The Seahawks have not had much luck with their top draft picks under John Schneider, and their most recent three are continuing the tradition.
The top picks from the last three drafts are off to horrible starts this year, suffering from the results of their bad judgment, and it makes us — and surely team brass — wonder whether these guys are destined to follow in the footsteps of previous top picks.
Continue reading Top picks continue to be unreliable
When the Seahawks drafted four defensive backs in April, Pete Carroll said the new crew might end up being the best bunch of backups in the NFL over the next couple of years.
That’s because Carroll knew he wasn’t ready to blow up the Legion of Boom quite yet. The new deal given to Kam Chancellor this week proves that.
With Chancellor signed (through 2020), Seattle’s elite starting defense is set to remain intact for the next two seasons (unless Richard Sherman gets traded).
The Seahawks are quickly approaching a crossroads, though — the point where they will have to start moving on from some of their longtime core players if they are going to remain competitive.
The Seahawks’ first day of camp was notable mostly for the guys who were not available, but there is nothing to worry about.
Tyler Lockett, one of three PUPs, failed his physical but will be back shortly. DeShawn Shead, who had a minor cleanup surgery on his ACL knee, was not expected anyway. Rookie Justin Senior is the other PUP.
Malik McDowell and C.J. Prosise were the surprising absences on Day 1, though not a big deal since neither is imperative to Seattle’s Super Bowl challenge.
Continue reading Don’t worry about the guys who weren’t there
The Seahawks began training camp today with some pretty simple edicts: Build an offensive line, foster better depth and recreate the chemistry that helped them to Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014.
The Seahawks have been one of the best teams in the league the last five years — No. 3 in wins (56) behind New England (62) and Denver (59) — but they have been on a steady decline since winning Super Bowl XLVIII.
After winning 36 games from 2012 to 2014, the Seahawks have won 20 over the past two years. Double-digit wins are always a sign of success, but it has been a disappointment to see the Seahawks fade — from the Patriots’ 1-yard line in XLIX to bad playoff losses the last two years.
This year they have to reverse the trend. There are three keys to doing it:
As NFL players continue to grumble about how “underpaid” they are relative to the NBA (and MLB), Richard Sherman just doubled down with a challenge for players to be ready to strike when the NFL CBA expires after the 2020 season.
For a Stanford guy, Sherman is not very smart. He and these other whiners don’t even understand the economics of their own sport, they apparently can’t do simple math, and Sherman obviously has no grasp of the NFL’s labor history.
Quarterback contracts are just a game of leapfrog, so it’s no surprise to see Derek Carr jumping over Andrew Luck as the highest-paid passer in the NFL.
It’s easy to see where the market is going — a few more guys will leap Carr before the Seahawks and Russell Wilson start talking extension in a couple of years.
At least four more deals are likely to exceed Carr’s $25 million a year, and the APY could be around $30 million by 2020.
Continue reading QB leapfrog: Wilson will make another jump in 2019
The Seahawks embarked on their summer vacation in high spirits — all the apparent negativity of last season and this offseason seemingly dissolved in a big pool of love and happiness. And they seem very focused.
As the Hawks conducted their minicamp last week, we heard nothing but positive things from Seattle’s top defenders. Earl Thomas is healthy again, in mind and body. Kam Chancellor has polished up his once-dented leadership armor. Richard Sherman sounded like a team player again. And Michael Bennett is physically lighter but still philosophically heavy.
The players seemed of one accord, ready to get back on the Super track. And Pete Carroll said his team is as mentally sharp as it ever has been heading into summer.
“I think we had our most compliant OTA season and really proud of that, finally,” he said, referring to penalties levied against his club for overdoing it in past years. “Old dog, new tricks, man. It was hard. But we finally figured it out. And, in doing so, we were able to up the reps that we got on guys.
“I think we’re the smartest we’ve been coming out of this camp than any of the past years. We’ve had the most situation work. We’ve had the chance to put guys in all variety of spots that they have to think and make decisions and choose how they play and fit in with us. So we just feel like we’ve made a lot of movement forward. We have a lot of stuff to get done in camp that does not fit this time of year. This is OTA football. Not real football. That will come.”
Before it does, let’s take a look at how the roster stands …
