Indeed.

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I am a firm believer in luck, and I found that the harder I work the more I have of it.

Baldwin does everything he is asked!!! How many threads have popped up about "butter fingers Baldwin"? None. Keep him!

Funnily enough that's exactly what I think of your idea to trade Baldwin for a draft pick.
And not exactly a 1st or 2nd rounder, but a 4th rounder aka the first "backup" round, where you hope the players you draft make the team as backups, and if they make it as a starter you've "hit".
And whilst before I listed all WRs that have been taken in the past 5 years, I thought I'd use the last 3 years for this one since they're Pete Carroll and John Schneider selections.

Walter Thurmond
EJ Wilson
Kris Durham
KJ Wright
Robert Turbin
Jaye Howard

Those are the 6 picks they've made in the 4th round.
1 starter. 1 perennially injured cornerback. 2 backups. 2 players no longer with the team.

That's the success rate of arguably the best drafting FO over the last 3 years in the 4th round. And you want to give up a proven commodity to roll the dice and hope we get a KJ Wright again?

Did you forget the success we have had in the 5th and even 7th rounds? We would not have Kam, Sweezy, or Sherman to name a few.

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The artist formerly known as T-Sizzle

i dont think this makes sense.. baldwin brings a different skill set to the table than a lot of our receivers.. he runs excellent routes catches almost everything and reminds me of bobby engram with more potential. dont get all up in a tuff.. but i think if trading any receiver on our team makes sense it would be golden tate.. he has very similar skill set to percy.. just not as fast essentially. front office obviously already invested the team in percy so if somebody is gona go.. it would make sense that its a guy thats contract is gona be up soon and is going to want to be paid pretty well which we wont be able to afford.. get somethin for him while we can.. i dont think baldwin will cost nearly as much to sign as tate and just offers a different look.

on the other hand.. if baldwin goes to indy.. all his autographed rookie cards that i have will probably double in price nearly instantly.

Trade him for a seventh. We need more help on the Oline.

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Honestly, if I could get a 3rd for Baldwin, I'd do it and it would be an easy call.

-Baldwin enters next year as a #4 receiver, and if additions like Stephen Williams or draft picks (from a loaded WR class) do well, it's possible that Baldwin could end up on the bubble by the time he hits UFA in a couple years.

-Baldwin is a good receiver, but he's had trouble staying healthy.

-Baldwin is a "short" WR, and Seattle could soon be in a situation where too many of their receivers are 5'10" depending on who they draft.

-A 3rd round pick in this draft would probably look something like Ryan Swope or Stedman Bailey. Not only are they likely to be better receivers (in my opinion), but they are younger and cheaper for longer. That's why I'd be a little surprised if a team actually offered a 3rd for Baldwin. If they did, it's an easy "yes." I doubt it would happen, so this is all an exercise to see if it makes sense from our point of view, and probably meaningless.

On the flipside, if we keep Baldwin and RFA him next year, then lose him to free agency in 2015, by then he'd probably accrue enough contribution to be worth a decent comp pick in the formula. Comp picks are really hard to bank on- we got screwed out of a nice pick from Matt Hasselbeck thanks to Ben Hamilton, but in theory, just keeping Baldwin for a couple years will automatically get us a pick of some kind down the road.



Besides Hasselbeck, who exactly?

Of course not, but when you say "to name a few", you mean "to name all of them"

Mark Legree, Dexter Davis, Jameson Konz, Korey Toomer, Lazarius Levingston. A slewth of backups to go with them. My point is that there's no guarantee of quality in the draft (and that gets emphasised even more in the later rounds), even with great evaluators of talent on the team. You can trade Baldwin for a 4th and maybe you pick up the next Geno Atkins or maybe you get the next EJ Wilson (taken 8 places apart). You trade away your proven players for low round draft picks when your team is aging, needs rebuilt or you can't afford the player any more.

Not because you think you might be able to get someone better. Doing that leads you to trade away Julian Peterson and draft Aaron Curry.

People simply have been spoiled by the success rate of our FO over the last 3 years and think they can pick Richard Sherman every time in the 5th round.

People are missing the point that the others (those that would trade Baldwin) are trying to make. I don't believe anyone is trying to say Baldwin sucks or that he's no good. Also no one is trying to say you're going to get equal value out of a pick.

