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CHAWK LINES
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CHAWK LINES -- Week in review

Thomas Rawls said he’ll be ready for camp.

Doug Baldwin said he has not talked to the team about a new contract and he’s “not too concerned about it.”

John Schneider said Frank Clark’s “ceiling is off the charts.”

Russell Wilson, Paul Richardson and Tyler Lockett continue to work out in Southern California.

The Seahawks are playing Dallas in Week 3 of the preseason — the big tuneup game.

Cliff Avril turned 30 and talked about losing Brandon Mebane and regaining Chris Clemons.

Clemons said Michael Bennett and Richard Sherman had been recruiting him to come back.

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NFL draft, State of the team, Trades

No apparent interest in a veteran tackle

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There’s no sign the Seahawks were interested in Ryan Clady, despite their major need at left tackle, but apparently — if they had been interested — they could have gotten him for a Day 3 pick and $6 million.

That’s what the Jets reportedly gave the Broncos on Sunday — replacing the retiring D’Brickashaw Ferguson with Clady, who was available because Denver signed Russell Okung away from the Seahawks. Instead of possibly replacing Okung in Seattle, Clady is joining former Seahawks James Carpenter and Breno Giacomini in New York.

The Seahawks apparently have no interest in adding another veteran tackle before the draft. As John Schneider told 710 ESPN last week: “We addressed (the offensive line) early in free agency, we’ll address it again in the draft and then we’ll see what’s happening this summer.”

Continue reading No apparent interest in a veteran tackle →

NFL draft, State of the team

Don’t fall for the company line

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NFL draftDRAFT COUNTDOWN: 3 weeks. Every Thursday until the draft, we look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

As we all know, the Seahawks are a supposed Super Bowl contender with one major problem: They are starting all over on the offensive line.

The company line has been that there have not been any good linemen for the Seahawks to draft over the last four years. Go ahead and fall for it if you want. But it’s wrong.

Even by the Seahawks’ apparent standards — as carefully derived by Seahawks Draft Blog’s Rob Staton — they should have been able to put together a very good line by now.

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Contracts, State of the team

More evidence that Chancellor, Bennett will not hold out

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Kam and BennettEntering the offseason, two of the Seahawks’ biggest personnel questions centered on whether Kam Chancellor and Michael Bennett were going to be problems.

It’s looking more and more like neither will be.

Chancellor apparently has made up with the team, based on words from him and John Schneider. And he added to that with recent comments to The Seattle Times, saying, “The past is the past” and talking about being a leader, a big brother and a captain.

Like Chancellor, Bennett has been griping about his contract for a year. Unlike Chancellor, Bennett showed up on time last year and turned in his best season.

Of course, all that did was build up concern that Bennett might give the Hawks another Kam Kam Kick this year and hold out. But it is looking like Bennett has no plans to do that.

Continue reading More evidence that Chancellor, Bennett will not hold out →

Coaches, X's & O's

Shanahan: Griffin needs to play like Wilson

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Wilson against Detroit 2015Russell Wilson was drafted 73 picks after Robert Griffin in 2012, but the third-round quarterback has far outplayed the No. 2 overall pick the past three years. While Wilson has established himself as one of the NFL’s elite franchise quartermen, Griffin has turned into a journeyman.

Mike Shanahan admittedly shares some of the blame for Griffin’s initial failure in the NFL, and he points to Wilson as the way Griffin should have played in Washington.

With Griffin now in Cleveland and Shanahan in his third year out of the NFL, the coach who drafted Griffin told MMQB that Griffin can play like 2012 — if he plays like Wilson.

Continue reading Shanahan: Griffin needs to play like Wilson →

Free agency, Schedule

Pre-draft look at 2016 opponents

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2016 opponentsIn the NFL, April is draft month. But it also has become schedule month.

Word is the NFL will release the schedule April 19-21, a week before the April 28-30 draft.

We already know their opponents, of course. Based on 2015 results, the Seahawks have the fifth-toughest schedule next season. There’s nothing new about that, though: Their 2015 schedule ranked fourth and their 2014 slate was sixth.

