Hanson Sports Blog

2011 NBA Draft: Parker for Oden package a good idea for Portland?

2011-06-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

Portland- As the 2011 approaches the NBA rumor mill is churning with Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs) and Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics) all possibly available for the right price.

San Antonio is reportedly wanting to move into the lottery section of the draft (top-14 picks) in any trade for Parker. Portland holds the 21st and 51st overall picks in this years draft, neither of which are close to lottery picks or that would interest San Antonio.

If Portland is desperate enough to go "all in" for Parker they could make a creative enough package to get a deal done with San Antonio.

Portland has the restricted free agent contract of former No.1 overall pick Greg Oden, along with role players Rudy Fernandez, and either Nick Batum or Wesley Matthews packaged with their first-round pick this season and next season.

It would have to look like this:

Portland sends: C Greg Oden, G Rudy Fernandez, F Nick Batum and two first-round picks (2011, 2012).

San Antonio sends: G Tony Parker and first-round pick in 2012.

It's a stretch but it's still a possibility.

Donovan McNabb traded to Washington

2010-04-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Usually journalist and especially good journalist don’t usually use “I” in articles and recently I’ve been trying to improve on that and just stick with reporting. However I’ve decided to try a little experiment and create a new series of articles titled “In my opinion” which will include players, coaches and other aspects of the NFL an give my opinion on those topics. So articles titled “In my opinion” will be the only time I use “I” in an article, but when it comes to reporting on the Seahawks and the draft, “I” won’t be included. Just needed to clear that with this disclaimer. Even though my typical “in my opinion” slogan isn’t in the title this is still apart of my series.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reported that the Philadelphia Eagles have agreed to trade quarterback Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins in exchange for their second-round pick (No. 37 overall) and either a third or fourth-round selection in the 2011 draft depending on McNabb’s performance.

Right off the top the first three things that come into my mind are one, was there really nothing better in terms of compinsation for Donovan that the Eagles could have gotten? Two, why trade Donovan inside the division? Third, who was the final person in the Eagles front office that pushed this trade through.

I had a feeling that Donovan wouldn’t be apart of the Eagles franchise past the draft and it was only a matter of weeks that he would have been traded. The fact that McNabb was traded was the least surprising part of this entire fiasco.

The most surprising part was the fact that McNabb, the Eagles best quarterback in franchise history was traded within the division, and above all the Washington Redskins.

Throughout the off-season the biggest move the Redskins had made was to bring in former Broncos’ head coach Mike Shanahan as the teams new head coach and executive vice president. Other than Shanahan being tabbed as the head coach both Washington and Dallas, the two teams expected to be big spenders in this uncapped year have seemingly been dead in terms of player movement.

Today the Redskins came out of the shell in grand fashion by trading for the 33-year-old quarterback McNabb.

Not only does this trade effect the Redskins and Eagles but it also shakes up the upcoming 2010 NFL draft and more importantly the top 10 picks.

Over the last few weeks the Redskins had growing interest in the top two quarterbacks in this years class, Sam Bradford from Oklahoma and Jimmy Clausen from Notre Dame.

Most recently the Redskins brought in Clausen for a two-day workout and visit with Redskins brass but now with the acquisition of McNabb the move allows them to turn away from Clausen and move to their second biggest need of the off-season, left tackle.

Russell Okung, Trent Williams and Bryan Bulaga are all now stand atop the Redskins draft board and all could have their names called by Roger Goodell come April 22nd when the Redskins pick at fourth overall.

For the Eagles it turns the page on the storybook career of Donovan McNabb to second-year quarterback Kevin Kolb, who the Eagles selected in the second-round of the 2008 NFL draft.

With the Eagles arming themselves with another second-round draft pick it allows them to look around and pick and chose if they want to move up in the draft OR make a move for Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha should they decided they want to.

Either way you look at it the Eagles now have one first-round pick (No. 24 overall), two second-round picks (No. 37, 55 overall), two third-round picks (No. 70, 87 overall) two fourth-round picks (No. 105, 121 overall), and four picks from rounds five through seven.

Fair to say the Eagles could be looking to rebuild around Kolb or move to acquire help around Kolb. I don’t see anything bad coming from this trade for both the Eagles and Redskins.

In the end in my opinion the Eagles will come out the winners of this blockbuster trade for three reasons.

One, Kevin Kolb while mostly untested gets to become the full-time starting quarterback in Philadelphia with a world of talented players around him. Receivers DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin and Brent Celek coulped with running backs LeSean McCoy and Leonard Weaver.

Looking at the moves the Eagles have made this off-season it’s clear that head coach Andy Reid wants to get a lot younger on offense and move on from the “McNabb/Westbrook era”.

Two, it allows the Eagles to continue to revamp the team roster from last season with the addition of another second-round pick that could net safety Taylor Mays, Eric Berry (it’s possible if they want to move way up to get him) as well as a few other possibilities.

Three, they finally turn the page on Donovan McNabb to Kevin Kolb. Plain and simple the Eagles could not move forward with McNabb as the teams starting quarterback and that became very clear after Reid announced at the NFL meetings a few weeks ago that the Eagles “were willing to listen to offers for McNabb, Kolb and Vick”.

Now for the Washington Redskins they can’t really go wrong with McNabb as their starting quarterback because no doubt he’s the better quarterback over Jason Campbell and can make them a more competitive team next year than both Campbell and Clausen/Bradford.

The only question coming from Redskins fans will be who was really behind this. It has the looks of a typical Dan Snyder move, bring in the biggest name you can to drive up premium ticket prices.

If you go back to last off-season the Skins’ were linked to anyone not named Jason Campbell that could throw.

Jay Cuter (now in Chicago), Mark Sanchez (now in New York), Brett Favre (now in Minnesota) as well as numerous other “franchise” quarterbacks who could replace Jason Campbell.

So as I stated before, in my opinion the Eagles will come out the winners of this shocking blockbuster trade that will see long-time Eagles starting quarterback Donovan McNabb head to Washington D.C for two draft picks.

NOTE:

One other side note that I would like to point out and as I touched on above is how this trade effects the upcoming draft.

All indications show that Sam Bradford will be heading through the arch in St. Louis and become the first overall pick of the 2010 draft.

However the second best quarterback in the draft, Jimmy Clausen, had been highly touted to Washington but with the acquisition of Donvoan McNabb the Redskins no longer become a team interested in Clausen’s services allowing him to slide down the draft board a bit.

The Seattle Seahawks become the next team inline for Clausen’s services now that Washington has passed on him for the veteran McNabb.

As I spoke about in my last article “Why Jimmy Clausen is still an option for the Seahawks” the possiblity becomes even greater with the Skins’ bowing out.

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NCAA Tournament Round One: Villanova squeaks by, Washington Upsets Marquette

2010-03-18T22:23:00.001-07:00

The NCAA tournament is off and running now and already the field of 65 has lost some big name schools. Without a doubt this has been the most intense first round of the NCAA tournament in a long time with five games being decided by three points or less, two of which went to overtime.

Second seed Villanova started the tournament off against fifteen seed Robert Morris in a game in which Villanova wasn't expecting to be fighting it out in overtime just to move on.

Robert Morris led Villanova 28-22 at the end of the first half and for the majority both Villanova and Robert Morris weren't firing on all cylinders and the largest lead of the half was nine.

Scottie Reynolds, the Villanova star started the game off the bench because of an off-the-court incident this past week which hindered Villanova for the majority of the first half.

With 0:02 left on the clock Villanova had a chance to seal the game but Maurice Sutton was blocked from behind going in for the dunk which forced Villanova and Robert Morris into overtime.

In overtime Villanova stepped up led by senior guard Scottie Reynolds and never relinquished the lead and coincidentally Reynolds put the game out of reach by making good on two free throws sending Villanova into the second round with a 73-70 overtime victory.

Reynolds led Villanova in scoring with 20 points off the bench but was a dismal 2-15 from the field (1-8 on three pointers) but was 15-16 from the free throw line.

Late in the day in six seeded Marquette took on eleven seeded Washington in a game that most predicted Marquette would win. However Washington, led by senior Quincy Pondexter and sophomore Isiah Thomas didn't let that happen.

In a high powered offensive game the Huskies and Eagles went back-and-forth the entire game but in the end the Washington senior, Quincy Pondexter, took over the last 0:34 seconds of the game and set up the Huskies to upset Marquette.

Pondexter grabbed the offensive rebound off of Isaiah Thomas' miss and let the clock tick all the way down to three seconds before driving in the paint for bank-shot off the board that gave the Huskies the 80-78 lead with 1.7 seconds left in the game.

Marquette missed the half court prayer and the Washington Huskies upset six seeded Marquette to advance into the second round for a second straight year.

Isaiah Thomas led the Huskies with 19 points and Quincy Pondexter backed Thomas up with his eleventh double-double of the season with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Other notable upsets in the the first half of the first round were Murray State's 66-65 upset over Vanderbilt, Saint Marry 80-71 over Richmond, Old Dominion 51-50 over Notre Dame, Northern Iowa 69-66 over UNLV and Wake Forest buzzer beater over Texas 81-80.

The major upset on Thursday came with fourteen seed Ohio knocking off three seeded Gerogetown 97-83.

Notable games tomorrow:

(5)Michigan State-(12)New Mexico State
(8) California-(9) Lousiville
(5) Tempell-(12) Cornell

Notable non-upsets Thursday:

(1)Kentucky 100-71 (16) East Tennessee State
(1) Kansas 90-74 (16) Lehigh
(6) Tennessee 62-59 (12) San Diego State

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Seahawks Finalize Whitehurst Deal; Agree To Contract Extension

2010-03-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

Early in the day Wednesday the Arizona Cardinals came to an agreement with free agent quarterback Derek Anderson on a two-year $7.25 million dollar contract which ended the Cardinals pursuit of restricted free agent quarterback Charlie Whitehurst.

Charlie Whitehurst’s decision came down to the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks and Whitehurst informed the Chargers front office that he wanted to be traded to Seattle.

Today the Seahawks and Chargers came to trade agreement for restricted free agent quarterback Charlie Whitehurst. The Seahawks will send their second-round pick (No. 40 overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2011 NFL Draft to the Chargers in exchange for quarterback Charlie Whitehurst and their second-round pick (No. 60 overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft.

After the trade was finalized the Seahawks and Whitehurst came to an agreement on a two-year, $10 million dollar contract making him the teams second-string quarterback and the future starting quarterback.

Seattle paid a steep price for an unproven quarterback, who while still young has not played in an NFL regular season game in his five year career.

The Seahawks gave up twenty spots in the 2010 draft as well as a third-round pick in 2011 for Whitehurst, who Pete Carroll believes has what it takes to be a franchise quarterback for the Seahawks and it’s impossible to judge if Whitehurst can be that franchise quarterback.

By acquiring Whitehurst as well as giving the quarterback a sizable contract extension it signals that the Seahawks won’t be selecting a top quarterback in the upcoming April NFL Draft, which includes heavily rumored Jimmy Clausen.

It will have to be a wait-and-see approach by Seattle Seahawks fans before they know exactly what Whitehurst can bring to the field for the Seattle Seahawks.

Whitehurst’s bio is not that thick by any means but it is still solid.

Whitehurst was an original third-round pick (No. 81 overall) in the 2006 NFL Draft out of Clemson. Whitehurst has not recorded any NFL stats in the regular season and has no accolades from either college or pro.

He has pro size at 6-4 and 227 lbs which a good NFL size. Other than that there is nothing on Whitehurst.

Notes:

- The Seahawks have signed linebacker Matt McCoy to a one-year contract for just above the league minimum. McCoy was with Seahawks defensive coordinator Gus Bradley when he was in Tampa.

- The Seahawks have acquired defensive end Chris Clemons and a fourth-round pick in 2010 from the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for defensive end Darryl Tapp.

- The Seahawks have told guard Rob Sims to “stay away” from the teams Renton facilities because of a pending trade which should be completed in the next 48-hours.

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Steelers QB Roethlisberger could interest Seattle Seahawks

2010-03-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

With Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback recently being in the news for harassment as well as other possible charges involving an incident in Atlanta, the Rooney family is not so high on Big Ben with this second off the field incident in his career and could be willing to part with the star quarterback if the Rooney’s don’t feel Ben is a part of the family.

The Steelers have said they would be content with current backup Dennis Dixon as the team’s starting quarterback or could acquire one via the NFL draft, but Dixon would be the more immediate choice.

Now who would be interested in the 28-year old quarterback?

The Seattle Seahawks led by new head coach Pete Carroll would be the first team that would be a great fit for Roethlisberger, while being rumor to be searching around the league for a new franchise quarterback with the aging Matt Hasselbeck not sitting well with Carroll.

So far Kevin Kolb, Jimmy Clausen, Derek Anderson, Charlie Whitehurst and possibly Donovan McNabb are on Pete Carroll’s “possible quarterback list”. Could Ben Roethlisberger’s name be added to that list?

Yes.

If you look at the situation that is currently in front of Pete Carroll when it comes to his franchise quarterback there is no one better on that list then Ben Roethlisberger.

Now you also have to look at it from the Pittsburgh Steelers point of view with their franchise taking a step back this past season.

The Steelers currently hold the No. 18 overall pick in the upcoming 2010 NFL draft which is too far for Jimmy Clausen and Sam Bradford to fall. Then you have to look at the next few quarterbacks in the draft with Colt McCoy, Tim Tebow, Jevan Sneed and others behind the top two.

With Seattle holding the No. 6, No. 14 and No. 40 overall picks in the draft as well as a few players the Steelers would be interested in to fill some holes on defense it would seem that both teams could come to an agreement on a trade.

The Seahawks currently have linebackers David Hawthorne and Leroy Hill who can both fill the Steelers need at linebacker, more likely Hill because he’s an inside linebacker with talent and experience where Hawthorne is still a backup.

What would be the most logical trade proposal involving the Seahawks-Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger would be like this.

The Seahawks would send the No. 14 pick, No. 101 pick, second-round pick in 2011 and Leroy Hill to the Steelers for Ben Roethlisberger and a third-round pick in the 2010 draft.

Now looking at the proposal, what does it do for both teams involved?

It gives the Steelers a top 15 pick in the 2010 draft where they could fill their offensive line issues at either guard with Idaho’s Mike Iutpi or an offensive tackle like Anthony Davis from Rutgers, Trent Williams from Oklahoma or Bruce Campbell from Maryland whichever is still available.

Then it gives them a starting inside linebacker in their 3-4 defense who can come in right away and make an immediate impact, and is also signed long-term through 2013. Also with the added 2011 pick it gives them options to make a later trade for another first-round pick in 2011 should they decide they want another first-round pick.

What it gives the Seahawks is a proven, talented, young starting quarterback that has already won two Super Bowls (one against Seattle) and can make everyone else around him look better.

Now the Seahawks would be giving up a lot in order to Roethlisberger but it gives the Seahawks what they’ve been searching for, a true franchise quarterback who’s already signed long-term and one that you don’t have to groom behind Hasselbeck or try to build through the draft in the later rounds.

Also when you look at the Seahawks giving up the No. 14 pick in the draft for Roethlisberger you have to look at the possibilities of who they could be drafting compared to what Roethlisberger would bring.

Defensive end Derrick Morgan, offensive tackle Anthony Davis, running back C.J Spiller would not bring the immediate impact that the Seahawks need like Roethlisberger would.

Now if the Seahawks were to make this trade it still leaves them with the No. 6 overall pick in the draft as well as a third-round pick where they could pickup an offensive tackle to fit in Alex Gibbs’ zone blocking scheme.

If the Seahawks wanted to really make their offense a complete Super Bowl caliber offense they could seal the deal on Broncos’ restricted free agent Brandon Marshall and sign him to an offer sheet giving Roethlisberger and the Seahawks a true No. 1 wide receiver.

