Player Breakdown: Golden Tate

I've recently put some thought into Golden Tate and the fact that 2013 is the last year on his contract. Throughout the 2012 season, Tate proved to be a playmaker capable of making defenders miss and picking up extra yardage. Unfortunately for him, he is the third receiver on the roster and Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin will already have a combined $23.1 million cap number in 2014 (33% of the total offensive cap number). Factor in another $4-5 million that Tate will likely demand, and the receiver group becomes around 40% of total offensive spending. It’s hard to imagine a run-heavy team like the Seahawks spend $25+ million on wide receivers, which makes the possibility of Golden Tate in an opposing team's uniform starting 2014 more probable.

Earl Thomas and The Deep Middle

Russell Wilson is the most valued and irreplaceable Seahawk, with little doubt. But when it comes to the second most valuable Hawk, cases could be made for many players. Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch are well known players and first team all pros. Russell Okung is a pro-bowler at the most important position on the offensive line- left tackle. Max Unger is the brains of the offensive line, and also a first team all pro. However, I believe it is fellow first-team all pro Earl Thomas that allows Seattle’s defense to have the success it does, and is thus the second most valuable Seahawk.

2013 NFL Draft Part 3: The Mock

Round 2, Pick 56   Brandon Williams, DT, Missouri Southern State, 6’1, 335

At pick 56 it is extremely difficult to know who will be available, let alone who the Seahawks will be interested in. I could make a list of my top 50 players in the draft and have not a single one available at the ‘Hawks first pick. So with this pick I decided to go with a small school prospect who will fit in at the Hawks biggest area of need.

Williams is a monster tackle at nearly 340 pounds, but has good speed and quickness considering his frame. He gets off the ball relatively quickly and is able to generate some push as an interior pass rusher. He certainly would be an upgrade to Alan Branch as a pass rusher. He doesn’t have ideal lower body strength though, despite his massive upper body.

Williams would need to have his snaps monitored due to limited endurance. He would likely be able to play somewhere around 20-30 snaps a game as a rookie and hopefully develop into a 35-40 snap player in the NFL.

2013 NFL Draft Part 2: The Players

Pete Carroll and John Schneider have their own opinions on players that are often differing from the general consensus. Because of this it is very difficult to predict if the Seahawks will be interested in any particular player. Here are some players that could potentially fit in the positions mentioned in part one:

1)   Three Technique Defensive Tackle

Player Type: In Carroll’s three years in Seattle he has preferred size and run stuffing ability at three-technique. His two three techniques during his time, Brandon Mebane and Alan Branch, weight 311 and 325 pounds, respectively.

Sylvester Williams, North Carolina

 Brandon Williams, Missouri Southern State

Kawann Short, Purdue

Bennie Logan, Louisiana State

Jordan Hill, Penn State

Montori Hughes, Tennessee-Martin 

Nick Williams, Samford

2013 NFL Draft Part 1: The Positions

With the first day of the 2013 NFL Draft just 5 days away, I still find myself questioning how Pete Carroll and John Schneider will prioritize positions and players almost daily.  Throughout their three seasons with the Seahawks, Carroll and Schneider have tipped their hat over what positions might be targeted in various ways. Just last year the Seahawks brought in mid-tier free agents (Barrett Rudd, Matt Flynn, Kregg Lumpkin) in positions they knew they would want to target in the draft, and then proceeded to draft players at those positions (Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson, Robert Turbin). In 2011 Pete Carroll talked a lot about how they wanted to solidify the offensive line, and then went on to pick two linemen (James Carpenter, John Moffit). Last year, Carroll talked about how they wanted to add speed to their defense, and took two absurdly fast defenders (Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner).

Unfortunately, it often doesn't become clear over the hints Carroll and Schneider are releasing until after the draft. So, here is my best guess over how Carroll and Schneider will prioritize the positions in this year’s draft.

Draft Ideas

     

    Should the Seahawks draft a WR in this years draft? I think not. I think that our biggest weakness as a team is our defensive line. Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin all gained strong chemistry with Russell Wilson by the end of the year, and with that young crew things can only keep getting better (without injury). And Zach Miller proved to be a viable option in the passing game as well. This leads me back to the defensive line. Last year we only had one consistently good pass rusher in Chris Clemons and he tore his ACL and will most likely miss a good chunk of next year. That leaves a raw Bruce Irvin as our only pass rusher, and he's so small that a double team will shut him down. Although guys like Red Bryant, Alan Branch and Brandon Mebane are all complete beasts against the run, their pass rush is marginal at best. This leads me back to thinking we need more strength there. One of my optimal draft picks for the Seattle Seahawks is DT Bennie Logan out of LSU. Bennie logan stands at 6'3 300 ibs, so the perfect size for the 3 technique. Hes projected to go in the fourth, but from watching him play I think he would be a very strong 3rd round pick. The reason I go this deep is because there are guys like Sylvester Williams and Alec Ogletree who would in my opinion be great picks for the Hawks, there's no guarantee that they will even fall to us.

The Big Nickel

The Seahawks Week 8 loss to the Detroit Lions was largely due to a 9 reception, 100 yard, 2 touchdown day from Titus Young. Their Week 12 loss to the Miami Dolphins was one where Davone Bess had 7 receptions for 129 yards. Even in wins to Chicago and Buffalo, Brandon Marshall  and Stevie Johnson recorded 10 receptions for 165 yards and 8 receptions for 115 yards respectively.

Search for Zuzu

Seahawks fans have many differing opinions on the receiving core. Some believe the starting wide receivers Sidney Rice and Golden Tate are not true number one and number two wide receivers. Others believe tight end Zach Miller is overpaid to be a 30-40 catch a year guy and should be cut. Others believe that Rice, Tate, and Doug Baldwin form a solid trio of WRs and only depth is needed. But I think all fans believe the Seahawks should add someone to Russell Wilson’s arsenal.

Seahawks Ready for Next Shot

One year ago today the Seattle Seahawks players and coaches were watching the playoffs from their homes after finishing the season 7-9 for the second straight season and being excluded from postseason play. This year the Seahawks were two points and 31 seconds away from advancing to the NFC Championship Game and establishing themselves as one of the Nation Football League’s top four teams. And while Seahawks shouldn’t have had any shot to turn a blowout back into a ball game after falling behind 20-0 in the first half, they still found themselves leading 28-27 with only 31 seconds left on the game clock. The fact that the young, inexperienced Seahawks team that struggles on the road was almost able to muster up a 20 point comeback win on the number one seed Atlanta Falcon’s home turf speaks numbers about the second youngest team in the NFL. Seahawks fans finally have something to root for.