Kevin Norwood released (UPDATED: Traded to Panthers)

[kearly]

Everyone wondering why the team paid $2.4 million to keep Kearse from free agency, this is why. Norwood was drafted because he was a clutch deep ball guy at Alabama with the thought that he could make Kearse expendable, but in the NFL Norwood has looked inept on deep stuff and more suited to the short game.

Like Seven astutely points out, Norwood has been an 'okay' player, it's just that he is a replaceable player who isn't excelling in the area that Seattle drafted him for.

I didn't see Norwood as one of our six best WRs best on the first three preseason games, and I didn't think Archer would do anything in the 4th game to make Norwood look good. His release felt inevitable, so they cut him now to give a player at a different position one extra look.

 

[jammerhawk]

I think he secured his release after he failed to put out full effort on the pass thrown towards him by Archer. He very rarely was able to get open and seemed to be missing something. Can't say I'm surprised, still disappointing that a 4th rd. pick didn't work out.

 

[kearly]

Won't be surprised to see PRich added to the pile at some point this year or next offseason. This team's inability to evaluate WR talent is fairly astounding.

If that does happen it will probably be because of the injury bug. Richardson is an elite talent in the quick passing game. And I say this as someone who didn't like the Richardson pick when it went down.

 

[gowazzu02]

Another useless WR draft pick to add to the pile for this regime. Won't be surprised to see PRich added to the pile at some point this year or next offseason. This team's inability to evaluate WR talent is fairly astounding.

I actually like what they've found in Baldwin, Kearse, Lockett, Tate, and Richardson.

Seems like the 4th round has been a tough spot for them WR wise though.

Yeah, jeeze, if he was a slam dunk he would of been drafted higher then the 4th round. For every Harper or Norwood, theres a Doug Baldwin, Kearse, Tate, Lockett, LockettE

Are they putting up fantasy football numbers? No but thats not what our offense asks of them.

But some people have to be pissy, so not surprised

 

[mikeak]

Won't be surprised to see PRich added to the pile at some point this year or next offseason. This team's inability to evaluate WR talent is fairly astounding.

If that does happen it will probably be because of the injury bug. Richardson is an elite talent in the quick passing game. And I say this as someone who didn't like the Richardson pick when it went down.

Agree 100% on Richardson for elite. His ability to snatch that ball out of the air is fantastic

 

[ivotuk]

I'm bummed that he didn't improve. He had great hands and he seemed ready to become a valuable depth receiver at times last year. I am somewhat surprised he didn't make it to final cuts.

Well if you think about it, Chris Matthews didn't emerge until the final game of year.. that paired with Lockett and suddenly you have Norwood fighting it out with the UDFA's for a spot.

Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams just flat outplayed him all preseason.. and apparently both guys had better camps too.

Norwood will probably be a Falcon or Jaguar soon.

Ugh, I'm agreeing with Hasselbeck. But what he said is true. Now if he would just admit I'm right about Cary Williams

 

[Shadowhawk]

I actually am a little surprised about this. I guess he just didn't keep up with his competitors.

Not really when you look at our WR depth now, any player on the bubble like Norwood is going to have a hard time making the team if he doesn't play special teams.

Wonder if this means BJ Daniels is going to sneak onto the roster in that last WR slot. He didn't exactly help his cause Saturday in the PR game, but he's still valuable as a WR/PR/emergency QB.

I think Smith may have leapfrogged Daniels after notching a couple of good returns last Saturday. Another good game against the Raiders may do the trick.

 

[NorCalSeahawk]

I thought Norwood could be that possesion WR that the team had been looking for in the red zone, but with the signing of Graham and the development of Chris Mathews the team didn't need another fringe WR. It's to bad, I still like the guy and I think if he could have been stashed on the practice squad he would be worth that spot, but I would guess another team will take a shot at Norwood as a 4th or 5th WR on a team that is in need of WR/ST depth.

 

[pmedic920]

I'm not surprised he got released, only that it happened in this stage of cut-downs.

IMHO, they have a lot of respect for him. I'm thinking they want him to have the best chance of getting picked up.

 

[Blitzer88]

Not surprised by this as other WRs should a little more then him. I also think his lack of special teams play played a role in this decision.