It’s not really asking a lot it just has a lot of moving parts. It’s an interesting scenario, one that could become a reality should the Steelers and the Rooney family decides they don’t want their team picture tarnished by Roethlisberger’s off-field problems.

NOTES:

Talking with ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the rumors about the New York Jets trading for Brandon Marshall “have no legs” so consider that Marshall rumor along with the Bengals rumor of bogus, the Seattle Seahawks still remain the only real team involved with Brandon Marshall.

-The Seahawks signed former Patriots tight-end Chris Baker to a two-year contract, making him the No. 2 tight-end behind John Carlson.

- The Seahawks are still negotiating with restricted free agent quarterback Charlie Whitehurst but not deal is official as of yet.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

In my opinion: Matt Hasselbeck

2010-03-12T03:05:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: Usually journalist and especially good journalist don’t usually use “I” in articles and recently I’ve been trying to improve on that and just stick with reporting. However I’ve decided to try a little experiment and create a new series of articles titled “In my opinion” which will include players, coaches and other aspects of the NFL an give my opinion on those topics. So articles titled “In my opinion” will be the only time I use “I” in an article, but when it comes to reporting on the Seahawks and the draft, “I” won’t be included. Just needed to clear that with this disclaimer.

Matthew Hasselbeck has come a long way since growing up in Boulder Colorado. Hasselbeck, now 34-years old went from receiving honorable mention All-American in high school to being selected in the sixth round in the 1999 draft by the Green Bay Packers all the way to being a starting quarterback with the Seattle Seahawks for eight years and counting.

Hasselbeck became a part of the NFL in 1999 when Mike Holmgren and Andy Reid (Packers QB coach at the time) selected the Boston College quarterback in the sixth round of the 1999 NFL draft. At the time Reid was pressing harder for Hasselbeck then Holmgren was but neither coach really saw Hasselbeck as a franchise quarterback.

For the first two years (99-01) Hasselbeck was holding field goal kicks and a clip board as he sat behind future hall-of-famer Brett Favre.

In 1999, a year after the Packers selected Matt Hasselbeck; his head coach Mike Holmgren left the Green Bay Packers organization for a lucrative offer from Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen to become the team’s head coach and general manager.

Holmgren did not forget about Hasselbeck and two years later, on March 2nd 2001 Mike Holmgren traded the Seahawks 10th overall pick and two third round draft picks in exchange for the young Hasselbeck as well as the Packers 17th overall pick and a seventh round pick in the 2001 NFL draft.

What came of that trade?

The Seahawks landed their franchise quarterback in Matt Hasselbeck as well as a future cornerstone of their offensive line, Steve Hutchinson with the 17th overall pick.

The Packers selected Florida State defensive end Jamal Reynolds who totaled 18 tackles and three sacks from 2001-2004 before his NFL career was over. Reynolds was plagued by injuries that ultimately ended his NFL career when he failed his physical with the Indianapolis Colts which voided a potential trade. He was released and signed by the Cleveland Browns but failed to make the teams regular season roster in 2004 and has not played in the NFL since.

In his first two seasons with the Seahawks Matt Hasselbeck battled with veteran quarterback Trent Dilfer for the starting quarterback job. However with an excellent finish to the 2002 season Hasselbeck became the teams’ full-time starter in 2003.

Hasselbeck did not disappoint in his first full season as a starting quarterback in the NFL. He compiled 3,841 yards passing and 26 touchdowns while only throwing fifteen interceptions. Hasselbeck also led the Seahawks to a 10-6 regular season record and a wildcard berth for the first time since 1998.

He continued his success in 2004 by leading the Seahawks to their first division title since the team joined the NFC in the alignment in 2002. Hasselbeck missed two games during the regular season and his touchdown total dropped from 26 to 22.

However Hasselbeck’s mouth got caught in the divisional round of the 04 playoffs against the Green Bay Packers. Hasselbeck went out in overtime to call the coin toss and once the referee announced Seattle had won the toss the question came “do you want the ball?”

Hasselbeck’s famous response was “We want the ball, and we’re gonna score!” Shortly thereafter Hasselbeck threw a pick-six to Packers corner back Al Harris which sealed the Seahawks playoff fiat.

In 2005 Matt Hasselbeck made up for his prediction in the 2004 playoffs by leading the Seahawks to a 13-3 regular season record, the most wins in franchise history as well as the franchises’ first trip to the Super Bowl. Hasselbeck received his first all-pro award in 2005 and led what was arguably the best single season Seahawks team in franchise history.

2006 Hasselbeck took a step back after starting the season 4-1 he went down in week seven with a sprained right MCL, caused by Minnesota linebacker E.J Henderson. He came back to lead the Seahawks to a 9-7 record and made it back to the playoffs after losing the Super Bowl the previous year.

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo stole the show in the closing seconds in what fans will remember the most about the wildcard game between the Seahawks and Cowboys. Romo botched a 19-yard field goal snap with 1:19 left in the game.

The Seahawks lost in overtime to the Chicago Bears in the divisional round of the playoffs after Robbie Gold kicked the game winning field goal.

2007 became Matt Hasselbeck’s “comeback” year when the Seahawks, led by Mike Holmgren’s decision to become a pass first and pass only offense with the absence of a starting running back. Hasselbeck had his best statistical season in 2007 when he put up 28 touchdowns while only throwing twelve interceptions. He also posted a career best 91.4 quarterback rating.

However since his great season in 2007, Matt Hasselbeck’s career has continued to degrade with each snap that he takes, which hasn’t been that often.

In 2008 Hasselbeck played only seven games due to several injuries that would devastate any quarterback. He suffered a severe back injury that effected nerves in his lower back, which causes him to lose power in his legs and ultimately led to a knee injury.

Hasselbeck suffered a bulging disk in the pre-season, a knee injury against the Giants on October 5th and a helmet-to-helmet hit against the Arizona Cardinals.

The loss of Hasselbeck, along with several other key players on the Seahawks led to the Seahawks finishing with a 4-12 record and the fourth overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.

2009 started out questionable under new head coach Jim Mora Jr. Hasselbeck threw two interceptions in the first quarter against the St. Louis Rams in week one before bouncing back to finish with three touchdowns and 276 yards passing and a 28-0 win over the St. Louis Rams at home.

However in week two he suffered two broken ribs when he attempted to dive into the end zone with under two minutes left in the half. Patrick Willis went helmet first into the back of Hasselbeck and he went downhill from there. He missed the next three games before coming back in week five against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Hasselbeck threw four touchdowns in a 42-0 win which seemed to be a good sign for Hasselbeck and the Seahawks coming off three straight loses.

However in week six at home against the Arizona Cardinals the Seahawks had the franchises worst game flat out. Hasselbeck finished the game completing only ten passes and a completion percentage of only 34.

Hasselbeck would go on to finish the 2009 season with seventeen touchdowns and seventeen interceptions while crossing the 3000 yard mark for the sixth time in his NFL career.

So going through Matt Hasselbeck’s career what you find is one of toughest, grinding and competitive quarterbacks in NFL history. Hasselbeck has been the face of the Seattle Seahawks franchise for nine seasons out of the ten that he’s been with the organization.

He’s gone to three Pro Bowls in his 12 years in the NFL (03,05,07) and also led the Seahawks to five straight playoff appearances from 2003-2008. He led the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history in 2005 and emerged as one of the league’s top quarterbacks from 2004-2007 before injuries took away his playing time.

Hasselbeck is arguably the best quarterback in Seahawks history alongside Dave Krieg who finished his Seahawks career with a record of 70-49 while Hasselbeck sits at 58-45.

So In my opinion Matt Hasselbeck is the best quarterback in Seattle Seahawks history for many reasons and even though he does not have hall-of-fame numbers Matt Hasselbeck’s career is not over just yet. If Hasselbeck has three great seasons left in the tank and if he can still get the Seahawks to win their first Lombardi trophy then Hasselbeck could be mentioned in the hall-of-fame but not until then.

However in my opinion if Hasselbeck had not suffered the amount of injuries he has gone through in his career I think his success rate might be just a little bit higher over the past two seasons. Now it’s up to the new era of Seahawks football, John Schneider and Pete Carroll to revive Matt Hasselbeck’s career.

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Seahawks trade Seneca Wallace to Browns

2010-03-08T23:56:00.000-08:00

According to ESPN’s John Clayton and Adam Schefter the Seattle Seahawks have completed a trade that will send Seahawks backup quarterback to the Cleveland Browns for an undisclosed 2011 draft pick.With the acquisition of Wallace, he gets the opportunity to reunite with former head coach Mike Holmgren in Cleveland and possibly get the chance to be a full time starting quarterback in the NFL.

Wallace now joins Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn as the three quarterbacks in Cleveland. However with Mike Holmgren being the man in charge it’s been rumored recently that Anderson will be cut in the coming weeks and Brady Quinn could either be released or traded as well before the NFL draft.

With Wallace, you don’t get that pocket quarterback who is your prototypical NFL quarterback. Wallace is known for his athletic ability outside the pocket, but can also make the throws necessary to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Now with the Seahawks trading away Seneca Wallace it really signals that Pete Carroll is looking for a long term quarterback behind current starting quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.

One possibility could be Florida product Tim Tebow, who is scheduled to have his pro day at Florida on March 17th and then also have a private workout with the Seattle Seahawks shortly thereafter in Seattle.

Another possibility is Notre Dame Quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who has known Pete Carroll since he was 13-years old. With the free agency quarterbacks not being the type that Seattle is looking for expect Pete Carroll and John Schneider to look for the aire apparent to Matt Hasselbeck in the upcoming April NFL Draft.

Now the Seahawks have a dilemma about drafting Jimmy Clausen. The Seattle Seahawks have been in serious negotiations with the Denver Broncos for wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who visited with the Seahawks this past weekend.

With the Broncos’ placing a first round tender on Marshall, if the Seahawks decide to hammer out an offer sheet with Marshall the Seahawks would have to pony up the sixth overall pick the draft, which would mean missing out on Clausen.

However the Seahawks can work out a sign-and-trade with the Broncos’ and trade their 14th overall pick to the Broncos’ instead of the sixth overall pick.

So with this trade of Seneca Wallace to the Browns it opens up a lot of possibilities for the Seahawks moving forward at the quarterback position.

It’s clear that Matt Hasselbeck will be the starter in 2010, but it’s not clear who will be the starter in 2011 when Hasselbeck’s contract is up.

Notes:

-An interesting note came to me with the Seahawks trading Seneca Wallace today. His old number of 15 is now up for grabs, the same number as Brandon Marshall.

-The Seahawks have visits scheduled this week for RB Mike Bell, TE Ben Watson, OG Ben Hamilton, TE Chris Baker, DE Tyler Brayton and CB William James.

-Tim Tebow, as I already noted in the article above is scheduled to have a private workout with the Seahawks sometime shortly after his pro day, March 17th.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

The do’s and don’ts for Pete Carroll (free agency edition)

2010-03-02T02:21:00.000-08:00

This isn’t Pete Carroll’s first go around as an NFL head coach but it is his first off season as a NFL head coach AND executive vice president. Not only is Carroll the EVP and head coach but if there is a discrepancy between Carroll and new general manager John Schneider, Pete Carroll would win the coin flip 100 percent of the time.

According to Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke the team will be built around both Carroll and Schneider but should their be a discrepancy about a trade/signing/draft pick Carroll would be awarded his decision because the team is going to be built around Carroll’s philosophy.

Now as Pete Carroll and John Schneider continue this rebuilding process this is the year where it can make or break the success of the Seahawks for a long time.

The Seahawks have two first round pick in the upcoming 2010 NFL draft and three of the top 40 picks in the draft so that’s where Carroll and his crack staff can’t slip up.

Carroll also has to use free agency as a source to fill some of the teams needs as well. Carroll has said from day one he wants competition at every position because having competition drives everyone involved and inevitably makes everyone better.

So as Carroll and Schneider get ready to begin their first off season together they are going to need to make the right moves in free agency to set up their success in the draft, which will be the bread and butter of their first off season together.

So with that being said here are a few do’s and don’ts for Pete Carroll and John Schneider in their first free agency.

Do’s:

- (do) Bring in only the players that fit perfectly into both Carroll and Schneider’s philosophy. For example if a player fits into the zone blocking scheme at a need position on the offensive line then bring that player in. If there is some concern at all about a player fitting into the scheme at any position avoid that player because they can’t afford to take risks this off season.

- (do) Sign a defensive back (cornerback or safety) that can be an immediate starter next season. One of the biggest areas for concern with the Seahawks is their defensive backfield, mainly at safety. Jordan Babineaux and Deon Grant where the starting safeties last season. Babineaux recorded over 100 tackles but consistently dropped the ball in coverage so he’s a huge question mark heading into next season. Grant isn’t getting any younger at the age of 30 and entering into his 12th NFL season. The Seahawks need to get more athletic and younger at safety and Pete Carroll can do that via free agency.

Antrel Rolle, 27 (6 year pro,S), Dunta Robinson 27 (7 year pro, CB) and Sean Jones, 27 (7 year pro, S) would most likely be the three targets for Pete Carroll in free agency. Rolle would be a win-win for the Seahawks because he’d fill a void in the secondary as well as taking him away from division rival, the Arizona Cardinals.

Carroll and Schneider would be smart to spend the $8-10 million on Rolle.

- (d0) keep an eye on the amount of money put into free agency even though this is an uncapped year and Paul Allen is the owner, who showed this off season he will spend the high end prices to bring a Super Bowl trophy to the city of Seattle.

Carroll and Schneider said they will not break the bank in free agency however Paul Allen said the exact same thing last year and they wound up signing TJ Houshmandzadeh to a five year, $40 million dollar contract. So coaches and general managers will always say things like this because they have no clue what the market will look like.

So the Seahawks can afford to spend $8-10 million on Antrel Rolle, $8-10 million on Dunta Robinson and then sign a mid level free agent on the offensive line but not much more than that with the Seahawks holding the No. 6 and No. 14 overall picks in the draft.

Don’ts:

-(don’t) sign any free agent running back in free agency. There have been rumors galore about the Seahawks being interested in free agent running backs Thomas Jones, Darren Sproles, Chester Taylor and LaDainian Tomlinson among others.

It won’t happen and Carrol and Co. would be a fool to spend the rumored $4-6 million on any free agent running back this off season. If the Seahawks feel they need an every down back they will address it through the NFL draft because it’s a “core position”.

Pete Carroll and John Schneider both believe in building the core of the Seahawks franchise through the NFL draft. The core positions being quarterback, running back, left tackle, left guard and defensive tackle/end. So don’t look for the Seahawks to be strongly searching for a free agent running back to sign this off season.

- (don’t) sign any player over 30. The Seahawks are a rebuilding franchise and have a lot of aging veterans already on the roster with Matt Hasselbeck (34), Patrick Kerney (33), Walter Jones (36), Deion Branch (30), TJ Houshmandzadeh (32) and Deon Grant (30) all playing at core positions.

The Seahawks need to get younger across the board and especially at the core positions. So what does that mean? The Seahawks have to avoid signing players over the age of 30 in free agency because it won’t fit the new regime and schemes that Carroll and Co. have put in place.

Pete Carroll and John Schneider have put in place and exceptional plan of how they want to reshape and retool the Seattle Seahawks organization and if Carroll and Co. can keep to their core values as well as the “do’s” and “don’ts” listed above there is no reason why the Seahawks can’t still be winners in free agency while at the same time pick up key pieces to add to the roster before the 2010 NFL draft.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Seahawks notes: Owens, Jones, Combine, Running backs

2010-02-28T01:13:00.000-08:00

As the free agency deadline nears the major movement in the NFL has come from the running back position this past week with five running backs being let go or non tendered to free agency.

