Who is Seattle taking?

[navyhawk51]

I read that they were sold on Branch and Burleson and were gonna put TJ In the slot.

true story... for now.

[navyhawk51]

With all due respect, Rocky Bernard hasn't been the Seahawks best DT for several years now. Marcus Tubbs was the 'Hawks best DT in 05, his one and only healthy year in the NFL. Mebane has been our best DT for the past two years, not an aging Bernard.

I e-mailed this to Matt and Walter before, but one thing to keep in mind is Tim Ruskell's draft history. Running Seahawks drafts, he has shown a strong preference for experienced college players:

Lawrence Jackson (Four years, 51 starts)
John Carlson (Four years, 31 starts)
Josh Wilson (Four years, 28 starts)
Kelly Jennings (Three years, 29 starts)
Darryl Tapp (Four years, 30 starts)
Chris Spencer (Three years, 11 starts)
Lofa Tatupu (Three years, 38 starts between Maine and USC)

This trend goes back further through past drafts he was involved with in Tampa and Atlanta, where there was a general preference for experienced college players.

The only exception with the Seahawks was Chris Spencer, who's been a borderline player at center, but was drafted as a great physical talent with a really high upside. I think Ruskell might feel burned by that pick - Spencer is clearly not a first-round talent at this point. Crabtree would be another low-experience, high-upside talent, but Ruskell might balk at the lack of college game film and experience after the Spencer pick.

Seattle's biggest failure last season, outside of WR and OL injuries, was an inability to rush the passer on defense after Patrick Kerney got hurt. I think the Seahawks will draft a pass-rushing DE. Lawrence Jackson is more of a rushing down DE, with his size (270lbs) and power. Having a pass rushing DE to compliment Kerney would provide the best value for the Seahawks needs at this point. Kerney is also getting a little older, so finding that pass rusher should be on the Seahawks mind.

It should be Brian Orakpo. 19 starts, four-year player, 47 games played, great pass rush skills. His biggest knock is his game against the run, which he wouldn't be expected to excel at right off.

very true.

[ptrick]

Having half the staff go see Sanchez is a sideshow to build the possibility that we might take him to entice somebody to trade up to get him. Now that the Cutler situation is resolved, this is more of a possibility. Whether they get a nibble or not is hard to predict. You only need one sucker!

They won't be cutting Branch this year. The cap savings is only around a million and they would be eating around 4 mil of dead money. Cutting him this year would be stupid from a cap management standpoint. Same goes with Burleson. This perception of crappy Seahawk wideouts is based on a year where 8, count em 8 WR went down. A TJ, Branch, Burleson trio ain't bad when healthy. I agree that's more of a gamble with Branch, but Burleson has been healthy his whole career until last year. Crabtree will not be the pick.

With Ruskell's penchant for defense, I could definitely see Arakpo or Raji. It was confirmed this morning on KJR by the new D-Coordinator that they are looking at Cory Redding to play alot of end, so if it is a D-line pick I would lean Raji.

But my guess is Monroe if they don't trade down. This will be Walter's last year with the hawks. The cap figure for next year for him is huge, makes cutting him inevitable. They have to address this, and if the value is there it just makes sense. Boring, but necessary.

[who-dey]

It amazes me that the Seahawks would be happy with their receiving core. Did they watch the team last season? If that is really true, they're taking Monroe. Still that would be shocking to me.

[bsean63]

i say they take raji or crabtree, but they could nab the best OT to, **** idk this is a hard one to pick!

[ptrick]

It amazes me that the Seahawks would be happy with their receiving core. Did they watch the team last season? If that is really true, they're taking Monroe. Still that would be shocking to me.

Whodey - Yes I watched the team last season. And I watched a bunch of waiver wire no names running around looking lost trying to grasp the WCO with three days of practice under their belt getting thrown to by the 2nd string QB. It was atrocious, and unprecedented. I am willing to gamble that we will not have 8 wide receivers go out with injury this year. Think about that. Every starter, gone. Every reserve, gone. Of course the receivers were bad last year. But guess what? The defense was even worse! The offense had an excuse. Not so for the defense.

Signing TJ then drafting crabtree would be overkill at one position when we have so many problems elsewhere. O-line, D-line, secondary.

Crabtree will not be the pick.

[ptrick]

And for those who are not aware, Walter Jones had microfracture surgery in the offseason. There is a decent percentage chance that he may not come back from that at age 35. I hope he does, but this has got to go into the decision making process.

Here is a nice summary of our situation with Walter:

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2009/2/11/...walter-jones-s

[thegreatdane]

I feel like the Hawks are trying to win immediately. It'd be a self-defeating procedure to draft a LT who's just going to sit behind Jones for a year after spending big bucks on Housh (who's not getting any younger). I think they wait on drafting a lineman -till either later on day one or until '10.
I could see them going for Orakpo, but DE isn't their largest need.
I'd have it come down to Crabtree and Raji. Crabtree could make the Receiving corps a definite strength, while a Mebane-Raji combo at DT could maybe make Brian Russell serviceable at safety (doubtful, though)

[Cicero]

I feel like the Hawks are trying to win immediately. It'd be a self-defeating procedure to draft a LT who's just going to sit behind Jones for a year after spending big bucks on Housh (who's not getting any younger). I think they wait on drafting a lineman -till either later on day one or until '10.
I could see them going for Orakpo, but DE isn't their largest need.
I'd have it come down to Crabtree and Raji. Crabtree could make the Receiving corps a definite strength, while a Mebane-Raji combo at DT could maybe make Brian Russell serviceable at safety (doubtful, though)

Ya, Brian Russel has to go.

[MesaBlanca]

it's not raji for sure
first of all, the seahawks signed colin cole, traded for cory redding, and already have red bryant and brandon mebane
why would spend money on a DT when they already have a handful?
Plus recently raji failed his drug test, which goes against the Tim Ruskell code. Tim Ruskell drafts good character guys, not guys that make stupid decisions.
So im thinking 99.9% it's not raji. IF that .1% does draft raji, congratulations seattle, you made a stupid decision