Michael Bennett posted a letter describing a frightening encounter with Las Vegas police.
TMZ released a video showing Bennett being handcuffed by the cop.
Las Vegas police held a press conference in which they said race played no factor in how they dealt with Bennett.
Video clearly shows the cop holding a gun on Bennett as he prepares to cuff him.
While rumors continue to circulate that Malik McDowell might never play again, Pete Carroll said the Seahawks’ top pick (35th overall) will return to the team “with really no demands on him” so “he has a sense of coming to work.”
Carroll also confirmed what was pretty clear: The Sheldon Richardson trade was driven largely by the loss of McDowell, as the team sought an interior rusher for this season (and beyond).
“That was an area we really were excited about him coming in and adding in,” Carroll said of McDowell, “and then when we realized we weren’t going to have him, it just made us look in earnest to see if we could find some way to help that spot.”
Continue reading DT notes: McDowell back, Richardson’s future
Some observers think Seattle’s big move to add Sheldon Richardson is a sign that team brass thinks the Super Bowl window is closing.
Quite the contrary: The Richardson deal will help the Seahawks in the future as much as it helps them in the present.
We previously talked about Young Sheldon’s expected impact as a one-year Big Bang rental, but the deal also gives Seattle a lot of flexibility as John Schneider and Pete Carroll decide how to configure their roster for 2019 and beyond.
The bottom of the roster is going to change over the next week and beyond, but once the Seahawks finally announced their initial 53 (and the corrections that followed), a few things were immediately clear:
**They powered up their defensive line with former first-round picks Sheldon Richardson and Marcus Smith, who replaced Ahtyba Rubin and Cassius Marsh. But they have only eight linemen for now.
**They switched up at backup quarterback, going with the safer Austin Davis over the mercurial Trevone Boykin.
**They kept 10 offensive linemen for now, with undrafted guard Jordan Roos making it and the Hawks acquiring Isaiah Battle from Kansas City. That seems likely to change.
**Seattle upset a few people by not keeping local favorite Kasen Williams. He and Pierre Desir were initially listed as waived/injured, but the team apparently screwed up. Both were just waived — no injuries.
Continue reading Analysis of Seattle’s initial 53-man roster
It took John Schneider almost six months into the league year to do it, but he pulled off the big bang we thought he would.
Every odd year since 2011, he has made a stunning signing or trade — and he obviously is hoping Sheldon Richardson turns out more like Jimmy Graham than Percy Harvin or Sidney Rice. Even if it’s for only one year.
The deal that sent Jermaine Kearse, a 2018 second-round pick and a seventh-rounder to the New York Jets for Richardson and a seventh is Seattle’s Big Bang Theory: Add a Young Sheldon and create a universe in which Seattle’s defense goes where no defense has gone before.
For one year anyway. This is almost surely just a one-year rental. And it works best that way.
Continue reading Big Bang Theory: One-year rental works for all
Last year proved pretty definitively that backup QB is one of the least important positions in Seattle.
They went with a rookie behind Russell Wilson, who then refused to miss a start despite major knee and ankle sprains that had him functioning at around 50 percent or less for much of the season.
If Wilson didn’t miss a game last year, it seems unlikely he will ever miss one (barring an ACL injury or something similarly major).
So this summer’s battle between incumbent No. 2 Trevone Boykin and Austin Davis is not really a big thing. Still, the Hawks need a second passer and need to make a choice.
The question Seattle coaches must ask themselves: Do they want a guy who makes big plays both ways or a guy who makes smart plays? Because that is the difference between Boykin and Davis.
Continue reading Backup QB choice: Big plays both ways or just play it smart?
As they prepared for their final preseason game, the Seahawks seemed to have made some key roster decisions.
The report that they are looking to trade Jermaine Kearse basically confirms that J.D. McKissic will be on the 53-man roster after Saturday’s cuts. It also could mean they are clearing a spot for Tanner McEvoy to join receivers Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, Paul Richardson, Kasen Williams and Amara Darboh.
With the do-it-all McKissic now counting as a running back, the Seahawks seem locked in on these positional numbers: QB 2, RB 6, TE 3, DL 9, LB 6, ST 3. And most of the decisions are made at those spots, with backup QB maybe the only position of contention (if David Bass and Marcus Smith are the final two D-linemen and D.J. Alexander is a keeper at linebacker).
So the fluid positions appear to be WR (5 or 6), OL (8 or 9) and DB (9 or 10) — with one of those groups destined to go light a player.
It made too much sense for them not to try: The Seahawks reportedly are shopping Jermaine Kearse.
The Seahawks don’t want to keep more than six receivers. Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett and Paul Richardson are the other veterans. Kasen Williams has played his way onto the team this preseason, and Amara Darboh, who has struggled with injuries, figures to stick because the Hawks won’t throw away a third-round pick this early. And Tanner McEvoy is a 6-foot-6 target who can throw passes and block kicks.
Thomas Rawls and C.J. Prosise “can go” vs. Oakland, but will they?
Five more Seahawks are undergoing the blood treatment K.J. Wright said made him feel “1,000 percent” better.
Doctor reviews on Regenokine are mixed, but the Seahawks are always in “relentless pursuit of a competitive edge.”
Tyler Lockett is one of the guys in the Regenokine “circle,” meaning he won’t play at all this preseason.
Doug Baldwin did not undergo Regenokine, but he did go to London for preventive stem-cell treatment.
As the preseason winds down and Saturday’s cuts quickly approach, the Seahawks face some tough decisions.
Choices at running back and receiver are going to have a trickle-down effect, possibly affecting the lines or the secondary.
Perhaps the biggest decision will be J.D. McKissic, whose status basically depends on whether Tyler Lockett is going to return kicks. McKissic was the full-time return man this preseason, and he showed his versatility as a third-down back and slot receiver — he had 118 all-purpose yards vs. Kansas City.
If Pete Carroll doesn’t want Lockett returning kicks as he comes off a broken leg, it could be good news for McKissic. And bad news for someone else.
Also keep in mind: John Schneider usually makes a trade right around cutdown day, and the Hawks typically add a couple of guys — other teams’ cuts — who were not even in Seattle’s camp.
The Seahawks are as deep as they were in 2013, so other teams will be interested in their castoffs. Schneider would be smart to try to trade a couple of guys at the deepest positions — maybe Jermaine Kearse, Paul Richardson or a cornerback — this week.
As the Hawks prepare for their final preseason game, vs. Oakland on Thursday, Carroll said, “The decisions are really difficult, and I anticipate that. We told you this has been one of the deepest groups we’ve had. There’s a lot of good football players here, and so we’ll just try to figure it out and do the best we can.”
Here’s how we see it (and what Carroll says):
Continue reading Projecting the roster before the final game
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 