But it's more like the Major League Baseball approach. Baldwin is only under contract 1 more year, possibly 2 if they decided to Tender him as a RFA but that may prove too rich for them to even do. Plus you're going to get more trade value out of a guy if a team knows they have control over him for 2 years rather than 1. Why not trade him and get what you can now? Especially since you absolutely do not need him (a 4th/5th WR is a total luxury). It'd be different if he was your #1 or even a starter, but he's not... Is he really that imperative to the success of this team that it's better to keep him and get nothing when he walks?

He's not going to start for this team, he's just not good enough. Harvin, Rice, and Tate are above him and you factor in that the team wants to run more 2 TE sets and will likely always have at least 1 TE on the field. Baldwin will never see the field.

He probably wants to move on himself to go somewhere he has an opportunity to start. Isn't it the classier thing to do rather than force him to stay here as depth when there are plenty more guys that can fill his role?

This team already has multiple guys with similar skill sets and that are best in the same position as Baldwin. You are only keeping 5 WR's, you want those 5 guys each to bring a unique talent if possible. You don't just keep a guy because he's good. It's funny that you guys got so pissed off they kept 2 kickers because they thought they were both talented but you're being hypocritical on this.

You wouldn't keep 5 QB's would you? - Even if they could all be starters???
2 kickers? - but what if they are some of the best kickers in the league???
2 punters? - but what if they are some of the best punters in the league???


So it comes down to these two main points:

1. Why not trade him for something rather than letting him walk for nothing after this year or next year?
2. Why waste a roster spot for someone that will likely never see the field and doesn't offer a skill set that's not already offered by someone above him?

1. Why do you assume he is going to walk? He will be restricted next year, and you silly little model leaves out the possibility of a second contract.

2. Go watch the 2008 season again. Really, do it. Then write a report on what a lack of roster depth does to a team.

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SEAHAWKS.NET. We All We Got, We All We Need

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I am a firm believer in luck, and I found that the harder I work the more I have of it.

Why do you assuming he's going to want to stay as a backup? If he's so good he won't want to stay on as a backup, he'll want to go start somewhere. On the flip side if he's just OK with being a backup then I don't want him on my team.

I don't need to watch the 2008 Season. That was one of the all time Historic years for injuries of any team (especially for a position). There isn't a single team in the NFL that could weather that storm.

So should we keep a couple of extra kickers and punters "just in case"???

Obo stayed as a backup. It has been done before.
My point about 2008 was we went into that season with a lack of depth. You are proposing we reduce our depth. I dub thee Timmay.

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SEAHAWKS.NET. We All We Got, We All We Need

You're the one wanting to hang onto yet another midget WR that we already have similar players to. If I am Ruskell then you are Mora...

You could possibly have to let go another "Michael Bennett" type guy for your "depth". You act like Baldwin went to a probowl or something. He's not even as good as the inconsistent Tate, what does that say?

Obo offered something on special teams. He was one of our best ST players. Baldwin is not.

The best team is the team with the most luxury players. The reason more teams don't have 4 good WRs is because they're notoriously difficult to find, just ask
If nobody needed a 4th WR why does no team carry less than 5 WRs?
We trade Baldwin we'd just pick up another (probably inferior) or promote Kearse or Charly Martin.
Last year when people were suggesting cutting Obo for the cap hit the cry was "he's a great special teamer". Well so is Baldwin. And a far far better receiver than Obo was. And a far cheaper player right now, even his extension would probably be along the lines of what Obo was getting (as a #4 receiver) last year.

And whilst trading him to add strength elsewhere because we have enough strength in WR now (funny how 2 weeks ago we needed a WR and now we have too many), where do you propose we strengthen instead? We ended the season with 40% of our wide receivers not on the roster on opening day.
Whilst I understand the idea (but not the logic) of wanting guys with different skill sets, it means trading Baldwin to draft a receiver (who won't see the field, apparently) with a different skill set (curious as to what we're looking for, Baldwin's skill set seems to be converting third downs and catching deep passes. Curious as to what more you want from your receivers), and the likelihood is that unless that's a 2nd round pick there's a good chance your pick won't be as good as the player you draft away.

Maybe you want to use that pick to strengthen another position?

Of course, that's reasonable enough to suggest, it's not like we have one of the strongest rosters in the league

Did Obo ever lead our team in catches and yards? I thought not. Size be damned, he is one of the best 5 receivers on our roster as of now. Go watch the drubbing of the Niners, Baldwin was stellar.

The day Baldwin is not one of the top 5 receivers on the roster, he is trade bait. Until then he is cheap depth.

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SEAHAWKS.NET. We All We Got, We All We Need

We'll have to agree to disagree. We're both still Seahawks fans though, right?

