Category Archives: The roster

Contracts, Free agency, The roster

“Riches” will determine 2018 moves

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Salary cap logoAs the Seahawks quickly get ready to embark on the second half of their season, their roster — like many around the NFL — looks quite a bit different than it did when the season started.

Seattle will head to Arizona without starters Cliff Avril, Chris Carson and Luke Joeckel. But John Schneider also has added Duane Brown and Dwight Freeney, who already have made their presences felt and will be big parts of the second-half playoff push.

As he tries to help the Hawks become a contender this season, Schneider also is evaluating and plotting his 2018 moves.

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Contracts, The roster, Trades

Schneider had to be ready for backfire

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Salary cap logoJohn Schneider was ready for this. He had to be.

He knew it was possible — if not probable — that Jeremy Lane could fail his physical. After all, Lane suffered yet another injury Sunday.

Seattle’s trade filed Tuesday indicated a conditional fifth-rounder going to Houston, and the condition probably was Lane passing his physical. Schneider and Houston GM Rick Smith probably wrote in the upgrade to a third in that case, which is how Seattle ended up giving up a 2018 third-rounder and 2019 second and getting back a 2018 fifth along with Duane Brown.

The bigger issue now is cap space: With Lane’s $2.1 million staying on the books, the Seahawks have around $500,000 in room — even after Russell Wilson signed off on a simple restructure to accommodate Brown’s remaining $5 million.

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The roster, Trades

Hawks finally tired of wasting a great defense

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Draft -- Schneider and CarrollJohn Schneider and Pete Carroll know they have wasted two years of their great defense because of a poor offensive line — one that is even worse than the middling units they had as they reached the Super Bowl in 2013 and 2014 — and the team’s chiefs apparently have had enough.

Fans have been calling for them to add a good left tackle since Russell Okung left after the 2015 season. After using Bradley Sowell, George Fant and Rees Odhiambo over the past two seasons, they finally did it — Schneider pulling off his second blockbuster deal in two months to add another Pro Bowl player.

Some think Schneider is selling the future for one last hurrah, but he’s really just making sure the Hawks don’t waste this window any more than they already have. And he’s doing it at little cost to the future.

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Injury report, The roster, Week 8: Houston

Freeney will play, plus injury updates

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Seahawks bandagesDwight Freeney is going to play this week. Jeremy Lane just wants to play. Dion Jordan is finally practicing, but DeShawn Shead and Malik McDowell are not ready yet.

Those were the top takeaways from Pete Carroll on Wednesday, as the Seahawks brought in the 37-year-old former All-Pro Freeney, apparently demoted Lane and allowed Jordan to return to practice.

Freeney, who has 122.5 career sacks with four teams, said he had always wanted to play in Seattle since leaving the Indianapolis Colts in 2013.

“I think it’s a little something different on defense in this city,” he said. “Now that I am here, I already know how special a place this is.”

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Injury report, The roster

Another lost vet bet, and we’re on O-line No. 3

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Seahawks bandagesThe Seahawks’ $8 million gamble failed.

Luke Joeckel made it five games before hitting the shelf again. He’s out at least a month, and it could be a lot longer. He’s just the latest big-money addition that hasn’t turned out for Seattle.

In eight offseasons in charge of the Seahawks, John Schneider has paid 11 outside veterans at least $4.8 million a year. For a variety of reasons, just two of them — Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril — have turned out to be worth it.

Unless Joeckel returns for the final five or six games and helps steady the offense through the playoffs, he will end up joining the likes of Sidney Rice, Zach Miller, Robert Gallery, Matt Flynn, Percy Harvin, Cary Williams and Jimmy Graham as big-money busts.

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The roster, Trades

How the Hawks could acquire Duane Brown

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Salary cap logoCould Duane Brown really be a Seahawk by the time the Hawks play the Houston Texans in Week 8?

We suspected the Seahawks might have checked into Houston’s holdout left tackle during training camp, so it’s not a big shock to see the Hawks apparently are still working that angle.

One report indicates the Seahawks could be close to getting the Texans to lower their asking price, with Seattle’s workout of Branden Albert on Monday helping their cause.

The obvious question: What would it take, in trade and cash, to get the 32-year-old three-time Pro Bowl tackle to Seattle?

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State of the team, The roster

With Avril in doubt, what is future of D-line?

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Avril on NFLNThe sudden concern over Cliff Avril’s health — and thus career — has put the spotlight on the future of Seattle’s defensive line.

Almost exactly 10 years ago, Mack Strong faced a similar neck injury and decided to immediately call it a career (after 15 years). Avril, injured against the Colts on Sunday, might face the same choice in his 10th season. He is out indefinitely as he and the team investigate the cause of the stingers that numbed his arms and hands after he was kicked in the chin tackling Jacoby Brissett.

“Whenever it’s the spinal stuff and you get stingers, that means that there’s some nerve action going on there and you’ve got to be really careful and really safe with all that stuff,” Pete Carroll told KIRO Radio on Friday. “In this case in particular, we’ve just got to make sure, so we’re going to take our time with this and let it quiet down. He’s really not uncomfortable, but just some of the tests he took showed some stuff and we’ve just got to make sure we’re really honoring it and make good choices here. We’re on the same page and (will) take it one step at a time, and we’ll get to it when we can.”

It’s entirely possible Avril will return soon — maybe even after the Week 6 bye. But the 31-year-old also might decide after this injury that the ongoing risk is not worth it anymore.

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The roster, Week 2: San Francisco

Hawks are doing some line dancing

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Logo -- San FranciscoThe Seahawks left themselves light at defensive tackle when they cut down to 53 players, choosing instead to keep 10 offensive linemen and J.D. McKissic.

It almost came back to bite them Sunday vs. San Francisco, as Carlos Hyde ripped off two big runs as he became the first back to go over 100 rushing yards twice against Pete Carroll’s defense in Seattle. So Carroll decided to beef up the middle again, calling up Garrison Smith from the practice squad to replace David Bass.

It’s the first of what could be two or three moves in the trenches this week.

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Contracts, The roster, Trades

DT notes: McDowell back, Richardson’s future

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Seahawks bandagesWhile 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.”

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State of the team, The roster

Analysis of Seattle’s initial 53-man roster

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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.

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