moeaki I thought Seattle had one of the worst TE groups in the NFL, until the Graham trade happened. I love the Graham trade because it was such a monumental upgrade to the position group and gave Wilson a #1 and a security blanket, but man did it do a lot of damage to Willson and McCoy's value. I don't think we're going to see a lot of passes to non-Graham tight ends next year, and Willson and McCoy aren't here for their blocking.

I would really like to see Miller brought back on the cheap, and to have Seattle draft a Miller type as well. We don't have a good blocking TE on the roster right now, unless you count Gilliam.

 

[Scottemojo]

Yeah, let's get rid if the 6'5" TE that runs the 40 In 4.54 seconds and stays healthy. :sarcasm_on:

Remind me again how big an impact he had in the SB. I'll wait.

So he should be cut?

He should face better competition for his roster spot than Helfelt and McCoy.

 

[kearly]

It will be interesting to see what Seattle does at TE the next couple months. When Seattle signed Miller, they still had John Carlson. Pete insisted that the team had no intensions of letting Carlson go, that they planned on a two TE offense.

Carlson was injured and IR'd like a week after Pete made those comments. And let go the very next offseason without a fight.

Part of what made Carlson so expendable was that Anthony McCoy started 9 games that season Carlson was IR'd and looked interesting. And also because the team realized that a Pete Carroll offense just wouldn't have enough targets for Zach Miller and someone else.

Well, the best pure pass catching TE in the NFL is on the Seahawks now. If a play can be a pass and it has 1 TE, that TE is going to be Graham. If a play has two TEs and is a pass, Graham will be read #1, and Willson will be read #5. Graham could very well end up with 70 catches next season while Willson manages 10 or 15. Whatever the difference is between Willson and McCoy / Helfet is, that amount is going to be so small due to the lack of targets.

Given that Willson looked so dangerous in that nationally televised AZ beatdown, and because he runs so fast while being tough to tackle, and because everyone in the NFL assumes Pete knows something they don't, I would bet that Willson has a fair amount of trade value right now. It wouldn't shock me at all if Seattle shops Willson in the preseason, since the dropoff to McCoy is pretty small. And who knows maybe neither McCoy or Willson will be our 2nd best TE by that point.

Or they could just as well sign Willson to an extension after 2015. It can be hard to figure these guys sometimes.

 

[Grahamhawker]

Interesting thread.

Since I'm pretty old school, I naturally think it should be easy to draft a blocking type TE in the later rounds any year. But is it?

With the college game going more spread, are blocking tight ends largely becoming a thing of the past? Maybe Gilliam needs more reps?

 

[Basis4day]

Interesting thread.

Since I'm pretty old school, I naturally think it should be easy to draft a blocking type TE in the later rounds any year. But is it?

With the college game going more spread, are blocking tight ends largely becoming a thing of the past? Maybe Gilliam needs more reps?

You can get them, but being Hawks specific, do we have room on the roster for more.

 

[Chawks1]

Yeah, let's get rid if the 6'5" TE that runs the 40 In 4.54 seconds and stays healthy. :sarcasm_on:

Remind me again how big an impact he had in the SB. I'll wait.

Good point. Willson certainly couldn't match Moeaki's impact in the game. Maybe they should go get a big TE that can tilt the field?

 

[chris98251]

Yeah, let's get rid if the 6'5" TE that runs the 40 In 4.54 seconds and stays healthy. :sarcasm_on:

Remind me again how big an impact he had in the SB. I'll wait.

Good point. Willson certainly couldn't match Moeaki's impact in the game. Maybe they should go get a big TE that can tilt the field?

Jeremy Stevens is available

Actually I hope they try to use him for what he does well and build on it and not try to make him into something else as far as Graham goes.

 

[Hawknballs]

Really like Willson.

lets not forget he was a backup TE coming out of college after SF I think took the starter in front of him. He's made some nice plays and also some stinkers. I wouldn't give up yet. I like his toughness. he gets beat up a bit but seems to recover quickly. That is important at a position where we constantly seem to be injured. He seems like a good person too. Very average joe.

 

[Hawksfanatik]

With JG here, Moeaki won't be back.

 

[Hawks46]

Willson is faster. 4.51 vs 4.56 40 times. Jimmy has way better body control and agility.

Willson is as fast as a lot of WRs at his size. He's an athletic freak, so he has the most upside.

I think Moeaki is a more polished TE, but I see him getting dinged up too much, and I'm sure the coaching staff sees it too. Willson does get hurt, but he also comes back from high ankle sprains in 2 weeks.

I don't even know that McCoy can beat them both out, so I see the more pertinent question as : Moeaki or Helfet ?