 

[Hawkstorian]

Seahawks should trade all their 4th round picks for 5th round picks.

 

[HawkGA]

I'm bummed that he didn't improve. He had great hands and he seemed ready to become a valuable depth receiver at times last year. I am somewhat surprised he didn't make it to final cuts.

Well if you think about it, Chris Matthews didn't emerge until the final game of year.. that paired with Lockett and suddenly you have Norwood fighting it out with the UDFA's for a spot.

Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams just flat outplayed him all preseason.. and apparently both guys had better camps too.

Norwood will probably be a Falcon or Jaguar soon.

I'm guessing the cutdown came now so that he has a chance to catch on with another team.

 

[kf3339]

Not surprised he got cut. In fact I never really cared for the pick when it happened. He never really stood out for me enough on that Alabama team.

 

[ivotuk]

NFL Cut Tracker

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... ts-tracker

I'm looking for a Nickel DB

 

[jammerhawk]

Kevin Norwood finally gets some separation. It's unfortunately from the Seahawks.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

Won't be surprised to see PRich added to the pile at some point this year or next offseason. This team's inability to evaluate WR talent is fairly astounding.

If that does happen it will probably be because of the injury bug. Richardson is an elite talent in the quick passing game. And I say this as someone who didn't like the Richardson pick when it went down.

Definitely. And if you look at how Richardson was progressing, he was very clearly by the final 4 games of his season, almost the equal of Baldwin in terms of targets and in particular 3rd down targets and conversions.

I saw him as a Baldwin/Harvin mirror. And before the injury he was performing at that level.

 

[Sac]

There's a reason JS trades down so often. You gotta have enough guys to throw at the wall to see who sticks.

One thing is for sure though, Lockett, the guy they trade UP for, is going to be a stud.

 

[CalgaryHawk]

Won't be surprised to see PRich added to the pile at some point this year or next offseason. This team's inability to evaluate WR talent is fairly astounding.

If that does happen it will probably be because of the injury bug. Richardson is an elite talent in the quick passing game. And I say this as someone who didn't like the Richardson pick when it went down.

Definitely. And if you look at how Richardson was progressing, he was very clearly by the final 4 games of his season, almost the equal of Baldwin in terms of targets and in particular 3rd down targets and conversions.

I saw him as a Baldwin/Harvin mirror. And before the injury he was performing at that level.

The only reason I'm a tiny bit surprised he was cut this early is that I recall a recent interview with the Hawks new WR coach who said that the most important skill a WR must have is the ability to catch the ball, and Norwood always appeared to have excellent skill at catching balls that hit him in the hands.

I think Norwood suffered a bit by Wilson's tendency not to throw to this receivers unless they looked open, and Norwood didn't have the quickness in his release to gain separation. If a guy like Hasselbeck was still the QB, Norwood may have fared better.

There's still the possibility that Norwood comes back to the Hawks later in the year if injuries occur at WR.

 

[xgeoff]

Another useless WR draft pick to add to the pile for this regime. Won't be surprised to see PRich added to the pile at some point this year or next offseason. This team's inability to evaluate WR talent is fairly astounding.

Yeah, we've been struggling in terms of drafting talent, but I love Lockett, I think he may turn out to be the steal of this draft. I'm glad we cut the cord on Norwood, haven't seen anything to impress me.

And as critical as I have been of the Front Office's ability to draft WR's (Lockett excepted), I really like the talent we've gotten at wideout WITHOUT drafting guys. I like angry Doug Baldwin, Chris Matthews and all the Huskies we have (Kearse, Williams, Smith). So I can't get on the FO too much.

With respect to PRich, I don't think he will hang for long. His speed doesn't seem, IMO, to translate to the game. It's disappointing that we could have had Jordan Matthews, Martavis Bryant, etc., instead of him. But the truth is that he will still have an opportunity to make or break his future, so we'll see.

If we go with a single-back formation with Baldwin, Kearse, Lockett and Graham as our receivers, we have playmakers. The challenge is just getting them into open space. Oh, and protecting the QB Lots of questions, but the release of Norwood is comforting to me because it says the FO and the Coaches were seeing the same thing I was.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

They just said he's not officially released, and that a trade is possible.