I was kind of jazzed when we signed him. You never know until you know.......

Here's a short article that got me thinking about having a basketball tight end - could be awesome.

http://www.rantsports.com/nfl/2013/04/13/seattle-seahawks-the-fascinating-story-of-tight-end-darren-fells/

Yup. Excited to watch. The longshots and lower round picks have been interesting to follow the last couple years.

Completely forgot about him. He was the first free agent sign this offseason.

Yes, a man that large who is athletic gets me as excited as Pehawk at a Boy Scout convention.

I have a hard time seeing him not make the 53 man roster..... you don't sign a guy for 3 years to place him on the PS.

At least he's not completey foreign to the game - he played in high school. Better than trying to convert some track guy to be a football player out of the blue.

bigcc wrote:I have a hard time seeing him not make the 53 man roster..... you don't sign a guy for 3 years to place him on the PS.

The duration of the contract doesn't matter. It's all about guaranteed money. Since I doubt he has any guaranteed money, they can cut him at any point without ramifications.

The 3 year deal just makes it so that if Fells turns out to be a baller, he will be under team control for 3 very low cost years.

also out of curiosity since the article doesn't mention it, did any other teams field him offers after his pro day or just us?

FlyingGreg wrote:Yes, a man that large who is athletic gets me as excited as Pehawk at a Boy Scout convention.

I feel dirty just reading this.

bigcc wrote:also out of curiosity since the article doesn't mention it, did any other teams field him offers after his pro day or just us?

He didn't have a pro day. He had one scheduled, but Seattle brought him in for a private workout and signed him before other teams could see him.

DavidSeven wrote:

bigcc wrote:also out of curiosity since the article doesn't mention it, did any other teams field him offers after his pro day or just us?

He didn't have a pro day. He had one scheduled, but Seattle brought him in for a private workout and signed him before other teams could see him.

Ahh yeah i misread the article, thanks for clarifying that.

I bet you Lebron James feels pretty dumb now.

This guy fascinates me. He must be some kind of an athletic phenom for us to invest 3 years in a guy who hasn't even played the game at a high level. He may end up just being a one trick pony but if that one trick is catching footballs in the endzone, then that's a pretty fricken awesome trick...

CANHawk wrote: He may end up just being a one trick pony

If it is THIS pony then we are doomed....

Just found this on ESPN.com.

Originally it was supposed to be a Pro Day for you but you got signed off one workout? What did you do to dazzle them so much?

Originally I was going there to be a defensive end, but when I got there they said “let’s try you at tight end as well.” They had me run some routes at tight end. Well when I did all the route running they kept on coming up to me and asking me, “Are you sure you didn’t play any college football? It was definitely only in high school?” So I had a feeling that I did OK, but I’m never sure of myself. I just sat in the locker room for about half an hour waiting for someone to come and tell me something and then I got a call from my agent and he told me that they liked me. Ten minutes after that, the team called and said they wanted me to be a part of the team.

This is really interesting stuff.

cacksman wrote:

bigcc wrote:I have a hard time seeing him not make the 53 man roster..... you don't sign a guy for 3 years to place him on the PS.

The duration of the contract doesn't matter. It's all about guaranteed money. Since I doubt he has any guaranteed money, they can cut him at any point without ramifications.

The 3 year deal just makes it so that if Fells turns out to be a baller, he will be under team control for 3 very low cost years.

Exactly. Very smart move by JS. Don't want the next Antonio Gates or Jimmy Graham to slip away after a year, and after we spend resources developing him into a baller.

And Axx, where the hell did that LeBron jersey come from? Is it just a custom fan jersey? Or did he come visit the team and I wasn't aware of it?

He's been away from the game for a while, but he has the natural athleticism needed, I think he can make the 53 man roster as our no.3 tight end

I am excited period. I have minimal expectations for Fells, who is fortunate enough to have team PCJS turning over stones. If this guy plays well enough, he can be part of what is likely to be a very special season.

The Seahawks are really in uncharted territory this season. This is the first time in my life that prior to the draft, I felt that they were primed for success. They will be able to draft for depth, possibly shore up the OLine, LB group and such, but if they had to take the field as is, the Hawks would be favored in most of their games.

I have had expectations that were unreasonable before, but this year they are tempered and I see a guy like Fells being a cheap gamble. If it pays off, the strength of this team will be huge.