Hawks keep Brown, but Clark & Wright wait

July 30, 2018 cc Leave a comment

It sounds like Duane Brown will be the Seahawks’ only preseason contract extension this year, with Frank Clark and K.J. Wright having to wait until after the season to see where their futures lie.

A day after we talked about Duane Brown’s possible extension with the Seahawks, they finished it off, adding $36.5 million and three years to this year’s $9.75 million.

As Earl Thomas holds out, some wonder: Why will the Seahawks extend a 33-year-old Pro Bowl left tackle but not a 29-year-old Pro Bowl safety?

We’ve made it clear we’re in favor of paying Thomas, but the Hawks obviously think he is not worth top dollar because speed-based players can fall off the cliff quickly and Thomas has had injury issues in recent seasons.

Good linemen, meanwhile, can play into their mid-30s at a high level, and the Hawks clearly are banking on that with Brown. They figured he’s a good bet at $11 million APY over the next four years, while $14 million APY is too much for Thomas (even if they forgo the injury guarantees and can move on in a couple of years with little cap trouble).

So, if not Thomas, who’s next? Probably no one for now.

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Contracts, Training camp

Matthews & Lewan got huge deals; what is Brown worth?

July 27, 2018 cc Leave a comment

Duane Brown is in Seattle partly because he was holding out in Houston for a new deal last season.

He hasn’t made the same noise about a new contract in Seattle, probably because he is just happy to be on a team not run by a redneck like Bob McNair.

Brown is being paid $9.75 million this season and, as he gets set to turn 33 on Aug. 30, he’s not going to merit the kind of contracts Jake Matthews and Taylor Lewan were given Friday. Matthews, Atlanta’s 26-year-old left tackle, got $15 million a year. Lewan, Tennessee’s 27-year-old star left tackle, got $16 million a year.

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Injury report, The roster, Training camp

Jordan’s injury leaves Hawks looking at other pass-rush options

July 26, 2018 cc 1 Comment

After injuries helped derail the past two seasons, Pete Carroll and John Schneider have made a big deal about having a much healthier roster this year. So it’s disappointing to see that Dion Jordan is still having injury issues — and it could mean the Seahawks really have few pass-rush options beyond this year.

Among several injury moves as camp started Thursday, the Seahawks placed Jordan on PUP. Carroll said he would be out “a few weeks,” and the PUP move means the Hawks think this could stretch into the season.

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The roster, Training camp

A look at the roster as camp opens

July 25, 2018 cc 1 Comment

As the Seahawks start the ninth training camp under Pete Carroll, the coach has retaken control of his team and is looking to build a new Super Bowl core behind new assistant coaches.

It seemingly won’t include Earl Thomas, whose holdout unfortunately presents a big distraction as Carroll attempts to reboot his team. But Carroll and John Schneider created this problem with poor roster management and now have to live with it.

That issue, along with the loss of four other key defenders, has plenty of people pegging the Seahawks as a .500 team or worse. Let’s just get it clear right here though: The very worst Seattle will do with Russell Wilson at QB is .500. We still think they are a base 8-4 team, with four games that could go either way, which puts the over/under at 10 wins.

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The roster, Training camp

This camp is about finding next Super core

July 24, 2018 cc Leave a comment

When the Seahawks put together the best run in franchise history, winning 36 games and a Super Bowl from 2012 to 2014, they did it with about two dozen core players — a third of them named Pro Bowl players during that time.

After “resetting” the team this offseason, the Seahawks have just six players left from that Super Bowl core — and a couple of those guys might not be long for the roster.

That brings us to the No. 1 goal this year, aside from trying to contend for the Super Bowl (we put their O/U at 10 wins): John Schneider and Pete Carroll need to establish the new core for the next championship window. It all starts Thursday when they begin training camp.

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Contracts, The roster

In this case, Thomas has the right to hold out

July 18, 2018 cc 6 Comments

“Extend (me). If you don’t want me, let’s make a trade happen. I understand it’s a bizz.” — Earl Thomas.

K.J. Wright and Earl Thomas are in the same situation, but they are handling it differently. And, in this case, neither is wrong — because John Schneider is.

Wright is taking the high road, not making a stink about his contract — a highly respectable position to take, especially since Schneider and Pete Carroll have done an about-face and made a lot of unexpected moves that have the few remaining veterans wondering about their long-term status with the team.

“Why am I not holding out? I just want to control what I can control,” Wright said at the June minicamp. “I want to get better in the offseason. I believe spring ball is the way to improve yourself. And it’s my job to make sure to build this chemistry with my defense. And I want this defense to be good. I want coach Norton to have a good first year. I’ve always believed you control what you can control, and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Thomas, meanwhile, is trying to control his future with the leverage he has: a holdout. In this case, with Schneider and Carroll turning the roster upside-down, the safety’s request to extend him or trade him is very fair. And holding out is a legit way to exercise his dissatisfaction — even if it won’t accomplish anything beyond that.

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