Luke Willson excited about free agency

[Mistashoesta]

Seahawks tight end Luke Willson, who officially becomes an unrestricted free agent on March 9, said Tuesday he would like to be back with Seattle but is going to explore all of his options before making a decision and said playing closer to his home in Lasalle, Ontario, Canada could play a role.

Also

“I mean, there was an offer extended,’’ said Willson, a fifth-round pick in 2013 whose initial four-year rookie contract has run out. “I don’t know if it was extremely serious, we’ll leave it at that. It wasn’t, I didn’t really respond to it. … I was a bit surprised, to be completely honest with you, when I read that report (of Carroll’s comments) or saw that online. I was surprised that that kind of was let out there to the media or public because it was not extremely official, at least in my mind. But who knows.’’

I like Luke, more so for his blocking abilities than his receiving prowess. I think he is a good cog to keep around if you can work something out, but I wouldn't be opposed to the FO letting him walk and spending the money elsewhere.

http://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seah ... ee-agency/

 

[IrishNW]

I would pass on resigning him. Hes a solid player but the opportunity this will give other players is greater than losing him. We know what we get with Luke. I wanna know what kind of player we could develop in his absence.

 

[AgentDib]

I'm sure the offer he got during the season did seem low. The extension allows the player to offset risk by receiving a big lump of guaranteed dollars right away, and the benefit for the team of this is a lower yearly hit in the future. Now that Willson has made it to FA there's no need to take a lower risk averse figure and he can go chasing after the highest bidder. We should be rooting for him to hit a big payday, as the compensatory threshold was only around $2m/yr last season and I could see him earning us a 5th or higher pick.

Graham has a $10m cap hit and Vannett has a cap hit of $726k. There isn't much room there for a third guy making mid-tier money and so our third TE will probably be another <1m UDFA/rookie/journeyman.

 

[Siouxhawk]

I'd really like to see Luke back, if possible. He has very good hands, can help out on blocking and is one of those guys who seems to come up clutch when we need him.

 

[IndyHawk]

I'm sure the offer he got during the season did seem low. The extension allows the player to offset risk by receiving a big lump of guaranteed dollars right away, and the benefit for the team of this is a lower yearly hit in the future. Now that Willson has made it to FA there's no need to take a lower risk averse figure and he can go chasing after the highest bidder. We should be rooting for him to hit a big payday, as the compensatory threshold was only around $2m/yr last season and I could see him earning us a 5th or higher pick.

Graham has a $10m cap hit and Vannett has a cap hit of $726k. There isn't much room there for a third guy making mid-tier money and so our third TE will probably be another <1m UDFA/rookie/journeyman.

Fant was a TE..Just saying

 

[West TX Hawk]

More power to him if he can get a similar deal in the market that McDonald got-3 years, 19.7. I like Willson, would enjoy seeing him stay but hope he receives the best deal out there possible. May likely be his only chance of really setting himself up for the future.

He had a poignant comment in that Times article that succintly summed up the season, "It's weird but this year felt like a struggle."

 

[nash72]

Willson is a mediocre TE. I wouldnt bend over backwards trying to sign the guy. Let him walk and roll with Vannett.

 

[Josea16]

Willson is a mediocre TE. I wouldnt bend over backwards trying to sign the guy. Let him walk and roll with Vannett.

Good blocker but has hands of stone. No way we resign him. Someone will pay him we're better off seeing what we have in Vannett.

 

[Seymour]

I like Luke and prefer to not see him walk. But with Graham and and Vannett here, I don't see this ending well for Luke, especially when we spend what we do (don't) to protect the short Wilson. That said, they better know that Graham will sign an extension before letting Luke go. Luke I'd guess is around a $4M tight end, and that would put him around #23 in the entire tight end group.

 

[HawkMeat]

I like Luke for his run blocking. As a receiver_no

 

[Foghawk]

Assuming Graham is in their plans for next season, I would be really surprised if they retained Willson unless he gets no serious offers. Can't keep everyone. :|

 

[HawkGA]

I suspect Luke might have a little unrealistic expectations. He's not a star by any stretch of the imagination and the simple fact is in this league stars get paid, everybody else gets something approaching the minimum. I think Luke should get ready for disappointment.

 

[Seymour]

I suspect Luke might have a little unrealistic expectations. He's not a star by any stretch of the imagination and the simple fact is in this league stars get paid, everybody else gets something approaching the minimum. I think Luke should get ready for disappointment.

Not even close to true in this case. After the top 10 TE group ($7.5M and up), there are 30 other tight ends earning between $2M and $7.5M.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/average/tight-end/

Also, keep in mind that Willson is near top 5 fastest tight ends in the NFL. Faster than Jimmy and Gronk for sure. Of course, Bevell doesn't use that much but that is another ongoing story.

 

[HawkGA]

I suspect Luke might have a little unrealistic expectations. He's not a star by any stretch of the imagination and the simple fact is in this league stars get paid, everybody else gets something approaching the minimum. I think Luke should get ready for disappointment.

Not even close to true in this case. After the top 10 TE group ($7.5M and up), there are 30 other tight ends earning between $2M and $7.5M.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/average/tight-end/

Also, keep in mind that Willson is near top 5 fastest tight ends in the NFL. Faster than Jimmy and Gronk for sure. Of course, Bevell doesn't use that much but that is another ongoing story.

Can we ban Seymour for bringing facts into this????

 

[Seymour]

Can we ban Seymour for bringing facts into this????

Sure... just so long as you make me Lukes agent first! :mrgreen:

 

[gowazzu02]

I bet he'll have a Golden Tate type awaking when he moves on. To an offense that throws the ball much more then we do.

Facts are with Graham, we just can't afford to pay him. Hence the drafting of the kid out of OSU last year, who will be his replacement.

If we DO sign him, i would take that as evidence that we're moving away from Jimmy.. I dont see this happening, but this would be the domino I would imagine.

 

[hawknation2017]

I think they can find a similar skill set or better blocker for less. Rhett Ellison is one name that comes to mind. Better blocker with same or better hands. He even played for Carroll one year at USC.

Willson was just too inconsistent to give more than veteran minimum-type money. The fact that he is the best free agent we may lose shows what a great position the Seahawks are in this off-season. It's a tremendous opportunity to focus on filling out depth while already retaining so much talent and continuity.

 

[FlyingGreg]

He isn't returning.

The drafting of Vannett told me that...

 

[HawkGA]

He isn't returning.

The drafting of Vannett told me that...

I would say this is correct but Vanett didn't really show a lot and wasn't active for a lot of games. I don't think it is outside the realm of possibility that he comes back, but I suspect if he does it will be more on the teams' terms than on his.

 

[Seymour]

Listening to 950 today I just caught the tailend of Luke on with Softy. They were talking about signing and I heard the figure $6.5M thrown out from Luke but didn't hear the entire context.
Anyone else hear this?
I guessed $4M which is #23 in TE earnings, but if he really wants $6.5M then good luck Luke.