Too bad Seattle didn't keep RB Rod Smith on the roster

[Popeyejones]

Someone in the front office smarter than me ought to have at least considered the possibility that Rod Smith would be nabbed, in particular by Dallas.

That means that someone in the Seahawks front office would have had to known three weeks in advance of anyone else that the Cowboys #1 back was going to get suspended for a month by the league.

I think the timeline you're missing is that from Weeks 1-5 Joe Randle led the Cowboys in rushing.

Between Weeks 5-6 they signed Smith and nobody thought much of it.

Then in Week 6 Randle was effectively benched (two carries total) and people were confused about what was going on.

Then before Week 7 it was announced that Randle was suspended for a month and the Cowboys cut him, at which point it made a lot of sense why he had effectively been sat down for the last game and why the Cowboys were adding to their RB depth.


The Cowboys didn't sign Smith because he got two carries for five yards one week; they signed smith because they got wind that their starting RB was going to be suspended and they still wanted depth at the position.

 

[Scottemojo]

A Bronco fan excoriating Schneider for not keeping the backup to the backup to the backup?

Deep teams make cuts that hurt, plain and simple. Smith is far from the only talented Hawk to end up on another roster, the recruiting pitch they use to get rookie free agents in Seattle is that they will get picked up by someone else.

Was the staff aware he might get picked up? Of course they were.

They have not exposed Sokoli to other teams for a reason, they would rather have him not play but be on the 53 than expose him to vulturing. Smith? They had seen enough that it was worth the risk.

He isn't tearing it up in Dallas either. So there is that.

Have to wonder what the agenda of a fan making a mountain out of Rod Smith is. Painting the Hawks as regretful over a fringe roster player is weird. All the while ignoring that they clearly have some brains in Seattle, they retained Rawls and let C-Mike go for nearly nothing.

 

[RichNhansom]

I was pissed the moment I heard Smith was activated, because I knew he'd get five carries, look good, get cut, and then nabbed by some team on waivers. And when exactly that scenario occurred, I was more annoyed than pissed, because I saw it coming a mile away.

That said, I had no idea we'd actually need Smith this season. So I guess in retrospect, a dumb at the time decision looks even worse today.

Of course, we only saw 10 carries worth of Smith in the preseason (7 YPC). It's hard to say if he's actually any good based on such a small sample size. But I did like his talent. He passed the eyeball test for me, even if he had some of Shaun Alexander's annoying habits.

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't represent historians very well in the OP, but my observations weren't exactly 180 degrees off the mark, either. I'll try to be more accurate and factual the next time around.

But the comments above summarize what I should have said all along: I also had a feeling that after being activated, Rod Smith would get a few carries in garbage time, not look bad, then get cut, and then be signed by another team. Whether it was 7 days or 17 days before Dallas played Seattle is a footnote. Someone in the front office smarter than me ought to have at least considered the possibility that Rod Smith would be nabbed, in particular by Dallas.

Of course they considered it but they also had to consider if they cut one of the full backs, he would likely be picked up too. So it becomes a question then of who is at a higher risk to get signed elswhere and who we could afford to lose more. This is all without the knowledge of both Lynch and Rawls getting hurt which is probably less likely than the one full back we would have kept getting injured and leaving us with zero depth at a position we use significantly and value the trust the other players have developed with them.

I think it is also easier to plug in a RB in our system than a full back because we ask our full backs to do alot and one of those things is to build trust with Lynch so he is confident following them into a hole.