San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson, Philadelphia's Brian Westbrook, Cleveland's Jamal Lewis, San Diego's Darren Sproles and New Orleans' Mike Bell. Also New York Jets running back Thomas Jones will be released next week so he will be added to the list when that becomes official.

Terrell Owens was informed by the Buffalo Bills Saturday that the 36 year old wide receiver would not be back with the organization in 2010 making him a free agent.

The New Orleans Saints have yet to tender a contract offer to Pro Bowl guard Jahri Evans and running back Mike Bell. Most likely scenario is the Saints are more willing to sign a long term contract with Evans but let Mike Bell walk with the reports of Reggie Bush being 100 percent guaranteed to be back with the Saints in 2010 along with his eight million dollar price tag.

So with the CBA negotiations not going anywhere anytime soon it's clear that many of the expected unrestricted free agents will be restricted free agents.

However free agency isn't the only topic around the NFL.

Saturday marked the beginning of the NFL combine in Indy where all 32 teams will have their eyes on the top tier players in the upcoming NFL draft as well as the sleepers that will become steals in the draft.

So with that being said here's some news, notes and rumors regarding the Seattle Seahawks.

-WR Terrell Owens: The rumors and reports will start flying on March 5th about Terrell Owens and the Seahawks being a good pair with Nate Burleson testing the free agent market after not receiving a contract offer from the Seahawks.

Now there are a few questions if you want to picture T.O in Seattle.

One, would the Seahawks want to sign an aging wide receiver like T.O at the age of 36? Two, how much would the Seahawks be willing to offer Owens to come to Seattle because he's only going to get around one to two million max in free agency at this point in his career.

Now Owens can still put up numbers at his current age. Last season in Buffalo, a quarterback dead zone he compiled 55 receptions for 829 yards and five touchdowns. With Matt Hasselbeck at quarterback there is no reason to think T.O's numbers would go down if Owens came to Seattle.

Currently the Seahawks have TJ Houshmandzadeh (32), Deion Branch (30), Deon Butler (24) as the starting three wide receivers for 2010. Houshmanzadeh is guaranteed to be back in Seattle next season as is Deon Butler but there have been many questions surrounding Deion Branch in his three years in Seattle.

Terrell Owens, at the price of $1-2 million would be a great addition in Seattle to go along side TJ Houshmandzadeh and Deon Butler who would be the slot wide receiver like Bobby Engram use to be two years ago.

-LT Walter Jones: Pete Carroll said at the NFL combine that Walter Jones has not come to a final decision on whether to retire or come back for his 14th NFL season.

Here is a quote from Pete Carroll via Danny O'Neil from the Seattle Times.

"I would be wrong to tell you that I know right now, specifically," Carroll said. "I know he's thinking about pursuing the retirement thing and all that. And until that's really final, that's about where it is."

- NFL Combine: The offensive tackles and tight ends worked out Saturday at the NFL combine and five players really stood out and improved their draft stock by their performance at the combine.

Maryland OT Bruce Campbell, Oklahoma OT Trent Williams, Pittsburgh TE Dorin Dickerson, Oregon TE Ed Dickson and Oklahoma State OT Russell Okung (left early with a groin injury).

Clausen and Bradford are both at the combine but will not workout at the combine. They will meet with coaches and scouts from a lot of teams but nothing hands on.

You can probably bet that Jimmy Clausen will be looking for Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll after the comments he made today during an interview.

Clausen said "as a person I love coach Carroll to death" and also that he'd love being a part of Carroll's team in Seattle if drafted by the Seahawks.

Carroll and Clausen go way back to when Clausen was 13 years old and Carroll was recruiting him to come play at USC. So Jimmy Clausen is a name to watch for the Seahawks when they select No. 6 overall.

-Running backs: There have been a lot of rumors swirling about the Seahawks and adding a running back in free agency. Mainly Tomlinson, Thomas Jones, Darren Sproles, Westbrook and Chester Taylor among others.

For all those wondering if the Seahawks will sign a big name back this off season the answer is simply this.

No.

The Seahawks under new head coach Pete Carroll and new general manager John Schneider plan to build the foundation of the Seahawks through the NFL draft to insure long term success.

Quarterback, running back, left guard and tackle, defensive tackle and safety all make up the core foundation of an NFL team so take all those positions and cross them off the Seahawks free agent list. Only safety would be one to fill via free agency with Darren Sharper.

The Seahawks will be looking for an every down back in the draft with Clemson running back CJ Spiller topping that list.

A couple of other added notes:

-Seahawks franchised kicker Olindo Mare

-Nate Burleson will be an unrestricted free agent

Should the Seattle Seahawks draft a QB?

2010-02-26T00:51:00.000-08:00

The million dollar question looming in Seattle is centered around Pete Carroll and what he wants to do at the quarterback position.

Carroll and Schneider are in a rough position because they have come in during the middle of a horrendous rebuilding process, which was created by former Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell.

Matt Hasselbeck is entering into the final year of his contract and with the amount of injuries he's had over the past two years his future, with the current offense is questionable. The Seahawks have Seneca Wallace and Mike Teel behind Hasselbeck and neither have the complete package to be a 16+ game starter in the NFL.

What makes the Seahawks quarterback situation even more intresting is the fact that Seattle holds two of the top 15 picks in the upcoming 2010 draft with really only two quarterbacks being worthy of a starting job in the NFL.

Oklahoma's Sam Bradford and Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen. Other quarterback who need a lot of work, along with Clausen and Bradford would be Texas' Colt McCoy, Florida's Tim Tebow, Ole Miss' Jevan Sneed as well as other late round possible.

Needless to say this is one of the weakest draft classes for quarterbacks in a while. So the question becomes, is Pete Carroll willing to make a bold decision and possibly take one of the two top quarterbacks in the draft and should the Seahawks even draft a quarterback this year having passed on Mark Sanchez last year.

The answer is no.

The Seahawks do need an answer long term at quarterback but with one year remaining on his contract and still having many more important needs on this football team, drafting a quarterback is not something the Seahawks can afford to do.

Pete Carroll said at his introductory press conference that Paul Allen along with the rest of the front office want to be a winner now and moving forward. The Seahawks and Carroll need to use free agency as well as the draft to build around Hasselbeck.

Building around Hasselbeck will setup short and long term success for the Seahawks organization, which will be crucial for Pete Carroll's success in Seattle.
The Seahawks need to find an every down running back, possibly CJ Spiller in the draft. An explosive wide receiver, possibly Brandon Marshall. At least two or three offensive linemen (left tackle, left guard and right tackle) which most will come from the draft.

Matt Hasselbeck said recently that if given the help (offensive line and running game) that he can lead the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl and win in the Super Bowl.

Take his word for it, when the Seahawks have a running back gain over 1000 yards they are a 10+ win team as history has shown with Shaun Alexander and Ricky Williams as well as others before them.

So with all that being said the Seattle Seahawks should not entertain drafting a quarterback in this draft class.

NOTE: Jake Locker, the University of Washington quarterback will enter the draft
next year so look for Seattle to try as hard as possible to keep Locker in the state of Washington. Imagine Seattle's fan base moving from the Dawg Pound to Qwest Field.

Seahawks notes: Marshall, Mawae, Rolle and LT

2010-02-23T00:19:00.000-08:00

In an effort to further inform the readers I’ve decided to have a weekly article about any and all Seahawks notes and rumors from around the league.

With the Seahawks being one of the most “link attached” teams this off season it will be interesting to see what unfolds under this new direction of Seahawks football under head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider.

With the Seahawks having an owner in Paul Allen, who early in the off season made it apparent that he is not afraid to make a bold statement with a lot of cash attached to that statement.

The Carroll example being the hire former USC head coach Pete Carroll to a five year $35 million dollar contract while buying out Jim Mora Jr. of his remaining $12 million.

Now with the coaching and front office slots all filled out it’s that time of the year where those personnel guys make their living with free agency coming up on March 5th and the NFL draft April 22nd-24th.

Heading into the off season the Seahawks have a lot of question marks throughout the depth chart from the starting quarterback to the offensive line to the defensive line and secondary.

The Seahawks will need to fill the “needs” at QB, WR, OL, DL, CB/S as well as overall talent depth throughout the team. Matt Hasselbeck is in the final year of his six year $47 million dollar contract and isn’t getting any younger at the age of 34.

Then at wide receiver the Seahawks lack a dynamic play making receiver with TJ Houshmandzadeh being more of an “over the middle/moving the chains” type of receiver.

Nate Burleson is expected to hit the open market unless a new contract is reached.Deion Branch…well that’s always a question mark and the possible trade rumors with the Patriots don’t make that easier. Deon Butler will be entering his second season in the NFL and fits mostly in a quick slot receiver, not a “play maker”.

The Seahawks have been heavily rumored to Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who is expected to be a restricted free agent, unless there is a new CBA.

On the offensive line the Seahawks don’t know about Walter Jones’ true status and if he will be able to return for a 14th season in the NFL. Then the Seahawks have question marks with right tackle Sean Locklear who became a human turnstile last season and doesn’t look worthy of being a starter in the NFL.

At defensive end they don’t know what to expect from Patrick Kerney who has underperformed since breaking out with 14 sacks in his first season in 2007. Then outside of Kerney the Seahawks don’t have any effective pass rushing defensive end which seriously hurt them last season.

Corner back is also a question mark with Ken Lucas, 31, becoming an unrestricted free agent and Josh Wilson is really more of a fit at safety than corner for his size. So the Seahawks could look to target Joe Haden in the draft for that. At safety Deon Grant isn’t getting any older or better for that matter and Jordan Babineaux, while having over 100 tackles really underperformed as an overall safety and having Darren Sharper becoming an unrestricted free agent the Seahawks would be more inclined to go a different direction and look to target Sharper in free agency.

So with that being said here’s a few rumors and notes about the Seahawks.

- WR Brandon Marshall: There has been a lot made of the trade rumors surrounding Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who is a restricted free agent unless a new CBA is agreed upon. The Broncos want the best deal they can get for Marshall if they decide that they should in fact trade the dynamic receiver.

The Seahawks seem like the most likely team with the most firepower to acquire Marshall. They have two first round picks (No. 6 and No. 14) in the 2010 NFL draft as well as the No.40 pick in the second round. Seattle also have a few players that could be included like wide receiver Deion Branch (worked with McDaniel’s in New England) and linebacker Leroy Hill (underperformed last season, still has great athletic ability).

The Broncos hold the 11th overall pick in the 2010 draft and if a scenario came up where on draft day both Sam Bradford and Jimmy Clausen are both gone before the Seahawks pick at six overall that pick would become great bait for the Broncos who could swap first round picks (No. 6 for No. 11) and the Seahawks would include Deion Branch while the Broncos would include Brandon Marshall.

With that pick at six overall the Broncos could select their replacement for Marshall in Dez Bryant or could go linebacker with Rolando McClain.

-C Kevin Mawae: The 39 year old veteran center will hit the open market once free agency opens up, Mawae’s agent Jim Wyatt said today. “He will definitely hit the market, but [we'll] continue to talk to the Titans.”

With the Seahawks having question marks at both left and right guard there could be the possibility of moving Max Unger, the Seahawks second round pick from 2009 to left guard and plugging in Mawae in a center, giving the Seahawks an experienced NFL center (like former Seahawks center Robbie Tobeck).

Mawae wouldn’t command top dollar so the Seahawks don’t have to worry about breaking the bank on him. Having an experienced NFL center would be very helpful should the Seahawks draft either Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen in the draft, which will most likely happen.

- S Antrel Rolle: The Seahawks biggest division rival, the Arizona Cardinals have taken a few steps back this off season with the loss of quarterback Kurt Warner to retirement and linebacker Karlos Dansby will be hitting the free agent market as the Cardinals won’t franchise him.

However the salary strapped Cardinals could also be sending safety Antrel Rolle along with Dansby to free agency.

Rolle is scheduled to make $8.1 million in base salary this upcoming season along with a $4 million dollar roster bonus on March 1st. The Cardinals, according to Arizona Republic reported Kent Somers are not willing to shell out that much for Rolle.

So now the Cardinals, who already are paying $7.8 million for another safety in Adrian Wilson, have to decided do they want to cut him lose or come to an agreement on a new long term contract.

With the Cardinals still having to work out wide receiver Anquan Boldin’s contract situation as well as other players the most likely route will be to cut Rolle lose, making him an unrestricted free agent.

This could be a perfect situation for the Seahawks who are in desperate need of a play making safety. The Seahawks could make it a win-win for the team. If the Carroll and company get the word that Rolle will be an unrestricted free agent it makes a lot of sense to make a heavy push for the safety.

- RB LaDainian Tomlinson: With the big news coming down Monday afternoon that the Chargers have decided to let go of nine year veteran LaDainian Tomlinson it makes the free agency picture a little more thicker.

There is going to be a lot of rumors about the Seahawks being linked to a lot of running backs from Willie Parker to Chester Taylor to LT but I’d like to take the time to put and end to them before they officially start.

The Seahawks are not in need of a running back with Justin Forsett’s performance last season. So you can ignore the rumors about CJ Spiller or any other running back, unless it’s Ryan Mathews because he’s the only fit in the ZBS.

As the free agency period approaches there is going to be a lot of rumors with the “Seattle Seahawks” tag right next to it so I will do my best to sort out the fact and the national enquirer rumors out there involving the Seahawks.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Seattle Seahawks: Five players to watch at the combine

2010-02-19T00:33:00.000-08:00

As teams look toward free agency as the March 5th deadline is fast approaching other teams are looking toward the NFL’s scouting combine where teams get a chance to look at the majority of the top players in the upcoming draft.

Now in this case it’s taking a look at the top five players the Seahawks need to keep both eyes on when Carroll and his staff head to Indianapolis on February 24th when the scouting combine takes place. The combine goes from February 24th to March 2nd 2010.

The two names that officially will not be at the combine are Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford (who is currently projected No. 6 to Seattle in Mel Kiper Jr’s and my mock draft) who is still rehabbing from a season ending shoulder injury.

Also not attending the combine is Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen.

The five players I have listed are not necessarily first round projections but the topic is five players the Seahawks scout staff, including Pete Carroll and John Schneider need to have both eyes on so some players will be first round projections but some will also be third, fourth and later round projections as well.

Now before I give my list of five players I would like to share my Seahawks educated draft rules/philosophy that people really need to pay attention to when they address what the Seahawks should do in the 2010 draft, especially with the No. 6 and No. 14 overall picks. These rules and philosophy are following the same ones that the current coaching staff follow.

* Alex Gibbs and his zone blocking scheme are built on late round (3rd,4th 5th) picks not first round picks like some people have Russell Okung, Anthony Davis and Bruce Campbell going to the Seahawks with the No. 6 overall pick. It won’t happen so look for Seattle to scout deep with this exceptional class of offensive tackles.

* Matt Hasselbeck, at his current stage in his career doesn’t bod well in new offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates scheme which is built around a pocket quarterback with great accuracy and someone who can throw at least 30-40 times a game.

* John Schneider, in his time in Green Bay drafts tall corner backs and none of the corners on the Packers roster were under six feet. So keep that in mind if you want to scout corners for the Seahawks.

* Pete Carroll believes strongly in starting a rookie at quarterback, which signals that Sam Bradford his the likely pick at No. 6 overall for the Seahawks because it gives him a chance right off the bat to start.

So while keeping those rules/philosophy in mind here’s a list of the top five players the Seahawks need to keep their eyes on at the combine.

1) Ciron Black, OT LSU

Examination: Here’s an obvious sign of the new coaching philosophy at work. Coming into the 2009 college campaign Black was considered a first round talent but after a disappointing senior season his stock dropped from a first round pick to a third or fourth round pick.