But those preseason rankings don’t reflect changes teams have made since the last season ended.

As we transition from free agency month into draft month, let’s see how Seattle’s opponents have changed since last season.

Continue reading Pre-draft look at 2016 opponents →

NFL draft

Are Hawks targeting Bullard in second round?

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DRAFT COUNTDOWN: 4 weeks. Every Thursday until the draft, we look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

John Schneider draftingFor all of the talk about the Seahawks needing to target an offensive lineman with the 26th overall pick, it is looking more and more like they could be angling to draft a defensive lineman.

Florida’s Jonathan Bullard is the hot name attached to the Seahawks these days. They reportedly were set to bring him in for a visit — a move that could well foreshadow his arrival as a Seahawk in late April.

Continue reading Are Hawks targeting Bullard in second round? →

Free agency, State of the team

Still ‘tinkering,’ GM thinks Hawks are ‘very close’ to Super again

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Wilson and SchneiderIn the aftermath of the Seahawks’ stunning 43-8 demolition of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII, it sure seemed like the foundation of a dynasty had been laid.

A year later, sitting on the goal line at the end of Super Bowl XLIX, the Seahawks were poised to finish off the second floor of the three-story dynastic castle. But coaching mistakes ruined their first shot at that rare achievement.

First, Pete Carroll allowed Darrell Bevell to make the worst play call in Super Bowl history, and then Carroll followed it up by fielding a ridiculously overmatched offensive line in a stunningly underachieving 2015 season.

When you raise expectations the way Carroll and John Schneider have over the past four years, anything short of winning it all is total failure. The Seahawks were primed to become one of the league’s rare dynasties, and they screwed it up.

Now, as they begin Part III of the PJ Era, they think they can quickly recapture the spirit of 2013 and return to the Super Bowl.

Continue reading Still ‘tinkering,’ GM thinks Hawks are ‘very close’ to Super again →

Contracts, State of the team, The roster

Receiving unit looks so much better a year later

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P-Rich & Wilson workout
                           Paul Richardson catches a pass from Russell Wilson during a workout in California.

A year ago, the Seahawks were a mess at wide receiver. Paul Richardson was recovering from a torn ACL, Jermaine Kearse had played horribly in the two biggest games of the year, and Doug Baldwin had temporarily changed his name to Dookie. 

The Seahawks knew they had to get better at receiver, so they made two blockbuster trades — acquiring Jimmy Graham and Tyler Lockett.

Those two were just what Russell Wilson needed. Even though the offense struggled early in the season behind a poor offensive line and coaches who did not know how to use Graham (send him vertical!), the unit eventually took off.

Yes, they lost Graham to a torn patellar tendon in Week 12, but the stellar Lockett helped Baldwin and Kearse put together their best seasons.

Graham will spend this offseason recuperating and thus miss out on further developing rapport with Wilson until possibly September, but Richardson is back — already full speed as he works out with Wilson, Lockett and others in California. Kearse is back, too, on a three-year deal. And Baldwin is back for the final year of his old contract, pending a major extension.

Continue reading Receiving unit looks so much better a year later →

NFL draft, State of the team

More O-linemen to come, but when?

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NFL draftDRAFT COUNTDOWN: 5 weeks. Every Thursday until the draft, we look at draft-related topics involving the Seahawks.

As positively as they try to spin it, it is clear Pete Carroll and John Schneider are not finished with their offensive line.

Carroll said Garry Gilliam can handle left tackle, Justin Britt will improve at left guard, Mark Glowinski is ready to start at right guard and J’Marcus Webb can be better at right tackle for them than he has been for other teams.

Carroll said Gilliam is “an athlete who is really equipped to play” left tackle, Glowinski is “a natural guard” who should “be a big factor” and Britt “is just going to continue grow as a guard.”

“We think those guards give us a really secure spot with big upside,” he said.

But there’s no way the Seahawks are going to training camp with just these guys and center Patrick Lewis. Even on the off chance that they do not add a veteran before the draft next month, they certainly are going to add at least a couple linemen during the draft.

Continue reading More O-linemen to come, but when? →