I am much more in the middle of this argument than what my posts indicate. I just felt like the people on the "trade Baldwin" side were getting really beat up so I spoke up.

I can see both sides. No way would I cut Baldwin... However I would trade him and take a look at some of the young guys we're bringing in to see if they could bring in a skill set Baldwin does not offer.

You might pause to wonder though, why did all those wide recievers get hurt? Could it possibly because there was no depth and they played too many downs, thus leading to injury? Did they have to tkae too many reps in practice because there was nobody else worth a shit to do it, thus leading to injuries? I dunno. Shit happens. I'd like to have some sound back-ups in place so shit like that DON'T happen though, or if it does the effect won't be so severe.

WR isn't like quarterbacks or punters. It's one of those positions where we could line them up 5 wide if we wanted to and have the entire depth chart on the field. Doesn't it behoove us to make sure that we have the best talent possible as deep as possible? If we wanted to move him to bring in somebody who fits the scheme better then fine. Like others have been saying, we seem to have a plethora of 5'10" recievers so moving him in favor of another 6'5" guy makes sense systematically. but I don't think we should think about moving him just because we can get something for him. We already have something in him and we don't have a whole pile of holes that require emergency patching.

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#FREEBROWNER

Baldwin is cheap and will be around for 2 years. Tate on the other hand is costing us about $330k more and will be up for FA next year and will get paid. Tate had a great year and had good chemistry with RW but it is very had to imagine we pay him a ton to stick around, with the depth at WR this year he could easily be upgraded by using a 2nd or 3rd that would bring more size, a cheaper contract, and be here longer to mesh with RW. Say Hunter, Williams, Hopkins, or Woods falls to the 2nd. I could see them being a big improvement over Tate, we cut salary, and get another draft pick. Even if we don't trade Tate I can see us drafting a player who will be replacing him this year that has the ability to fill in for Sidney Rice if he get's injured again. I dead the though of 5'10 Tate, 5'11 Harvin, and 5'11 Baldwin as our starting WR's. If there is one player I guarentee we will adress in the draft or UFA it will be to bring in at least 1 WR with size. Think Mike Williams, Braylon Ewards, T.O, Antonio Bryant. Those players were not on this team by accident. PC wants big WR's. Tate was supose to be what we now have with Harvin and he is now very expandable. If Tate can net is a 3rd next year to replace the one we traded for Harvin I'd be fine.

Don't get me wrong I don't want to trade Tate but I don't see he being as valuable to us as he would to another team anymore. He is redundant and taking up a roster spot for a player who has more potential to replace Rice who is a big cap hit. Looking at the future it would go against what the fans would want but it make a ton of cap sense and fits what I think they want to do in the future cap wise.

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Depth at WR is not a total luxury, especially when you consider that out of Harvin, Rice, and Tate's combined 13 NFL seasons, only four have been a full 16 games. If you get rid of Baldwin and one of those guys go down, you're suddenly in a position where WR becomes a weakness instead of the strength it is now.


Just because he won't start doesn't mean he won't see the field. Edwards and Obomanu each took more than 140 offensive snaps last year. Kearse and Martin each took more than 75 offensive snaps. With Wilson developing into an elite QB, I expect we will shift to a more passing oriented offense than last year, which makes those depth WRs even more important. A quality #4 like Baldwin would probably get a few hundred snaps that those depth guys combined for last year and would be more productive than those behind him on the depth chart. And that's not even considering what we might need from him if one of the top 3 guy gets hurt. It's also nice for depth WRs to be able to provide some special teams value, and Baldwin took 112 snaps on special teams last year, more than any of our other WRs.


Keeping a second kicker isn't comparable at all to keeping a quality #4 WR. If your starting kicker goes down, you can find a comparable free agent replacement at any time. If a starting WR goes down midseason, you can't just grab a Baldwin level WR off the street to replace him.


If he requests a trade, I would be fine with the FO accommodating that request. As far as I know, Baldwin is happy here and plans to compete.



1. Why is it a given that he will walk when his contract is up? Tate's contract is up before Baldwin's and Rice might be asked to take a pay cut within the next couple years. If either of those players leave, Baldwin could be higher than #4 on the depth chart when it's time for a new deal. Even if he isn't, you're not “letting him walk for nothing” if he leaves after another two years. Aside from the probable compensation pick we would get for him, having a very good #4 WR for two years is value by itself. Players don't have to fit into the long-term plans to provide value.

2. Someone will take up the WR roster spots below Harvin, Rice, and Tate. I'd rather it be Baldwin than someone worse than him.