D-Line Projections

(Can't sleep, being bored)

BASE
RE: Michael Bennett (270-280)
3T: Greg Scruggs (300-310)
NT: Brandon Mebane (310-320)
LE: Tony McDaniel (310-320)

NICKEL
RE: Bruce Irvin (250-260)
3T: Michael Bennett
NT: Brandon Mebane
LE: Cliff Avril (255-265)

3RD & LONG NICKEL
RE: Bruce Irvin
3T: Michael Bennett
NT: Jordan Hill (305-315)
LE: Cliff Avril

NASCAR PACKAGE
RE: Bruce Irvin
3T: Cassius Marsh (270-280)
NT: Michael Bennett
LE: Cliff Avril

ALL "HANDS" PACKAGE
RE: Michael Bennett
3T: Cassius Marsh
NT: Jordan Hill
LE: Cliff Avril

FRONT 7 PROJECTION (15*/16 PLAYERS)
RDE: Bennett, Marsh, Mayowa
3T: Scruggs, Brooks
NT: Mebane, Hill
LDE: McDaniel, Avril, Jeffcoat*

*maybe they can sneak Jeffcoat to I.R. and "medically" redshirt him to save a roster spot.

Cuts: Jesse Williams, D' Anthony Smith, Dewayne Cherrington, Jimmy Staten (PS), Andru Pulu (PS), Kenneth Boatwright

No really big surprises in the cuts ...maybe Staten/Pulu aren't your PSers but at least 2 players from the cut list will make it onto the P-Squad, imo.

SAM: Bruce Irvin, Malcolm Smith
MIKE: Bobby Wagner, Mike Taylor
WILL: KJ Wright, Kevin Pierre-Louis

CUTS: Heath Farwell, O'brien Schofield, Mike Morgan, Korey Toomer, Brock Croyle (PS)

I know people will argue Farwell's too important but he is going to make, what?, $1.7mil in 2014 and he's in the last year of his contract... I vote for the logic that says save the money while passing the torch to the younger players. Mike Taylor will make less ($1.5mil) in 3 years... and I think he has the talent to be a versatile backup plus quality STer.

Schoefield is also a name people won't like losing but it feels like he was draft insurance in case Seahawks couldn't get Marsh ...OBS is a good player but he'll likely lose out on a roster spot to players with more upside.

At this point, it is difficult to pigeonhole a player for a particular role or position. But I will say that SLB is likely K.J. Wright's best position (based on what we saw in 2012 in comparison to 2013) and WLB is Malcolm Smith's best position (based on how he played in the final six games in comparison to the first 12).

It is tempting to assume that the roles from the previous season will remain the same, especially coming off a Super Bowl winning season. However, the players have changed and therefore their roles, as defined by the coaches, will also likely change.

The players that remain are at best my best guess and who I think should win competition factors... ofcourse it doesn't mean it will work out so.

However, where I position players is based on what Dan Quinn said the other day... go to FieldGulls for the deets.

He said Bennett will see a lot more time in the base defense (this was an obvious assumption) but he then said Bruce Irvin will still be the SAM in the base role because they like his athleticism there to do a bunch a different things while moving up to LEO in the Nickle looks.

So, I suppose Wright/Smith will play WLB depending on the matchup, or Wright will play in the base defense, with Smith taking over in the Nickle. With Smith being able to take recovery snaps from Irvin and Wright being able to take recovery snaps away from Wagner. All in all... all 4 LBs will get their snaps and keep each other healthy. Considering everything, it could also drive their price down in Free Agency by limiting their snaps and keeping their stats down.

A possibility exist Seahawks could use more 3-4 looks with Bennett, Mebane, McDaniel on the line, Irvin and Smith outside, and Wagner and Wright in the middle. That would be a sweet look against some teams that don't have great running games.

But for that to work you need Irvin to be dominate as a LBer and Smith would need to bulk up another 10 pounds or so.

Pandion Haliaetus":2au30r1r said:

He said Bennett will see a lot more time in the base defense (this was an obvious assumption) but he then said Bruce Irvin will still be the SAM in the base role because they like his athleticism there to do a bunch a different things while moving up to LEO in the Nickle looks.

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, Quinn did not say Irvin would start at SLB (for one, that would violate Carroll's ethos of competition). Rather, he said he expected Irvin to play "a big part of our base package at SAM linebacker, and then in our nickel package, likely at the right defensive end." It's going to be an interesting competition between Irvin and Wright for that starting SLB spot.

Regardless, who ends up starting over whom, all 4 LBers should see significant snaps while being interchangable in places. So realistically it could be who has the best week of practice or who is the best match-up against X player or X team... you can't go wrong with 4 guys who can be starting LBers.

It's pretty crazy that we have so many players that could play LB and D-line. Next year teams are going to draft fast DE/LB in the first 2 rounds to copy what Seattle is doing.

I think it is probably a little ambitious to plug Scruggs in as a starter inside already, especially while showing McDaniel as a starter outside. I think it is more likely that McDaniel remains inside, and Avril starts in the base package. I don't totally get the Scruggs thing, but if he does find a way into a starting role, I think it would have to be at the 5T.

Too early to project this IMO. Scruggs is an unknown, as well as Williams and several others. This will be a topic in about 2 months.

Tical21":urdvhxb6 said:

I think it is probably a little ambitious to plug Scruggs in as a starter inside already, especially while showing McDaniel as a starter outside. I think it is more likely that McDaniel remains inside, and Avril starts in the base package. I don't totally get the Scruggs thing, but if he does find a way into a starting role, I think it would have to be at the 5T.

Click to expand...

In defense of PH's initial projection, Quinn did say he viewed Scruggs, as well as Marsh, as interior players. Carroll was also quoted as saying McDaniel would replace Bryant at the five technique.

The bottom line is it's a fool's errand to attempt to predict which defensive linemen will play where without first having the competition bear itself out. Will Avril move to LEO? Will Bennett play at the five technique in the base defense? How will they handle their new responsibilities against the run? Can McDaniel competently become a two-gap player at the five technique? If the answer is yes, then who replaces him at the three technique in the base defense? Which of the inexperienced defensive linemen (Irvin, Scruggs, Hill, Brooks, Marsh, Williams, Mayowa, Jeffcoat, Pulu, etc.) will break into the rotation? How will the coaches adjust their scheme to the strengths and weaknesses of these new players? Although there is a lot of obvious talent on this defensive line corps, no one can confidently answer any of these questions without more information on how the players will respond to their new opportunities. It is easily the position group of least certainty going into this season, while also being one of the deepest and most exciting areas on the team.

I apologize to everyone for using this Football down time to "speculate", "project", and "assguess (assess +guess)" what may become of the team and try to discuss the options in this particular case the D-Line and Front 7....







NOT. Its the off-season, "fool errands" is practically the only things we can converse in. I'm sure there's plenty of people that have tried to project/speculate the 53 man roster without publically stating it even if its still "too early" to do such a thing.