Now Black has a lot of upside having started 53 consecutive games in his career at LSU. Black’s other upsides would be his great technique, quickness, awareness, very durable and has great size. Black can play at either left or right tackle, most likely left tackle.

Ciron Black has almost no drawbacks other than not having elite agility and getting too high in his stance. Other than that he’s a steal of a pick in the third or fourth round and would become a great, low cost fit in Alex Gibbs offensive line.

2) Sergio Kindle, DE Texas

Examination: Sergio Kindle, another outstanding product of Mack Brown’s system at Texas. Kindle is the 2010 version of Brian Orakpo, another former Texas Longhorn who was selected 13th overall in the 2009 draft by the Washington Redskins.

However Kindle has dropped from his first round projection he still is valued in the early to mid second round where the Seahawks hold the No. 40 overall pick in the 2010 draft.

Kindle is by far one of if not the most gifted defensive player in the draft but just like Ciron Black, Kindle only recorded six sacks in his senior season so he’ll take a short fall to the second round and will be an excellent steal to whichever team selects him, possibly the Seahawks.

Sergio Kindle is a pass rushing defensive end/outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense so Kindle would fit in as a defensive end in the Seahawks 4-3 defense.

So look for the Seahawks to have their eyes on defensive end Sergio Kindle at the combine.

3) Myron Rolle, S FSU

Examination: Rolle is the first college athlete in a long time to chose academics over athletics so his decision to take a year off of football and head to Oxford hurt his draft stock but it’s been rapidly increasing from the Senior Bowl and should he have a good showing at the combine in late February he could be as high as a second round pick.

Myron Rolle was an outstanding safety in his three years at Florida State and the only question teams will have for Rolle is “are you fully committed to football?”

Teams will shy away from Myron if they feel he’s not committed to the NFL and his football future. No team wants to have him retire three years down the road if things are not working out.

4) Mike Johnson, G Alabama

Examination: Here’s another prime example of Alex Gibbs philosophy on the offensive line at work. Mike Johnson, a former late first round projection is now in the same area as OT Ciron Black who is listed number one on this list.

Johnson is a perfect fit in the zone blocking scheme and is a very talented and durable offensive lineman, something that will be key for the Seahawks on draft day. I don’t think they will draft any player that hasn’t been durable, and I do list Sam Bradford as being durable.

The Seahawks need an upgrade at the starting left/right guard and Mike Johnson can play either position.

5) Ryan Mathews, RB Fresno State

Examination: Another example of why the Seahawks hired Pete Carroll, he can recognize the best college talent and how any player fits into his philosophy and schemes. Fresno State running back Ryan Mathews is a perfect fit in a zone blocking scheme.

The Seahawks don’t need a first round flashy running back like people think because Pete Carroll is going to give that to Justin Forsett but don’t be surprise if Ryan Mathews name is called when the Seahawks have their second round pick.

If the Seahawks take a running back in the 2010 draft it’s only going to be Ryan Mathews.

NOTE: In a couple of weeks I will be coming out with an indepth review of how the Seahawks should look at the 2010 draft class, the players they should target and the players who fans and other writers need to forget about. Hint being running back CJ Spiller.

Now as you can tell from my list that I stuck with the Seahawks rules and coaching philosophy when I compile my five players that Carroll and his staff should keep both eyes on at the combine because it’s not about the highest rated player its based on need, value and how well that player fits into the Seahawks coaching schemes.

That is why you don’t see a high offensive tackle like Russell Okung, Anthony Davis, Bryan Bulaga, Trent Williams etc because the Seahawks won’t draft an offensive tackle in the first round.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

2010 NFL Mock Draft: First round (third edition)

2010-02-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

In my second installment of my 2010 NFL Mock Draft I received some comments from outspoken Redskins and Lions fans discussing their opinion on my selections of a quarterback and offensive tackle respectively.

Well now that the Senior Bowl has come and gone that has only a very slight effect on the third edition of my mock draft. So with that being said here is the third edition of my 2010 NFL Mock Draft. Click here for my first and second editions of my previous mock drafts (click first for the first edition and second for the second edition and it the future so on and so forth).

1) St Louis Rams: Ndamukong Suh, DT Nebraska

Examination: This pick, baring some bizarre reason Suh suffers a major injury, is set in stone for me for two reasons. One, because Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo is a true defensive minded head coach and that’s exactly how he plans to build up the Rams with defense first.

Two, the Rams are a team dying for talent and Suh is with out any doubt the best player with the best upside in the entire 2010 draft.

Suh brings immediate impact along with unmatched talent and intensity which makes Ndamukong Suh the best overall pick going No. 1 overall to the St Louis Rams.

Second option: Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma

2) Detroit Lions: Russell Okung, OT Oklahoma State

Examination: No matter what people say Russell Okung is the right pick for the Detroit Lions at No. 2 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft.

A lot of people have the Lions choosing between Okung and Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy but when you are a team like the Detroit Lions in a rebuilding mode, with your franchise quarterback and wide receiver already in the fold you need the third piece of the triangle.

That being left tackle, the most important position outside of quarterback because the Lions need to have a long term answer to protect Matt Stafford’s blindside.

Right now the Lions have 32 year old Jeff Backus and 34 year old Jon Janson at left tackle. For a team rebuilding the Lions will need to get younger as well as upgraded talented at the left tackle position and no one fits that bill better than OT Russell Okung from Oklahoma State with the second overall pick.

Second option: Ndamukong Suh, DT Nebraska

3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Gerald McCoy, DT Oklahoma

Examination: A lot of people have Tennessee safety Eric Berry going to the Buccaneers third overall and I had him going to Tampa in my last mock draft but after reviewing the Bucs needs and areas where they need improvement I landed on defensive tackle over safety.

Currently the Bucs have Chris Hovan (31) and Ryan Sims (29) currently starting at the defensive tackle positions (4-3 defense).

With the selection of McCoy, it would bring a fresh, aggressive pass rushing defensive tackle into the Bucs defensive line. Something the Buccaneers defense could definitely use as Raheem Morris rebuilds this franchise.

Second option: Eric Berry, S Tennessee

4) Washington Redskins: Anthony Davis, OT Rutgers

Examination: I was debating between Jimmy Clausen and Anthony Davis for this pick and I decided for my third edition to go with Davis, which will most likely change as the draft moves closer.

With Mike Shanahan as the Redskins new head coach and executive VP there is going to be a tough decision in the Redskins war room come draft day. It’s ultimately going to come down to Clausen vs Davis and more importantly QB vs LT and which need is more of a concern to Shanahan and his coaching staff.

The Redskins lost LT Chris Samuel to retirement after suffering a career ending injury. Replacing Samuel was Levi Jones who does not fit long term as a corner stone of the Redskins franchise.

It’s always the key in the NFL to select the franchise left tackle, then the quarterback then either running back or wide receiver depending on need but left tackle and quarterback are 1a and 1b in order of importance.

So with that being said I have the Washington Redskins selecting OT Anthony Davis from Rutgers fourth overall in the 2010 draft.

Second option: Jimmy Clausen, QB Notre Dame

5) Kansas City Chiefs: Eric Berry, S Tennessee

Examination: If the draft falls the way I have it falling in this mock draft it becomes very hard for the Chiefs to make this pick because their biggest need at left tackle is gone with Russell Okung and Anthony Davis already off the board, the only two tackles worth taking in the top 10.

Then you have to move down to wide receiver and it might be too early to take a player like Dez Bryant from Oklahoma State but it is still a possibility.

So flip over to the defensive side where they have selected defensive ends Tyson Jackson (09) and Glenn Dorsey (08) in the first round the last two years so defensive line is not a high priority for the Chiefs. Their linebacking corps is in motion but is still a solid core of players.

So move to the defensive backs where there isn’t much talent outside of Brandon Flowers. So if Russell Okung and Anthony Davis are both off the board then safety Eric Berry is the best pick for the Chiefs fifth overall.

Berry can bring a great added presents into the Chiefs defensive backfield which will help improve their defense which ranked 29th in the NFL allowing 26 PPG.

Second option: Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State

6) Seattle Seahawks: Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma

Examination: This couldn’t work out better for Pete Carroll and his new coaching staff as they look to rebuild the Seahawks organization so they can be a winning franchise competing for a Super Bowl year in and year out.

The selection of Sam Bradford is a perfect fit for the Seahawks now and long term for two reasons.

One, the Seahawks have a 34 year old quarterback in Matt Hasselbeck who has had more than his fair share of injuries of his career and they have begun to pile on the last two years. With a new philosophy coming in with Jeremy Bates as the offensive coordinator it is a perfect fit to bring in Sam Bradford into the fold as the Seahawks look to build the core of their team through the draft and they need to put the pieces in place this season not a year or two down the road.

Two, the Seahawks have always had their offense up and running which allows the defense to be a lot more successful that it has been in the past three years. The Seahawks have everything in place on offense but a few missing pieces on the offensive line, some which Alex Gibbs (new OL coach who is a genius with the ZBS and doesn’t need high drafted OT and OL to be successful, he uses third, fourth and fifth round offensive linemen) can help with and some that the Seahawks will have to address later in the draft. Other than LT the Seahawks have a secure group of wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs led by Justin Forsett who will be the number one running back next season.

The only thing missing for the Seahawks on offense is a talented young quarterback who can lead this team back to the Super Bowl.

Sam Bradford is the best quarterback in the draft with impeccable accuracy and a highly underrated arm and great awareness for a quarterback and knows where he is at all times.

So with the sixth pick in the 2010 NFL draft and the first pick in the Pete Carroll era in Seattle I have Sam Bradford going to Seattle.

Second option: Joe Haden, CB Florida

7) Cleveland Browns: Joe Haden, CB Florida

Examination: With “Big Mike” now running the show in Cleveland the decision that has to be made with Holmgren and Mangini is who is going to be the quarterback in Cleveland? Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson or ditch both and go with a QB like Clausen in the draft.

Once the two decide on a quarterback then they can decide where they want to go in the draft. Holmgren has always been an offensive minded coach and GM but has a solid draft record and recommendation when he wasn’t the GM but still was the head coach.

Marcus Trufant, Lofa Tatupu and other late round picks. So if Holmgren and Mangini want to fill a void as well as add some high end talent then the pick of Joe Haden from Florida is the perfect pick. Haden has a lot of similarities to Jets corner Darrell Revis.

Second option: Dez Bryant,WR Oklahoma State

8) Oakland Raiders: Carlos Dunlap, DE Florida

Examination: Like I have stated in my previous two mock drafts when it comes to mocking the Raiders pick you have to turn into a 80 year old grumpy outdated GM and Owner who always gets called out for his picks, most recently of Darius Heyward-Bay and Jamarus Russell.

So in this case I’m sticking with my previous selection of Florida defensive end Carlos Dunlap. Dunlap has great talent at defensive end with a 4.7 40 time which would still appease Davis.

Whether Richard Seymour will see-more enough dough to be convinced to come back to Oakland is yet to be seen but even with him Dunlap is the selection.

Second option: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland

9) Buffalo Bills: Jimmy Clausen, QB Notre Dame

Examination: Much like the Seattle Seahawks at No. 6 overall this is the perfect scenario for the Buffalo Bills. Right now the Buffalo Bills have nothing at the quarterback position.

Now yes new GM Buddy Nix said they have some good QB’s but they never have the protection needed, you can not stand there and tell me that you are muy contento with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Trent Edwards and Brian Brohm at quarterback moving forward.

I don’t think anyone in their right mind would say that.

Now granted they did hire Chad Gailey as the teams new head coach so who knows they might even draft Tim Tebow here.

Now in all seriousness the Buffalo Bills, should the draft fall this way which is has a good chance of doing, need to select Jimmy Clausen with the ninth overall pick.

Second option: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland

10) Jacksonville Jaguars: Derrick Morgan, DE GT

Examination: Te-Bow…Te-Bow…Te-Bow. That’s the sound you’re going to hear from a lot of Jacksonville Jags fans over the next few months leading up to the draft. However I do think Tebow should and will end up in Jacksonville but this is way to early to take him.

The Jags have a few options here depending on how the draft falls. They could just go ahead and take Tim Tebow to bring back the fans and start to make some profit in Jacksonville. Or they could actually decide to go for talent and need and hope that Tebow falls to them in the second round and take a pass rushing defensive end like Derrick Morgan or Jason Pierre Paul.

I feel that the Jags will take the Georgia Tech product over the USF product in this case.

The Jaguars recorded only 14 team sacks in 2009. Morgan recorded 12.5 sacks alone in his final season at GT so that shows if the Jags want to improve the team to a winning franchise they will need to look at a defensive end, in this case I have them taking Derrick Morgan from Georgia Tech with the tenth pick in draft.

Second option: Tim Tebow, QB Florida

11) Denver Broncos: Rolando McClain, LB Alabama

Examination: This pick is all hanging in limbo with what happens to Brandon Marshall and where he will be traded or not. I still will have McClain mocked here for the Broncos even if Marshall is traded, which I see as a high likely hood.

Also the Broncos will have to figure out about Elvis Dumervill and his situation but overall I have this pick being Alabama ILB Rolando McClain to the Denver Broncos 11th overall.

Second option: Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State

12) Miami Dolphins: Earl Thomas, S Texas

Examination: Bill Parcells is large and in charge still in Miami so right off the bat that rules out Dez Bryant with this pick because Big Tuna never takes wide receivers high in drafts. Terry Glenn was the exception because the owner at the time, Bob Kraft demanded it when he was the head coach.

Now that Parcells runs the show in Miami he will be looking at NT, FS, CB and LB as the main holes to fill this off season and mainly in the draft.

Today the Dolphins cut disgruntled linebacker Joey Porter so linebacker becomes a little bit more of a glaring need. However I have Rolando McClain going one spot higher to the Denver Broncos so that option is out (in this mock draft at least).

So looking at those positions of need for the Dolphins and then look at the players still on the board. Nose Tackle would be Dan Williams, free safety would be Earl Thomas, corner back would be Donovan Warren and linebacker would be Sean Weatherspoon.

Out of those four and looking at the needs I have decided to go with Texas safety Earl Thomas to the Miami Dolphins 12th overall in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Second option: Dan Williams, NT Tennessee

13) San Francisco 49ers: Trent Williams, OT Oklahoma

Examination: For some reason a lot of people have running back C.J Spiller being selected here by the Niners but the last time I looked Frank Gore was still in the 49ers backfield so that would be a waste of a pick.

However they do have a need on the offensive line and at the tackle position. Trent Williams, along with Bruce Campbell are the two best offensive tackles on the board and for the 49ers Trent Williams fits more into their scheme than Campbell.

Second option: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland

14) Seattle Seahawks: Jason Pierre Paul, DE South Florida

Examination: In this mock Pete Carroll is batting a thousand in his first ever draft for the Seahawks with Sam Bradford and now Jason Pierre Paul.

The Seahawks had zero pass rush last season and as I pointed out in my Julius Peppers article the Seahawks defensive success starts with the pass rush. Last season the Seahawks recorded 28 sacks, the lowest amount in over five years.

So as Pete Carroll starts his Seahawks era it will be very crucial to get a dominant pass rushing defensive end, or two if the team decides to sign Julius Peppers in free agency.

It has shown in recent years, as I pointed out in my Peppers article that the higher the team sack total the better the defense is as a whole which leads to more wins for the Seahawks.

Second option: Mike Iupati, G Idaho

15) New York Giants: Dan Williams, DT/NT Tennessee

Examination: This will come down to who’s on the board and what happens with Osi Umenyiora. No matter what happens the Giants need to draft a defensive tackle to stop the run because last season the Giants defense gave up over 420 points a franchise high.

So now that defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan is out after only his first season on the job it’s now the focal point of the Giants off season to improve their underachieving defense.

Selecting defensive tackle Dan Williams from Tennessee to stick in the middle of the Giants defensive line will go a long way to improving the run defense and the overall Giants defense for a long time.

Second option: Brian Price, DT UCLA

16) Tennessee Titans: Brian Price, DT UCLA

Examination: The Titans need help on defense but Carlos Dunlap, Derrick Morgan and Jason Pierre Paul are all off the board so they can move to defensive tackle and still select a great consolation prize with Brian Price from UCLA.

Price made a great decision to come out a year early and the Tennessee Titans will love this pick if Dunlap, Morgan and Pierre Paul are all of the board.

Second option: Brandon Graham, DE Michigan

17) San Francisco 49ers: Donovan Warren, CB Michigan

Examination: With the 49ers taking an offensive tackle with their first of two first round picks they can now turn their attention to their next need, that being corner back.

This season the 49ers had to resort to signing Dre Bly as well as not having any long term solution opposite of Nate Clements.

So the selection of Donovan Warren gives the 49ers a great cover corner for a long time.

Second option: C.J Spiller, RB Clemson

18) Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Iupati, G Idaho

Examination: The Steelers can go one of two ways with their first round pick. They can address their need on the offensive line or they can look for a long term replacement for NT Casey Hampton who will be 33 soon.

Even if the Steelers decide to franchise Hampton they still won’t have a long term solution at nose tackle but right now there isn’t any elite or close to elite nose tackles on the board so the Steelers have to turn to the offensive line and that’s where Mike Iupati from Idaho fits perfectly.

Iupati is a stand out offensive guard who can play anywhere on the offensive line so that makes this pick all the better for Pittsburgh.

Second option: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland (I have him as a lot of teams second option)

19) Atlanta Falcons: Everson Griffen, DE USC

Examination: The Falcons have only one need this off season and that is to greatly improve the pass rush on defense which only recorded 28 sacks in 2009.

The Falcons could go with a linebacker here but defensive end us the number one need and because I don’t see Peppers dawning red next season Everson Griffen is their next best option with all the other defensive ends off the board.

Second option: Sean Weatherspoon, linebacker Missouri

20) Houston Texans: Taylor Mays, S USC

Examination: The ideal pick for the Texans here would be Earl Thomas from Texas but he’s long gone in this draft so they have to slide down to the next best safety which would be hard hitting Taylor Mays from USC.

The Texans have never had that elite safety presents in franchise history so it’s important they add an aggressive hard hitting safety early in the draft.

21) Cincinnati Bengals: Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State

Examination: Talk about taking a Brady Quinn fall except this time there isn’t any place between the Broncos and Bengals for Dez Bryant to go so the Bengals hit the lotto with this one . The Bengals are in need of receivers and with the passing of Chris Henry and that age of Chad Ochocinco it’s key that the Bengals pickup a sure handed wide receiver that they can add with Chad as well as build on as the future continues.

Tight end is also an option but I’m not sold on Oklahoma’s Jermaine Gresham over Dez Bryant.

Second option: Jermaine Gresham, TE Oklahoma

22) New England Patriots: C.J Spiller, RB Clemson

Examination: It’s amazing that Spiller would fall all the way to the Patriots at 22 but I don’t see any team dieing for a running back ahead of them and the Seahawks don’t need a running back and the 49ers could grab one later in the draft.

This would be great for New England’s offense because Spiller is an explosive running back but can also catch the ball out of the backfield and be great on special teams which will be the seal for Bill Belichick.

Second option: Jared Odrick, DT Penn State

23) Green Bay Packers: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland

Examination: I think a lot of teams will be worried about Campbell’s injury history and that he’s another product of the Maryland system, however he is a great offensive tackle which will keep him in the top 25.

This is a dream come true for Green Bay because they don’t have to trade up to get an elite left tackle for the long term to protect Aaron Rogers, something that is a high importance for the Packers this off season.

Second option: Charles Brown, OT USC

24) Philadelphia Eagles: Brandon Graham, DE Michigan

Examination: The winners of every draft, the Philadelphia Eagles have a chance to turn an almost elite player into a break out player, in this case a break out defensive end with Brandon Graham.

The Eagles will need to upgrade their defensive line opposite of Trent Cole and if they don’t sign Julius Peppers in free agency they will be hot for a defensive end in the draft and Brandon Graham would be an excellent selection for the Eagles.

25) Baltimore Ravens: Jermaine Gresham, TE Oklahoma

Examination: The Ravens are in the same position as the Bengals are, in need of receiving options for Joe Flacco. Derrick Mason is on the fence again in terms of retirement and Todd Heap isn’t getting any younger.

With all the options of receivers on the board Gresham is the best of all them still remaining and a player who can come in right away and make an impact.

Second option: Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois

26) Arizona Cardinals: Charles Brown, OT USC

Examination: Well now that we all know Warner has retired to join the Jay Leno football league and that Matt Leinart will once again be given the chance to be the starting quarterback for the Cardinals in 2010.

However now that they know who the quarterback will be they will need to improve their offensive line which is really shaky with Mike Gandy giving up over nine sacks this season and having Levi Brown being at right tackle.

Brown can come right in as a rookie and start at left tackle which will be important for the Cardinals moving forward.

27) Dallas Cowboys: Maurkice Pouncey, G Florida

Examination: Here’s a player who’s stock will rise or fall depending on how the rest of the draft plays out ahead of him.

The Cowboys need help on the offensive line and Pouncey is the best offensive lineman available while bringing a lot of talent with him, he’s only a small reach.

Second option: Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois

28) San Diego Chargers: Jared Odrick, DE Penn State

Examination: The Chargers have two ways they could go with this pick. They could address their need a running back with LaDanian Tomlinson’s release coming soon but C.J Spiller isn’t on the board and Jahvid Best is really a home run hitting running back not a first and second down back.

So that leaves their need on the defensive line as the best option for this pick. Outside of defensive end Luis Castillo the Chargers don’t have a great defensive end threat on both sides of the line so it’s important for them to go out and select a guy like Odrick who can come in and be that guy.

Second option: Jerry Hughes, DE TCU

29) New York Jets: Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois

Examination: The Jets made the right decision by going with Mark Sanchez last season but now their next goal is to get him a long term wide receiver that he can build and grow with as his Jet career moves along.

The Jets acquired Braylon Edwards from the Browns for a second round pick in the 2010 Draft and now he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent if the Jets don’t resign him.

However while Edwards did help the Jets he still doesn’t have good hands and that worries a lot of people for the Jets but even if the Jets decide to resign Edwards long term they are still going to need a young productive wide receiver opposite of Edwards and Benn fits the bill.

Second option: Jerry Hughes, DE TCU

30) Minnesota Vikings: Kyle Wilson, CB Boise State

Examination: Here’s another player to watch fly up draft boards, Kyle Wilson from Boise State is probably the second best corner in the draft but because not many teams have needs for corners he’ll fall to the mid to late first round and that’s good news for the Minnesota Vikings.

Cedric Griffin is an above average corner in this leage, not the best of the best but still above average. However after his ACL surgery it’s going to take 8-10 months before he can return so not only did they need another corner opposite of Griffin but now they are most likely going to need someone to step in at the one to take his place.

Wilson is that guy who can fill in for Griffin and to a great job until he gets back. Then after Griffin is able to return Wilson just slides over to the two, opposite of Griffin and continue.

It’s a win-win for the Vikings.

31) Indianapolis Colts: Bryan Bulaga, OT Iowa

Examination: The Colts don’t have that many big needs, their biggest need is signing Manning which shouldn’t be too hard. Who knows maybe he’ll take a page from Seattle Mariners ace lefty Cliff Lee “I want a ten year deal for about $200 billion, haha I don’t know”.

However after Manning the Colts do need to improve on their offensive line and especially at left and right tackle which Bulaga can play both.

So I’m sure Bill Polian will do wonders again and Bryan Bulaga will eventually be their left tackle for the long term.

32) New Orleans Saints: Sean Weatherspoon, OLB Missouri

Examination: Well the Saints won a Super Bowl, now before they can think of going back to back they first have to survive their off season which consists of over 23 total free agents.

The Saints have a solid linebacking core right now but they do need another play maker in the front seven and Weatherspoon is that play maker.

NOTE: I received a lot of comments on both of my first and second editions of my mock drafts saying I need to update my mock draft. Well here is how I do it, I don’t have one draft that I edit over and over and over because eventually it gets confusing. So now I post a new mock draft with links to my first two and as time goes on I add the rest and etc. But this is just a note to everyone that I post a new mock draft, not edit the same one over and over.

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Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Julius Peppers a fit in Seattle

2010-02-10T23:19:00.000-08:00

Julius Peppers, a soon to be free agent this off season will be one of if not the most highly touted commodity when free agency officially starts on March 5th.

Today Peppers came out to the media and said he is not willing nor will he sign a long term contract with the Carolina Panthers, which all but makes him an official unrestricted free agent because he has more than six years of NFL experience.

So now starts the bevy of articles flying around about where Julius Peppers should and might sign when March 5th comes around.

The Saints, Eagles, Chiefs, Patriots and about a dozen other teams could be looking at Peppers. One of those teams that many people have been overlooking that could be a great fit for Peppers is the Seattle Seahawks.

The Seahawks have been in a rebuilding process now heading into its second stage, but the first under new head coach Pete Carroll.

Seattle has been built up on their outstanding defense that flat out underperformed the last few years, and basically tanking under Jim Mora Jr.

Now with Carroll, a defensive minded coach, in the fold the Seahawks will look to really target the trenches as a major area for improvement.

That improvement could come in the form of defensive end Julius Peppers in free agency.

Now some people may ask even with the nonexistent salary cap this off season would Seattle pay the $15 -20 million per season for Peppers?

Yes.

Over the last few seasons the Seahawks have totaled 28 sacks (2009), 35 sacks (2008), 45 sacks (2007), 41 sacks (2006) and 50 sacks in 2005 in which they led the NFL in team sack total and also went to their first Super Bowl in team history that same year.

So it shows the Seahawks defense relies on the pass rush to lead their defense and this past season under Jim Mora Jr. the Seahawks had almost no pass rush thus allowing 5,069 total yards (21st in the NFL).

So with Pete Carroll who will be looking to turn this ship around as soon as possible with the right players and the right coaches in place, Julius Peppers will definitely be a target of the Seattle Seahawks.

The Seahawks will have defensive ends Darryl Tapp and Cory Redding being free agents this off season which would allow Peppers to come in and be the full time starter at left defensive end.

Also the Seahawks need to push heavy to sign Peppers because the status of former Pro Bowl defensive end Patrick Kerney is currently in limbo and the Seahawks don’t have a presents on the defensive line so signing Peppers would not only give the Seahawks a replacement for Kerney but also bring a presents they haven’t had in a long time.

So look for the Seahawks to be included in the Julius Peppers sweepstakes when free agency rolls around.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Walter Jones’ unofficial retirement

2010-02-09T21:41:00.000-08:00

Usually Super Bowl Sunday gets the nations attention either on the field (if you have the $800+ per ticket to fork up) or on that 1080 HD TV in the living room.

Either way you decide to watch the game about everyone in this country turns into watch the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday.

Now most of the time there's not any other news that happens on Super Bowl Sunday other than on the two teams involved in the Super Bowl.

However Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle made an not so surprised announcement Sunday. He announced via Twitter that he was retiring from the game of football. Here's the two quotes from Jones' Twitter page.

"I have came to the concussion it is time for me to retire from football."
11:12 AM Feb 7th

"Sorry conclusion this phone just hep you spell to much but you understand."
12:55 PM Feb 7th

The second quote was because apparently Jones' cant' spell on Twitter but the man has worked his butt off the last 14 years so he doesn't have to spell.

If this is truly the end of Walter Jones' 13-year career then he is retiring that much quicker to be closer to the hall of fame which will be calling Walter Jones' name in 2015.

Walter Jones, a first round pick sixth overall in 1997 NFL Draft and has had one of the best careers in the NFL for an offensive tackle.

If Jones is officially retiring, which has not been confirmed by the Seahawks or Walter Jones' agent, he would be retiring with the following awards and accomplishments while only playing in a Seahawks uniform for all of his 13 year NFL career.

First team all rookie (1997)

9x Pro Bowler (99,01,02,03,04,05,06,07, 08)

6x all NFC (01-05,07)

4x First team all pro (01,04,05,07)

3x Second team all pro (02,06,08)

Listed on 2000's all decade team

Walter Jones is easily a first ballot hall of famer when his turn comes around in 2015, should this be his "official announcement" of retirement.

This past season Jones failed to record a snap because he could not recover from off season knee surgery, which could be the major reason why he would decide to call it a career.

Now the most important part of this fiasco is who will replace Jones as the cornerstone of the franchise at left tackle? Sean Locklear proved that he's not capable of being an NFL left tackle. Brandon Frye, who finished the season on IR after being a quick fill is also not the long term solution.

The Seahawks could look to free agency but with the CBA being in limbo no one knows who exactly will be restricted and unrestricted in terms of free agents. The Seahawks could also look at the draft with Russell Okung, Anthony Davis and others being available at No. 6 and No. 14 respectively.

Currently nothing is official on any Walter Jones retirement so if anyone looks into this from another site having it be breaking news that is incorrect information, nothing is official nor confirmed by any source.

I will keep tracking this for everyone and keep updates flowing if there happens to be any.

Seahawks 2009 offensive MVP: TE John Carlson

2010-02-04T23:02:00.000-08:00

With my friend Scotty Kimberly wanting peoples opinion on the 2009 Seattle Seahawks offensive MVP I decided to give my take. I had a short list consisting of TJ Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson, Justin Forsett, Matt Hasselbeck and John Carlson.

In the end it came down to Forsett and Carlson with John Carlson receiving my vote as the 2009 Seattle Seahawks offensive MVP.

Now some people might question right off the bat, why John Carlson? He was irrelevant for the first eight games of the season. Well there is a reason why his stats were down for the first eight games,outside of week one and that was because due to the inconsistency of the offensive line Carlson had to stay home and be an additional blocker instead of a route running tight end like he’s built for.

Now overall when the offensive line situation was resolved with Mike Gibson at right guard and Max Unger at center Carlson was able to get back to his normal form as a pass catching tight end.

In 2009 Carlson played all 16 games while recording 51 receptions for 571 yards and seven touchdowns, a team high in 2009. Carlson average yards per catch was 11.3 with 271 yards after catch. Carlson was only targeted 83 times this season.

When you compare Carlson’s 2009 numbers to those of TJ Houshmandzadeh, Nate Burleson and even Deion Branch he stands out as being the best overall receiving option for Hasselbeck.

Here’s a breakdown of Carlson’s 2009 stats vs TJ, Nate and Deion

TJ Houshmandzadeh: 79 receptions, 911 yards, three touchdowns, 11.5 average, 237 yards after catch and 135 targets.TJ’s difference for targets and receptions is 56.

Nate Burleson 63 receptions, 812 yards, three touchdowns, 12.9 average, 290 yards after catch and 103 targets.Nate’s difference for targets and receptions is 40.

Deion Branch: 45 receptions, 437 yards, two touchdowns, 9.7 average, 150 yards after catch and 79 targets. Deion’s difference for targets and receptions is 34.

Now compare that to John Carlson’s numbers overall and it’s clear that Carlson is the best. Carlson’s difference between targets and receptions is 32, even lower than Deion Branch.

So with that being said my vote for the 2009 Seattle Seahawks offensive MVP goes to tight end John Carlson.

Sound off.

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Mariners, Garko agree on one year contract

2010-02-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

Not the biggest bat available but Ryan Garko fits the Mariners perfectly. On Monday the former Indian and Giant came to an agreement with the Seattle Mariners on a one year contract worth 550,000.

Garko can earn another 525,000 in bonuses if he makes 600 plate appearances, something Garko has never done in his career.

With the addition of Garko to the Mariners roster he figures to be in competition with Casey Kotchman for the starting first baseman in 2010 as well as a platoon in LF, DH, 1B and a last ditch catcher should the M's need one, which doesn't look likely.

In a conference call with the Seattle media Monday Garko explained his reasoning for choosing Seattle.

"It's pretty obvious I'm here to help against left-handed pitching, whether as a first baseman or DH, and be around to catch if the situation comes up."

Garko is a career .278 hitter with 55 career homeruns and a .351 OBP to go along with a career .441 slugging percentage.

With the addition of Ryan Garko to the Mariners lineup, they now have created a log jam of outfield/infield talent going into spring training.

Currently on the projected bench would be Michael Saunders, Ryan Langerhans, Ken Griffey Jr. (DH), Jack Hannahan, Matt Tuiasosopo, Mike Carp, and either or Ryan Garko/Casey Kotchman, unless they decided to split time this season at first base.

The Mariners still have one or two more moves to make regarding their starting rotation with Erik Bedard and Jarrod Washburn still unsigned free agents.

Bedard looks to do what Ben Sheets did. Take a year off from baseball, get 100 percent healthy and then sign a $8-$10 million dollar contract in 2011.

Jarrod Washburn on the other hand has been linked in recent days to be high on the Mariners list, and Washburn would prefer to reup with Seattle considering his first half stats before being traded to Detroit last season.

He turned down a one year, $5 million dollar offer from the Minnesota Twins so it could be that he either ways $6+ million on a one year deal OR he wants to sign with Seattle for $5 million.

So the next move to watch out for is Jarrod Washburn to the Seattle Mariners.

NOTE: the Mariners designated RHP Gaby Hernandez for assignment to make room for Garko.

Seahawks add Richard, Ulbrich to coaching staff

2010-01-29T23:00:00.001-08:00

As the final touches are being made on Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll's coaching
staff there are two more names being added on.

Former Seahawk and USC Trojan DB coach Kris Richard will join Carroll as the assistant defensive backs coach to Jerry Gray (Seahawks DB coach).

Also joining the staff is former San Francisco 49ers linebacker Jeff Ulbrich who will serve as the teams assistant special teams coach to Brian Scheider.

As of now here is the current coaching staff under Pete Carroll.

Offense:

Offensive coordinator: Jeremy Bates
Quarterbacks coach: Jedd Fisch
Running backs coach: Sherman Smith
Wide receivers coach: Kippy Brown
Tight ends coach: Pat McPherson
Offensive line: Alex Gibbs
Assistant offensive line: Art Valero

Defense:

Defensive coordinator: Gus Bradley
Defensive line coach: Dan Quinn
Linebackers coach: Ken Norton Jr.
Secondary coach: Jerry Gray
Assistant secondary coach: Kris Richard

Special teams and strength and condition:

Special teams coach: Brian Scheider
Assistant special teams coach: Jeff Ulbrich
Strength and conditioning coach: Chris Carlisle
Assistant strength and conditioning coach: Jamie Yanchar

Now all the pieces have been put in place on Pete Carroll's coaching staff. Next up for the head man along with GM John Schneider is to begin scouting and evaluating their own players, senior bowl players as well as possible free agent targets.

NOTE: Patrick Kerney has not retired according to two sources in Seattle. There was no retirement party and no papers have been put through the league office.

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Mariners, Byrnes agree on one-year contract

2010-01-29T19:57:00.000-08:00

On Friday the Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik went back to his "buy low, end up high" mentality when the team came to an agreement on a one year contract with free agent outfielder Eric Byrnes.

Byrnes, who turns 34 in February of this year, will be entering his tenth year in the majors, with his third team in his career.

The signing of Byrnes gives the Mariners a much needed right-handed bat to most likely come off the bench this season.

In 2009 Byrnes played in only 84 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks with eight homeruns, 26 runs, 54 hits and 31 RBI's.

Byrnes has a career .321 OBP, .442 slugging percentage and a .763 OPS.

Eric Byrnes is out to prove to the Mariners and the rest of the league that he is once again healthy, something he hasn't been in two years since he signed a three year $30 million dollar contract with the Diamondbacks.

Byrnes said in a conference call with Seattle reporters that he was "I just needed a team to believe in me half as much as I believe in myself".

With the Seattle Mariners Brynes he feels like he has that belief.

The addition of Byrnes adds another notable name to the list of top off season acquisitions with the likes of Chone Figgins, Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, Casey Kotchman as well as the extensions of Felix Hernandez and Franklin Gutierrez.

With this "believe big" motto for 2010 it's clear that Don Wakamatsu and Jack Zduriencik are doing more than aiming for a division title in 2010.

NOTE: The Mariners designated Tommy Everidge for assignment to make room for Byrnes on the roster.

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Seahawks draft prospect: CB Joe Haden

2010-01-27T19:55:00.000-08:00

As Pete Carroll, John Schneider and the rest of the Seahawks scouting department prepare for the senior bowl this Saturday in Mobile Alabama to get a look at some of the top seniors in this draft class I’ve decided to go break down a highly touted junior, corner back Joe Haden.

The Seahawks currently have major needs in their entire defensive backfield, mostly at the second corner position and safety.

Marcus Trufant was placed on the PUP list to begin the season which meant that he would miss the first eight weeks of the season, which inevitably wound up hurting his overall play. Trufant was flagged at least eight times for pass interference calls this season, the highest in his career.

However with Trufant being 100 percent healthy now and moving forward the Seahawks don’t really have a stand out corner opposite of Trufant.

Here is the current list of corners’ for the Seahawks.

Marcus Trufant, Josh Wilson, Kelly Jennings, Ken Lucas (UFA) and Roy Lewis

When you look at that list the only real name that jumps out as a great corner would be Trufant. Josh Wilson I see a much better fit as a safety because he can cover and tackle but between Haden and Wilson Haden is a much better shut down corner.

So with that being said, the second player on “my list”(my list of draft prospects for the Seahawks, first started with Russell Okung) Joe Haden and my break down of his game.

Physical stature and Skills:

5-11, 191 lbs, great hips, great shut down cover skills (like Darrell Revis), quick feet (get’s flat footed now and then but Carroll will help with that), great hands and electric speed with a 4.40. Only missed one game in his college career, back in 2007 against Florida State.

Character:

Great leader on and off the field. In 2009 Haden was semifinalist for the Jim Thorp award which is given to the best college defensive back that has great skills as well as great character on and off the field.

NFL comparison:

Well I already gave that one away above, CB Darrell Revis. Still has some work to get up with Revis’ complete shut down corner package but he’s got great intangibles and has the same make up as Revis does. Great cover shut down corner, great hips, great hands and great speed.

The only thing he has a problem with is a little foot work and getting the little things right but one he’s in the NFL, possibly under Pete Carroll should the Seahawks draft Haden at either No. 6 or No. 14 overall he’d be able to work out those small problems with Haden.

ESPN Scouts Inc Todd McShay has Haden as the fourth best player in the draft giving him a 96 overall grade. For the Seahawks they seem like the first team that would get a crack at Joe Haden being sixth overall.

Tampa Won’t take a CB that high and no other team before Seattle makes sense. Now the Seahawks do have a lot of needs (LT,LG,DE,QB-long term, CB and S) so if the Seahawks and Pete Carroll feel that Haden is the best player on the board and they really like him the I believe he could be the pick at six.

However Jimmy Clausen, Sam Bradford, Russell Okung and Suh would have to be off the board for the Seahawks to have Haden as a plan because those four come before Haden.

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Seattle Seahawks: Five players to watch at the Senior Bowl

2010-01-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

The first official task that head coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider will be working on together is evaluating players this Saturday at the Senior Bowl in Mobile Alabama.

Carroll, the former USC head coach is considered the best at scouting college players and that will be very crucial as the Seahawks look to build their organization through the NFL draft as well as picking up a few players through free agency.

Overall the draft is how you build the core of your team for the long term and the Seahawks plan on rebuilding mainly through the NFL Draft. With the Seahawks having three of the first 40 picks in the 2010 draft this will be the most important draft in Pete Carroll’s short era so far in Seattle.

With that being said here are five players that the Seahawks and Pete Carroll will have their eyes on come Saturday.

Taylor Mays, S USC

Examination: Taylor Mays has been and will continue to pop up in tons of mock drafts as the draft process continues to move along. Mays is not being targeted just because Pete Carroll use to coach him at USC. It’s because the Seahawks are missing a huge presents in their defensive backs, especially at safety.

Jordan Babineaux recorded over 100 tackles this season which looks good on paper but when it comes down to the entire game he gave up way to many bit plays this season. He used to be great as a hard hitting situational safety/cornerback and now he’s really a hit and miss starter which has weakened the Seahawks defense.

Mays was not known for making interceptions but he was known for being a hard hitting cover safety that could cover without giving up big plays.

Mays is a name that every Seahawks fan needs to keep their eyes on as the draft moves closer.

Mike Iupati, OG Idaho

Examination: With out any doubt Iupati is the best offensive guard in the 2010 NFL draft. However that’s all he is fitted for is being either a left or right guard depending on team need, which for the Seahawks would be left guard.

Iupati has great quickness, power and is a gritty player that will be a future Pro Bowler, like former Seahawks OG Steve Hutchinson.

The Seahawks need to build the the majority of the offensive line in order for the entire offense to start clicking once again. That would start with adding an offensive guard like Mike Iupati in the 2010 NFL draft.

He’s not hard to miss so here is another name to keep your eyes on.

Tim Tebow, QB Florida

Examination: The selection of Tebow for me is two fold. One Tim Tebow is going to have everyone looking at him except for the Colts who have Peyton Manning. Two because the Seahawks have a solid starter in Matt Hasselbeck who has been banged up recently due to poor offensive line production and bad coaching ala Greg Knapp.

As ESPN’s Todd McShay pointed out he is starting to get better taking snaps under center but still has a lot of improvement to make in order to be an NFL starting quarterback.

The Seahawks don’t have a long term answer at quarterback but I think with Carroll being a high energy coach who wants winners and the best players, along with offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates who is great with any quarterback can turn him into an NFL starting quarterback in two years.

Maybe like Vince Young except in the second round. He’s got speed and talent but needed/needs the time to develop into a true NFL starting quarterback.

Myron Rolle, S Florida State

Examination: This one might shock a lot of people but the reason I have him as one of my five players to watch for the Seahawks at the senior bowl is because he still is a very hard, aggressive player who will always come up in the run support from his safety position to make those hard tackles.

However there is some down side to Rolle, who was the number one rated high school player coming out in 2006 ahead of the likes of Taylor Mays and others.

Rolle has been considered a slacker and not that enthused when it comes to playing but when he does play and play at a high level he’s a very talented player.

The only question I would raise in this case is can Pete Carroll get Rolle into mental shape if he decided to select him between the 4th and 5th round of the draft.

Brandon Graham, DE Michigan

Examination: It was clear to the entire country that Michigan’s defense was horrendous this season but their was one bring spot this season and that was defensive end Brandon Graham.

Graham was always hustling to the ball on every play and was very aggressive and strong both against the run and pass. The Seahawks lack a talented pass rusher and even though Graham would be a fifth option behind the likes of Derrick Morgan, Jason Pierre-Paul and others he’d still be a good selection late in the draft.

So those would be my top five players to watch this Saturday at the senior bowl but the Seahawks will have a lot better choices coming from the junior class and other seniors that aren’t at the senior bowl like Sam Bradford and C.J Spiller among others.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Brett Favre or Kurt Warner? Who has had the better NFL career?

2010-01-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

In the NBA you have Kobe or LeBron. In the NHL you have Crosby vs Ovechkin. For the most part in the NFL it’s always been Brady vs Manning deciding who’s the best quarterback in the NFL.

I decided to go beyond the usual comparison of who is the best quarterback in the NFL right now with Manning and Brady. I decided to compare two forty year old quarterbacks who’ve been making “comebacks” for three years now.

Warner with Arizona and Favre with Green Bay, NY Jets and most recently Minnesota.

I’ve never heard someone compare Brett Favre and Kurt Warner so I decided to be the first and even though I was born and raised by my father (Randy Hanson) who was a Green Bay Packers fan now turned Oakland Raiders fan I don’t have a bias for or against either quarterback.

Adding the two future HOF’s together you get two Super Bowl titles, five MVP’s, 16 Pro Bowl selections, 101,673 passing yards, 705 TD’s and 445 Int’s along with tons of other milestones and stats.

Just the shier volume of those stats says a lot about the two quarterbacks. However the question is which one has had a better NFL career?

Before I break down both players I would like to explain the question. When comparing who has had the better career I’m going by stats, Super Bowls, awards and team success (determined by win/loss record).

With that being said it’s time to break down arguably two of the best QB’s in NFL history along the likes of Joe Montana, Joe Namath and John Elway among many others.

Brett Favre:

69,329 passing yards (1st all time)
497 passing touchdowns (1st all time)
6,083/9,811 completions
86.4 QB rating

11 Pro Bowl selections
3 first team all pro selections
3 second team all pro selections
3x NFL MVP
2x NFC champion
Super Bowl XXXI winner (31)
181 career wins
13 playoff wins
Madden 2009 cover boy(just for humor)

Examination: The good old boy from Gulfport Mississippi was a second round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons in the 1991 NFL draft. Favre only lasted one year in Atlanta, attempting only four passes in that time. He was traded to the Green Bay Packers for running back Tony Smith and a first round draft pick. Favre’s NFL career started off unlike any other.

After being traded to Green Bay he replaced starting quarterback Don Majkowski in the second game of the 1992 season and after Majkowski had to be finished for the season by week three Favre became the starting quarterback and finished his first season in Green Bay with a 9-7 record missing the playoffs by only one game. He was elected to his first Pro Bowl that season.

Favre led the Packers to their first playoff birth in 1993 while earning his second consecutive Pro Bowl selection. That off season Favre agreed to a $19 million dollar, five year deal.

In 1994 Favre led the Packers to consecutive playoff appearances. A first since the Vince Lombardi era.

From 1995 to 1997 Brett Favre won three consecutive MVP awards in which was arguably one of the best times in his career, which also came at a price.

In May of 1996 Favre went into rehabilitation for Vicodin addiction, which caused a seizure during a hospital visit for various injuries.

From 1998-2002 Favre was entering the middle portion of his now storied NFL career and in 2001 Brett Favre signed a “lifetime contract” with the Green Bay Packers. $180 million, ten year contract to remain a Green Bay Packer, essentially for the rest of his NFL life. Something that would eventually be broken.

On December 21st 2003 Brett’s father died of a heart attack. The next day Favre elected to play on Monday Night Football in one of if not the most memorable games in NFL history, if not at least for Brett Favre. On that night, a day after Favre lost his father he threw for four touchdowns in the first half, 399 total yards in a 41-7 win over the Oakland Raiders.

After the game he said “I knew that my dad would have wanted me to play. I love him so much and I love this game. It’s meant a great deal to me, to my dad, to my family, and I didn’t expect this kind of performance. But I know he was watching tonight”.

2007 could be nicknamed Brett Favre’s milestone year for the simple face that he broke at least three major NFL records in one year. Favre passed John Elway on the all time wins list with 149 against the Giants. Favre passed Dan Marino’s all time touchdown record on September 30th against the Vikings in which he connected with Greg Jennings on a 15 yard slant route to give Favre his 421st touchdown pass in his career.

Favre’s first attempt at retirement came in 2008 when the Packers decided to go with Aaron Rogers as the starting quarterback, at the same time keeping Favre’s contract and not granting him his release.

On August 7th 2008 the Packers traded Favre to the New York Jets for a conditional fourth round pick. In New York Favre started out hot but that diminished toward the end of the season when he was having problems with his throwing shoulder.

One year after trading for Favre the Jets released the quarterback and he was able to sign with any of the 32 NFL teams should he decide to. However Favre made it very clear which team he was going to play for if the deal came right.

That team was the Minnesota Vikings.

After informing Vikings officials that he was retired he later changed his mind and on August 18th 2009 the Vikings and Favre came to an agreement on a two year $25 million dollar contract.

Now five months later the Vikings wait has paid off with the team only one win away from a shot at Super Bowl title.

So reflecting on Brett Favre’s illustrious, history and towards the end controversial career, it’s without a doubt in anyone’s mind that Brett Favre is a sure lock for the NFL hall of fame in Canton Ohio. The only thing standing in the way is Favre’s retirement which no one knows when that will truly happen.

However, is Favre’s career better than Kurt Warner’s? Let’s see.

Kurt Warner:

32,344 passing yards
208 touchdown passes
2,666/4,070 completions
93.7 QB rating

5 Pro Bowl selections
2x MVP
2x first team all pro
Super Bowl XXXIV champion
Super Bowl XXXIV MVP

Examination: Starting out as an undrafted free agent in the 1994 NFL draft being signed by the Green Bay Packers. When Warner was signed he was the fourth quarterback on the depth chart along with Brett Favre(wow two HOF QB’s on the same team), Mark Brunell and Ty Detmer.

Warner was released before the start of the 1994 season. However Steve Mariucc, who at the time was the Packers quarterbacks coach with Mike Holmgren told Warner that he had a lot of potential but was not ready to be an NFL quarterback, not yet.

After Warner was released by the Packers a well known part of his life his the fact that he was working at Hy-Vee stocking shelves.

Warner signed on with an Arena Football league team called the Iowa Barnstormers where he had great success in his short tenure with the league. He’s 12th on the all time list of best AFL players of all time.

In 1998 Warner signed on with the St Louis Rams and was then sent to the NFLE Amsterdam Admirals where he excelled to the top of the league. He returned to the NFL as the Rams third string quarterback.

Warner, much like Favre got the opportunity to start in 1999 when newly signed quarterback Trent Green went down with a torn ACL during the pre season. Warner was named the starting quarterback with the support of Marshall Faulk, Torry Holt and others on the Rams offense.

What do you know the luck of these two quarterbacks continued an in 1999 Kurt Warner exploded onto the scene throwing 41 touchdowns and 4,353. That was the beginning of what was nicknamed the “Greatest Show on Turf”.

In the following season Warner continued his top performance by leading the Rams into the playoffs but due to their poor defensive team the Rams lost to the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the playoffs.

In 2001 Warner led the Rams to an NFL best 6-0 start for three years in a row and a 14-2 record to end the season. The Rams would wind up losing a heart breaker in Super Bowl XXXVI when Adam Vinatieri kicked the game winning field goal to give the Pats the win and the title.

For the next two seasons Warner fell off the table, dropping from his Super Bowl caliber talent down to eventually being replaced in 2003 by Marc Bulger.

In 2004 the Rams elected to release Warner and in two short days later he signed with the New York Giants. He was named the teams starting quarterback in 2004 but was eventually replaced by Eli Manning due to two game losing streak. Before that Warner had the team winning five of their first seven games.

In 2005 Warner’s career would take him to the desert out west when he signed a four million dollar one year contract with the Arizona Cardinals and Dennis Green. Warner was mediocre at best and due to a groin injury he was replaced as the starter by Josh McCown.

Green named McCown the starter for the rest of the 05 season but with McCown struggling two games into his new role as the starter Cardinals head coach Dennis Green gave the job back to Warner. Warner finished the season on a high note defeating his former Rams team before he went down with an MCL injury in week 15.

On February 14th 2006 the Cardinals and Warner came to an agreement on a three year $22 million dollar contract.

To start out the 2006 season Warner broke 20,000 passing yards in only his 76th game becoming the second fastest to reach 20,000 yards.

However two weeks later Warner was replaced by rookie quarterback Matt Leinart where he would remain the start until he went down with a shoulder injury in week 16 giving Warner another start to finish the season.

To start 2007 Matt Leinart was named the Cardinals starting quarterback but due to poor performance in both week three and week four Warner had to finish both games for the struggling quarterback. Leinart was placed on IR and Warner finished out the 2007 season with almost all career highs in touchdowns, yards and completion percentage.

Starting 2008 new Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt named Matt Leinart the starting quarterback for the third year in a row but this time Whisenhunt said that Warner could be the starting quarterback come week one.

And that’s exactly what happened.

In 2008 Warner led the Cardinals to their first division title and playoff birth since 1998. The Cardinals where the biggest underdog in the playoffs and not one person, analyst or fan outside of Arizona gave them a shot but they did what any underdog did and prove everyone wrong.

Warner’s career year kept on going and he led the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. For about five minutes in the fourth quarter the Cardinals had the lead but Ben Roethlisberger pulled a miracle in the last minute of the game.

Roethlisberger connected on an amazing reception with Santonio Holmes with :42 seconds left in the game to give the Steelers the lead.

In the off season he contimplated retirement but said he would only play for the Arizona Cardinals. Warner eventually resigned with the Cardinals on March 4th 2009 on a two year $23 million dollar deal.

Warner led the Cardinals back to the playoffs and another NFC West title in 2009. Warner became apart of NFL history when he led the Cardinals to a 51-45 win over the Green Bay Packers. The two teams combined for 96 points, the highest combine total in NFL playoff history.

However the Cardinals lost to the Saints in the divisional round of the playoffs, knocking the team out of another shot at back to back Super Bowls.

Now with Kurt Warner out of the playoff picture it’s time to move into his decision to either retire or come back in 2010 to finish out his contract.

With Matt Leinart still on the roster and Warner being battle tested at the age of 38 some question if he will comeback and that last week Warner hinted that he might retire this off season.

Conclusion: As I’ve been writing this article I’ve gotten to see the two greatest stories in NFL history in my opinion. Favre being drafted and traded to the Packers where he was the third string QB turned hall of famer. Warner went from being an undrafted free agent signie with the Packers to stacking shelves for $5.50 an hour at Hy-Vee before turning into a Super Bowl and NFL MVP quarterback with the Rams and later the Cardinals.

Both of these two quarterbacks are going to be hall of famers but for now both still remain in the game, Favre still fighting for another shot at the Super Bowl.

So what’s the answer to the question at hand? Who has had the better NFL career? Brett Favre or Kurt Warner?

For me it has to be Brett Favre. The guy has broken all major quarterback records and is still playing at an extremely high level at the age of 40. Jerry Rice retired at 41. Will Favre give it another shot? Well I’m betting that will depend on if he’s lifting the Lombardi trophy on February 7th.

To you, who has had the better NFL career? You decide.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Should the Seahawks look at Aaron Kampman?

2010-01-22T00:16:00.000-08:00

With only four teams in remaining in the playoffs it means one of two things. One, Brett Favre is this much closer to a Super Bowl, but at the same time that much closer to another off season of "am I retired? I don't even know what that word means". Two, it means that free agency is inching closer and closer which starts the best time of the year.

Speculation time.

However with the NFL's collective bargaining agreement still i limbo not to many free agents know their status, in terms of restricted or unrestricted free agents.

One of those lucky free agents to be, Green Bay Packers OLB/DE Aaron Kampman is most likely going to become an unrestricted free agent come March 1st. Yes that's a little less than three months away but the time goes by fast.

Kampman, a product of Cedar Rapids Iowa and the University of Iowa Hawkeyes could be a target for the newly reconstructed Seattle Seahawks organization led by Pete Carroll and newly hired GM John Schneider, a former front office executive of the Green Bay Packers.

Now some people might question the move from the Seahawks point of view with Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill, Aaron Curry and David Hawthorne already in the Seahawks linebacking corps.

Well on paper and to the average scout or fan it might seem like the Seahawks wouldn't sign any linebacker but indepth it's not that clear.

Lofa Tatupu, a three time consecutive pro bowler missed the majority of 2009 with a torn pectoral muscle but should be completely recovered for next season.

Lofa signed a six year $42 million dollar contract last year so there is absolutely no truth to the random rumors about him being traded, especially not with Pete Carroll running the show.

Aaron Curry had an average rookie season but has a lot of work still ahead of him before he can reach that top tier level of linebackers in the NFL. Curry missed the last two games of the season due to injury but it was nothing serious.

Curry could fit in as a rush DE if the Seahawks move to a 3-4 defensive scheme. However even though Pete Carroll said he likes the 4-3, he's scheme sounds more like a 46 defense and not a 4-3. Either way Curry will be a starting linebacker in 2010 for Pete Carroll.

David Hawthorne did a phenomenal job filling in for Lofa Tatupu at middle linebacker racking up 117 total tackles, four sacks, two forced fumbles and three interceptions. However with Lofa coming back in 2010 Hawthorne will most likely move around or stand up next to Tatupu in a possible 3-4 defense. Either way I see Hawthorne coming back in 2010 and beyond.

Leroy Hill is almost done as a Seahawk. Now nothing is official but with Hill having a down season right after he was questionably rewarded with a six year $36 million dollar contract last year it leaves the door wide open for the Seahawks to package him for another player that would fill a need and also be productive.

So getting back to Kampman, the question would be posed. Why bring in a 30 year old veteran on a crowded linebacking corps?

Well there are three reasons why I see Aaron Kampman being a nice fit on a one year contract to prove himself that he can still play at a high level.

1) Mentoring the young linebackers and defensive ends on the team. Right now the Seahawks have a lot of young talent in the front seven. Tatupu, Curry, Hawthorne, Jackson, Tapp as well as others. Kampman could come in and teach these young guys how to help find their roles and improve them at their positions as well as bring in his own talent.

For example ESPN had a piece on Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne and how he's helped Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie become more complete wide receivers as well has helping them grow off the field.

It would be the same for Kampman. He would be able to help the Seahawks defense from a pass rushing stand point at a low one year cost and also be able to help the younger defensive ends and linebackers grow as NFL players.

2) The Seahawks can use some help at linebacker and defensive end. Kampman would not be the every down answer for the Seahawks at defensive end like say a Julius Peppers would be but knowing that Kampman is versatile and can stand up at outside linebacker as well as be a pass rushing defensive end it bods well for the Seahawks to at least give him a shot on a one year deal.

Kampman finished 2009 with 42 tackles and 3.5 sacks before he missed the rest of the season after week 11 with a knee injury.

For the Seahawks it's a good move and in a way its a money ball move. Plus knowing how well Pete Carroll is defensively he'll find any way to use Kampman.

3) The Seahawks could use some veteran presents on defense. Outside of Lofa Tatupu I can't recall a true leader on the Seahawks defense so brining in a proven veteran who as I said above can help the younger players as well as bring his own bread to the table is always helpful in the NFL.

Patrick Kerney is done and he wasn't really a true leader more as a motivator. So Kampman would be replacing Kerney in a sense if the Seahawks decide to cut ties with him or Leroy Hill.

However there is another major part in this Kampman idea. The Seahawks would first have to part ways with one of or both Patrick Kerney and Leroy Hill in order to make a position open for Kampman. He can play both Hill and Kerney's position so if the Seahawks decide to move on from Hill and Kerney then Kampman would be a nice replacement.

I would like to note that this is not a report more as an interesting idea that could benefit the Seahawks in the short term and also long term. With free agency still a few months away a lot has to happen in order for anything to come true.

It is an intriguing idea about having Kampman in Seattle.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Seahawks player review: WR TJ Houshmandzadeh

2010-01-19T23:56:00.000-08:00

This is the first in a long series of articles reviewing the Seahawks players of 2009. Did they under perform, over perform or just be average? We kick off the series with the Seahawks biggest free agent acquisition from last off season, wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh.

The Seahawks rewarded the NFL's most consistent wide receiver with a five year $40 million dollar contract with $15 million guaranteed.

With the Seahawks finishing 5-11 in TJ's first season with the team, needless to say it wasn't happy times in Houshmandzadeh-ville. Houshmnadzadeh looked to some fans and reporters like a smaller in scale version of T.O. Running in with offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and questionable actions on the sideline with former head coach Jim Mora Jr.

However from a statsical stand point Houshmandzadeh did about avgerage for what he's done in his career. He didn't have a good quarterback or a great offense in general for many reasons, some of which have been fixed. The firing of offensive coordinator Greg Knapp will help fix those problems. In at offensive coordinator is Jeremy Bates who was in Denver with Jay Cutler when he lit up the NFL through the air.

TJ couldn't be more happy to have Bates as the offensive coordinator. Now for Houshmandzadeh's stats from 2009.

TJ fininshed 2009 playing in all 16 games and recording 79 receptions (team high), 911 yards receiving (team high) and three receiving touchdowns. Houshmandzadeh also had 11.5 YPC (yards per catch).

Houshmandzadeh never was really apart of the Seahawks offense, which was almost nonexistent this season. Housh, along with Nate Burleson, Deion Branch and tight end John Carlson all never became apart of what was suppose to be an explosive offense for the Seahawks.

TJ, Nate and Deion caught national headlines when Nate and Deion hosted their weakly talk radio show in Seattle on 950 KJR Seattle. The Branch and Burleson Show went from being a fun an interactive talk session with the passionate 12th man to a show that had the trio of receivers (TJ, Deion and Nate) calling out Matt Hasselbeck, Jim Mora Jr, offensive coordinator Greg Knapp as well as local TV analyst Hugh Millen, who TJ took personal exception to.

However TJ's first season in Seattle can not be taken as a bust or a desaster because he let the team in receptions and receiving yards. The letdown came on the offensive line and at quarterback and running back with the exception of Justin Forsett.

So we will list TJ Houshmanzadeh's first season in Seattle as average.

Hopefully with a new head coach in Pete Carroll and a new offensive coordinator in Jeremy Bates the Seattle Seahawks offense, including TJ Houshmanzadeh will be alive and firing on all cylinders in 2010.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

2010 NFL Mock draft: First Round (Updated 1, 18, 10)

2010-01-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

In my first installment of my 2010 NFL Mock draft I received a lot of comments with people speaking out about two or three of my picks. Mainly Tim Tebow going sixth to the Seattle Seahawks, Gerald McCoy 12th to the Miami Dolphins and Jahvid Best 21st to the New York Jets.

So far no new big names have thrown their name into the 2010 draft pool. However I would like to point out that UW quarterback Jake Locker IS NOT going to be in the 2010 mock draft. I have seen at least five or more mock drafts in the last few days with Locker still in them.

So with that being said here is my second edition of my 2010 NFL mock draft. My mock draft order follows the offical order.

1) St Louis Rams: Ndamukong Suh, DT Nebraska

Examination: I still have the best overall player in the draft going No 1. Overall to the St Louis Rams, over Jimmy Clausen, Sam Bradford and even Eric Berry. The Rams have selected in the top two each of the last three years (Chris Long 08, Jason Smith 09 and now Ndamukong Suh 10). Chris Long has been great at defensive end racking up 83 tackles, nine sacks and one forced fumble in his two years in the NFL, however he only started five games which needs to be changed fast for him to have more of an impact on the defense. Jason Smith still looks to be their LT for the long term after getting into his second year next season. Having Chris Long along with Ndamukong Suh would go a long way in helping improve the Rams defense who allowed 436 points this season. Suh is a dominating force on defense and if the Rams do the right thing and go with Suh first overall that will allow the entire defense to become better.

2) Detroit Lions: Russell Okung, OT Oklahoma State

Examination: Yes the top two, and farther down will remain the same for the obvious reasons. The Lions selected Matt Stafford first overall in the 2009 draft, which is ok if you already have a decent, established offensive line. Problem for the Lions is they didn’t really have that offensive line. Stafford was inconsistent in his first season in the NFL, but rookies will have those problems. However Stafford didn’t play the entire season. He was sidelined by a knee injury that ended his season a little more than half way through the season. He also lost Calvin Johnson for a few games which hurt their chemistry. So with the Lions passing on a top left tackle last year there is no other choice other than to take the best offensive tackle in the draft. That tackle being Oklahoma State’s Russell Okung. Okung is an athletic monster; at left tackle at 6-8 300 lbs he’s a perfect fit in Detroit. Giving Stafford and the offense a solid offensive line anchored by Okung will go a long ways to help the Lions grow to a winning franchise

3)Tampa Bay Bucs: Eric Berry, S Tennessee

Examination: The Bucs have their quarterback in Josh Freeman and it’s way too early to reach for a play making wide receiver like Dez Bryant. So the only great pick the Bucs can make in this position is to go with Eric Berry, the talented safety from Tennessee and get some help in the secondary. People have been comparing Berry to former Bucs safety John Lynch. The Buccaneers have Tanard Jackson and Sabby Piscitelli currently starting at strong safety and free safety. Adding Eric Berry in the defensive backfield will help improve their young defense greatly.

4) Washington Redskins: Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma

Examination: The Redskins have a new head coach and EVP in Mike Shanahan. The last time he was a head coach he got his quarterback in the form of Vandy QB Jay Cutler. Now Shanahan and new GM Bruce Allen have the task at hand of turning around the fortune of the Washington Redskins organization. With current starting quarterback Jason Campbell being a free agent this off season and not really playing as well as he could have to lock up a long term contract the most likely bet is for the Redskins to take the talented accurate quarterback from Oklahoma in Sam Bradford. Bradford is coming off right shoulder surgery but all signs have been great for his recovery and should be throwing in a month or two. Not only does the selection of Campbell fill their long term answer at quarterback but it also will bring a lot of revenue and give the Skins a face of the franchise for years to come.

5) Kansas City Chiefs: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland

Examination: Same as my last mock draft with Russell Okung off the board and both the Chiefs and Lions having the similar situations of needing to protect their big money quarterbacks, in this case it’s Matt Cassel and his $63 million dollar contract. The Chiefs have former first round pick Brandon Albert but he’s been underperforming this season allowing 10sacks. Albert can also play at the LG position and that would allow the Chiefs to select talented offensive tackle Bruce Campbell to play LT.

6) Seattle Seahawks: Jimmy Clausen, QB Notre Dame

Examination: Ok first off let me say that you people who read my mock draft, I know there is a lot but at least the ones who comment need to read the examination first before ripping. The Tim Tebow selection was based on Jim Mora Jr. and Greg Knapp still being in charge of the offense. Now with Mora and his entire offensive coaching staff fired and Pete Carroll and Jeremy Bates now running the offense the selection of Jimmy Clausen is a perfect fit. Pete Carroll endorsed Matt Hasselbeck but the Seahawks can’t pass on their future starting quarterback two years in a row. Last year they passed on Mark Sanchez and Hasselbeck had another horrendous season this year. He was very hit and miss. I see the Seahawks quarterback situation like the Lions last year. They have an NFL veteran in Matt Hasselbeck (Daunte Culpepper, Lions) but need a long term answer at quarterback and Jimmy Clausen (Matt Stafford, Lions) would be that answer. Clausen can learn behind Hasselbeck, get into the Carroll/Bates system and then when Hasselbeck’s contract runs up at the end of the upcoming season Clausen will become the full time starter and moving forward. He could even take over this season depending on his progression into the NFL which shouldn’t be that much. The Seahawks could also look OT or S here but Berry and Okung/Campbell are both gone so QB is the next biggest need without reaching.

7) Cleveland Browns: Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State:

Examination: The Browns have their front office and coach’s in place now for at least one more year (Eric Mangini was allowed back but he has to perform this upcoming year to stay long term). The Browns problems were never on defense this year, it was always the offense. Josh Cribbs wants out because Mike Holmgren “offered him an insulting contract” so Cribbs doesn’t think he will be back. They do have a quarterback in Brady Quinn and a running back in Jerome Harrison but don’t have any receiving support for Quinn. Don’t tell me that Mike Holmgren, one of the best offensive minded guy to ever be in the NFL to settle for Brain Robieski and Mohamed Massaquoi as his leading wide receivers. Massaquoi led the team in receptions with 34 (tied with running back Jerome Harrison) and receiving yards with 624 your offense is never going to get anywhere. The Browns have almost all the pieces in place on offense with a QB, RB, OL and now just need a real play making wide receiver. The Browns can get that in the form of Dez Bryant with the seventh overall pick.

8) Oakland Raiders: Carlos Dunlap, DE Florida

Examination: I’m sorry but when you are trying to figure out who Al Davis is going to take you can’t. It’s simply impossible. So don’t try to examine it or think of a logical selection because there is a reason they call Oakland the black hole. So you have to think of someone who at least fits Davis’ akward draft style. Fast and for this selection the Raiders need a young defensive end. Richard Seymour is not coming back and Dunlap, although being drafted way too early still has a lot of talent to offer Al Davis.

9) Buffalo Bills: Anthony Davis, OT Rutgers

Examination: Last time I had the Bills still going with an offensive tackle. However the OT was Oklahoma’s Trent Williams. This time I’ve looked at the comparisons of both Davis and Williams and I just have a gut feeling that Davis will wind up being that guy. As the draft continues to move closer and the combine and pro days come and go then it will probably change. Keep in mind that these upcoming mock drafts are before the combine and when teams really get into the draft mind. So all are subject to change but one thing is for sure. If there is no QB on the board (Bradford or Clausen) then the Bills will take an offensive tackle. For now I have that tackle being Anthony Davis from Rutgers.

10) Jacksonville Jaguars: Tim Tebow, QB Florida

Examination: Well Jags fans can now breathe easy that the Seahawks finally wised up, fired Jim Mora Jr and replaced him with Pete Carroll who knows how to be a head coach, and run an explosive offense. So now the Jaguars can get their man, in a non football related move. Everyone who knows the NFL and the Jacksonville Jaguars knows that Tim Tebow is the only way to save their franchise and actually put people in the seats. They went with a need pick last year with Eugene Monroe. They can’t do that again this year with their fan base all but gone. Tim Tebow wearing 15 and saying in his home state of Florida.

11) Denver Broncos: Rolando McClain, LB Alabama

Examination: The Broncos off season will kick off when the playoffs end and Brandon Marshall starts to talk again. There have been rumors about a possible trade with the Seattle Seahawks, and some people think that they could get a couple of players plus a draft pick for him but I have put a stop to those rumors with my last article. So people need to put aside any Brandon Marshall trade ideas for a while. Getting back the Broncos pick. For now they still need some help at linebacker and the best linebacker in the draft who can come in right away is Rolando McClain from Alabama. McClain is the best choice here and the best player who fits a need for the Broncos.

12) Miami Dolphins: Terrance Cody, NT Alabama

Examination: The Dolphins could go with a wide out but tell me the last time Parcells took a wide receiver in the first round. Probably before I was born. They have a need at nose tackle and Terrance Cody is a monster nose tackle at 6-5, 365 lbs. So because Parcells won’t take a wide receiver I see Terrance Cody going to the Dolphins 12th overall.

13) San Francisco 49ers: Trent Williams, OT Oklahoma

Examination: The 49ers have just about everything on offense. They have a QB in Alex Smith. A running back in Frank Gore. Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis as receiving options. All they are missing is a left/right tackle depending on where they put Joe Staley. Either way RT/LT will be the only hole the 49ers need to fix on offense and it just so happens that Williams is available at 13th overall. This would be a dream pick for the 49ers and I do think they will take him.

14) Seattle Seahawks: Charles Brown, OT USC

Examination: Well you know that Carroll won’t have any problems scouting the players from USC. It’s also obvious that Carroll, some point in the draft will take at least two or more players from USC because the Seahawks have needs at RB (McKnight), OT (Brown) and S (Mays) so this pick of offensive tackle Charles Brown will not come as a shock. The Seahawks have already selected their long term answer at quarterback with Jimmy Clausen and now they need to move to their long term answer at left tackle. Walter Jones missed the entire 2009 season because he was unable to “get started” after having off season knee surgery. Plus Jones is going to be 36 come the 2010 season and the Seahawks have seen that Sean Locklear won’t be that tackle to replace Jones long term. With Okung, Campbell, Davis and Williams all off the board at OT the Seahawks still need to take Charles Brown to solidify their long term answer at left tackle.

15) New York Giants: Gerald McCoy, DT Oklahoma

Examination: Well the Giants and Eli Manning worked wonders with Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Dennis Dixon and Kevin Boss so they don’t have any problems at receiver but if they do want to patch up a need it would be on defensive line. They could go with Sergio Kindle from Texas, which I had them going with in my last mock draft. However if you look at how much emphasis Jerry Reese puts on the defensive line then the pick of Gerald McCoy 15th overall is a perfect selecting. Also defensive tackle is a need for the Giants.
16) Tennessee Titans: Sergio Kindle, DE/OLB Texas
Examination: The Titans and Jeff Fisher have one major need and only one need and that’s to get an aggressive, attacking and relentless defensive end this off season. They do have options to go sign a top defensive end in free agency like Julius Peppers, Richard Seymour and others but for the long term answer and overall talent for what the Titans need in a defensive end Kindle is the best of all their options. Kindle is this year’s version of Brian Orakpo, also out of Texas who went 14th overall to the Redskins last year. Kindle is very physically gifted but only had 3.5 sacks in his senior season so he might fall but I see Kindle going 16th overall to the Tennessee Titans.

17) San Francisco 49ers: Joe Haden, CB Florida

Examination: Well now that Tebow can go to Jacksonville it means that Haden will most likely fall to the 49ers who are in desperate need of an excelted cover corner back. Seattle might all snatch him before he gets to San Fran but for now I have Haden going the Niners 17th overall. Dre Bly won’t cut it and the majority of the Niners defensive backs have been injured this past season and they don’t have a talented young corner to lead the defensive backs. So with the 17th overall pick the Niners can fill their void at corner with Joe Haden from Florida.

18) Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Iupati, OG Idaho

Examination: Well this is kind of a tough spot for the Steelers to pick because its way too early to select OG Mike Iupati but they still need some serious help on the offensive line. Watching Max Starks and Willie Colon against the Dolphins in the first round of the playoffs just made me hang my head when every time you saw a flag being thrown you knew it was holding on Colon or Starks. So with that being said the Steelers need to improve the talent at OG and they can do that by selecting Mike Iupati 18th overall from Idaho, even though it’s a little early.

19) Atlanta Falcons: Navorro Bowman, LB Penn State

Examination: Mike Smith has led the Falcons to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in…well it’s been so long I can’t remember. The point is their defense has come around but still needs some work. They selected Curtis Lofton at MLB last year and he’s done wonders for the Falcons defense. They can improve upon that with the selection of Navorro Bowman 19th overall.

20) Houston Texans: Jahvid Best, RB Cal

Examination: The Texans have two key needs that could turn into three depending on what Kevin Walter decides to do. The Texans need a top corner, a bursting running back and possibly another wide receiver. Taking those three positions and then looking at who is still on the board the best pick for the Texans is to go with home run hitting running back Jahvid Best from Cal. Best was a Heisman favorite coming into the season but due to a concussion he had to miss the last part of the season. However Jahvid Best has been touted as the closet college player to Chris Johnson. For a team like the Texans who already have a great passing game with Matt Schaub adding Jahvid Best will make them one of the best teams in the AFC.

21) Cincinnati Bengals: Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois

Examination: It was very clear to me watching the Bengals-Jets game what the Bengals need to fix via the NFL draft. That is to add another top notch wide receiver, who is explosive and electric as the old Chad Johnson. The running game and the Bengals defense is really what led them into the playoffs this year so they are going to need to have their passing attack comes back and Chad Johnson and Laveranues Coles are not going to cut it. So with the 21st pick in the 2010 NFL draft I have Illinois play making wide receiver Arrelious Benn going to the Bengals.

22) New England Patriots: CJ Spiller, RB Clemson

Examination: As usual the Pats have four picks in the first two rounds and still have a lot to improve on. This seemed to be the most interesting season for the Patriots in a long time with Bill going for it on fourth down and then losing in the first round of the playoffs to the visiting Baltimore Ravens. For the entire year the Pats never had a running game. Also their linebackers outside of Mayo underperformed so LB will be a need as well. However I don’t see a linebacker for the Pats to take and currently Spiller is the best player available so it makes perfect sense for the Pats to take him 22nd overall.

23) Green Bay Packers: Jason Fox, OT Miami

Examination: Well here we have to go with another early selection but the Packers have a serious need on the offensive line and mostly at LT. Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher won’t make it another year and protecting Aaron Rogers is going to be curtail to their success. So I have Jason Fox going to the Packers 24th overall.

24) Philadelphia Eagles: Derrick Morgan, DE GT

Examination: Watching the Eagles get destroyed by Romo and the Cowboys offense showed me what they need to do to improve, mainly on defense. The Eagles NEED a young aggressive pass rushing defensive end to put more pressure on the likes of Eli Manning and Tony Romo. They could also improve the defensive backs and linebackers as well with this pick but seeing as they go with flash Morgan is the right pick.

25) Arizona Cardinals: Brandon Spikes, LB Florida

Examination: Well in my last mock draft I had the Cardinals taking OT Charles Brown. Well in my second mock draft he’s long gone to Seattle. With Karlos Dansby and many others wanting new contracts and Arizona not wanting to spend the money they are going to have to replace them through the draft. The number one need is offensive line but there aren’t really any offensive tackles that would be a good pick here so Spikes is the right pick to replace if they don’t bring back Dansby.

26) Baltimore Ravens: Brandon LaFell, WR LSU

Examination: Putting up three points against the Colts in the playoffs isn’t going to get you far at all and no one knows if there will be a wide receiver on the Ravens depth chart next year so no matter what they are going to have to get all the talented receivers they can. Brandon LaFell will get that started in the right direction.

27) Dallas Cowboys: Golden Tate, WR Notre Dame

Examination: The Roy Williams experiment in Dallas has gone worse than the David Beckham experiment in LA. However Beckham is at least decent and helpful in LA where as Roy Williams is a expensive paper weight in Dallas. Miles Austin will most likely stay and they still have Jason Witten but they are going to need another sure handed wide receiver to help out Romo next year. Tate is the best wide receiver available at 27th overall.

28) San Diego Chargers: Dan Williams, DT Tennessee

Examination: Jamal Williams is getting up there in age at 34 and they need a young defensive monster at DT for the long term and Dan Williams at 6-3, 327 lbs would fit the bill perfectly. They don’t need another running back because Darren Sproles is still in town so DT/NT is their next need to fill.

29) Minnesota Vikings*: Patrick Robinson, CB Florida State

Examination: It’s hard to think the Vikings defense still needs a little bit of help. However they do need to add another talented starting cornerback to the defensive backs. The Vikings can also go with Colt McCoy or defensive line help. But Robinson has the best value for the Vikings at a need position.

30) New York Jets*: Damian Williams, WR USC

Examination: The Jets have almost everything on offense except a young talented wide receiver. Braylon Edwards is full of questions and the Jets NEED a wide receiver who has real catchable hands and someone who can stretch the field for Mark Sanchez, also from USC. So this pick is an obvious one for the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets.

31) New Orleans Saints*: Sean Weatherspoon, LB Missouri

Examination: Well Weatherspoon is the best available player and the Saints defense is in need of a young talented strong side linebacker. So Weatherspoon would be the right pick for the Saints.

32) Indianapolis Colts*: Bryan Bulaga, OT Iowa

Examination: Well with their being only four teams remaining in the playoffs (Colts, Saints, