Tag Archives: Tye Smith

Hawks make two trades, keep 12 DBs — for now

As usual, the Seahawks made a lot of fans scratch their heads with some of their moves on cutdown day. But, as usual, some of the moves are going to be very temporary.

It was no surprise that John Schneider pulled a trade — he has made at least one in every preseason (16 total). But the surprise was that he traded for two safeties.

The Seahawks reportedly added Dewey McDonald (6 feet, 220 pounds) from Oakland and L.J. McCray (6 feet, 215 pounds) from San Francisco. The Hawks reportedly gave up conditional seventh-rounders for both (2017 seventh or McDonald, 2018 pick for McCray).

With those additions, the Seahawks made a deep secondary even deeper — keeping 12 for now. They kept undrafted rookies Tyvis Powell (not a surprise) and De’Andre Elliott (a big surprise) over young veterans Tye Smith and Marcus Burley (injured).

The Seahawks also terminated the contracts of veterans Jahri Evans and Will Tukuafu; waived DT Brandin Bryant, TE Clayton Echard, S Keenan Lambert, LB Steve Longa, WR Douglas McNeil III, WR E.Z. Nwachukwu, WR Kasen Williams, RB Troymaine Pope, G/C Will Pericak, WR Antwan Goodley, DE Tylor Harris, S Keenan Lambert, WR Kenny Lawler, LB Kache Palacio, DE Ryan Robinson and DT Tani Tupou; and waived/injured TE Joe Sommers, DT Jordan Hill, LB Eric Pinkins and OT Terry Poole.

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Hawks at Kansas City: What we’re watching

At Kansas City logoIt’s finally time. For most of the wannabe Seahawks anyway.

The Seahawks kick off their 2016 preseason Saturday in Kansas City (1:30 pm PT), and Pete Carroll and his coaches will take the next step in evaluating these guys.

“There (are) so many things to see, so many areas to watch,” he said Friday. “For the coaches, so many exciting guys that see challenge for the first time in a game situation and we’ll start making sense of this thing. This is one huge opportunity to do that.”

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Another busted year for Simon, who is almost out of chances

Tharold SimonTharold Simon’s career with the Seahawks looks just about finished.

Sure, he has one more year left on his rookie contract, but the cornerback simply has not been able to stay healthy in his three NFL seasons and it sure seems doubtful he ever will.

The Seahawks have shown great patience with injury-prone players, and it paid off with cornerbacks Walter Thurmond and Byron Maxwell.

Simon’s career arc seemed like it was following Maxwell’s — until Simon’s season was ended yet again Saturday when he was put on injured reserve.

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On their backs: Hawks short on RBs and CBs

Seahawks bandagesSeattle’s injury report is “backed” up.

Five of the seven players who did not practice Wednesday are “backs”– running backs or cornerbacks – leaving the Seahawks pretty thin at those spots.

Not practicing – and therefore questionable at this point for Sunday in Cincinnati – were running backs Marshawn Lynch (hamstring) and Fred Jackson (high ankle sprain) and cornerbacks Tharold Simon (toe), Marcus Burley (thumb), and Tye Smith (hip). Joining them were defensive lineman Demarcus Dobbs (shoulder) and linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis (hamstring), who both missed the win over Detroit on Monday.

On the bright side, Brandon Mebane (groin), Ricardo Lockette (breath) and Steven Terrell (hip) all returned to practice, and Pete Carroll said he is “pretty hopeful” that Mebane will play.

Carroll said Lynch is “day-to-day” and “it will take us all the way to the end of the week before we know. He did make a lot of progress last week and was able to run around some and all that. He’s worked really hard at it, so we’ll see if we can get it done.”

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Preseason status report & projections: Defense

Dion Bailey Aug. 10 (Seahawks.com)The secondary is one of the Seahawks’ most competitive spots this summer, but most of the competition has been missing the past week or so thanks to a
legion of boo-boos.

In Kansas City, the Hawks were without seven of their 11 cornerbacks and had only four safeties available. It was so bad that DeShawn Shead moved from safety to start at corner and fifth-round rookie Tye Smith played almost the entire game.

Shead and Smith both took advantage of their chances, drawing praise from coach Pete Carroll after playing tight coverage throughout the game.

Now it’s time for the rest of the corners to get their chances when the Seahawks play the Chargers in San Diego on Saturday night. Richard Sherman, Will Blackmon and Tharold Simon all are expected to play — with Blackmon needing to nail down the nickel job and Simon needing to prove he should be on the team (forget about starting).

Meanwhile, safety Earl Thomas apparently is on track to be ready for the opener in St. Louis on Sept. 13.

“Earl got a lot of work this week. He’s getting ready to be in shape to play for the opener,” Carroll said. “His timing is getting down, his calls, you can see him fitting in, his intensity that he brings is starting to show up. That’s important.”

The Seahawks have to cut the roster from 90 to 75 by Tuesday and then to 53 four days later.

Here’s a look at the defense heading into the third preseason game:

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CHAWK LINES -- Training camp new

Michael Bennett made some waves this morning talking about mediocre QBs getting mega money, but he also said of his own contract dissatisfaction, “I can’t let my unhappiness trump my professionalism.”

Marshawn Lynch was fined $75,000 for not talking after the NFC title game, bringing his total fines from last year to $195,000 (as far as we know).

It appears Evan Mathis might be willing to play for an incentive-laden deal that paid him $3.5 million or so. The Hawks could do that.

Mathis is going to pick a team by the end of the week, agent Drew Rosenhaus said.

Rumblings that the Seahawks might be willing to make a concession for Kam Chancellor. #CanOfWorms

The Hawks also had free-agent center Samson Satele in for a visit.

While the Hawks consider adding a veteran, they will start the same five this week — Okung, Britt, Nowak, Sweezy, Gilliam.

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Mixed results from offense, secondary as front seven dominates

Wagner vs. Chiefs Aug. 21The Seahawks entered their second preseason game with a lot of questions on the offensive line and secondary and came out with some mixed answers in a 14-13 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City.

They also showed what Jimmy Graham will do for them, saw more from Tyler Lockett and got another great game from their No. 1 front seven on defense.

With Justin Britt moving from right tackle to left guard and Garry Gilliam stepping in at right tackle, the offensive line performed much better than it had in the opener vs. Denver, which got seven sacks.

Wilson was not sacked as he completed 9 of 15 passes for 78 yards. But the first offense really struggled again to run the ball and could not get into the end zone. Robert Turbin ran for a mere four yards on six carries, and Christine Michael ran for 27 on 10 attempts (and also busted a running play by going the wrong way). It wasn’t any better than the first game, when the Seahawks totaled just 89 yards on 24 attempts.

Pete Carroll said he liked the pass protection but added, “We’re not running the ball as well as we would like at this time. … That might change once No. 24 (Marshawn Lynch) gets in there.”

He said the offensive line “did not get the movement we need.” He also confirmed that free-agent guard Evan Mathis is coming to Seattle for a physical Saturday.

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In secondary, even replacements are hurt

Seahawks bandagesJust over two weeks into camp, the Seahawks have even fewer cornerbacks than they started with — as impossible as that might seem.

They were so thin at the position in the first 10 days that they traded for Mohammed Seisay and converted Doug McNeil from wide receiver. And now those guys are hurt — Seisay with a groin and McNeil with an ankle, joining Richard Sherman (hip), Will Blackmon (groin), Jeremy Lane (ACL, arm) and Tharold Simon (shoulder).

With only Cary Williams, Marcus Burley, Tye Smith and Triston Wade healthy, the Hawks needed some bodies at the position, so they added two guys just to get through practice.

“We need legs at corner right now, so we’ll give these guys a chance,” Pete Carroll said of Jeremy Crayton and Keelan Johnson. “We’re a little bit behind with Sherm not being able to make it back and Will not making it back right away and Seisay gone, too, so we just need them for legs right now. But they’ll get a chance. They got tested today pretty good.”

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Schneider loves trading with Mayhew’s Lions

John Schneider (via Fresh Files)John Schneider loves trading with the Detroit Lions.

His deal Sunday to acquire cornerback Mohammed Seisay for a 2016 sixth-round pick was his seventh trade with Lions general manager Martin Mayhew since Schneider became Seattle’s GM in 2010.

It was his 35th trade overall and his third this year — although it pales in comparison to the deals for Jimmy Graham and Tyler Lockett.

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Eight picks were Schneider’s fewest

NFL draftThe Seahawks finished the 2015 draft with eight picks — the fewest they have had under John Schneider. They had never had fewer than nine.

They started with 11, of course, but spent four on Tyler Lockett, a two-time Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year who tied the conference record for kick-return average (28.5) while averaging 15.2 yards per punt return and setting 17 school records as a receiver and returner.

“We wanted a returner in this program so badly,” Pete Carroll said. “John just needed to figure out where we were going to get him, and I am thrilled we got him. He is such a special return guy.”

Lockett was the only playmaker the Hawks added — unless you count Jimmy Graham, which they do.

The pick breakdown this year: 3 OL, 2 DE, 2 DB, 1 WR. It isn’t much different than the five-year trend coming in, as OL, DL and DB have been Schneider’s highest-drafted positions. He now has used 12 picks each on OL and DB and 11 on DL.

“John did a great job again,” Carroll said. “The board came off like we were hoping and so many guys fit some issues that we had, some needs that we had. It was an awesome job.”

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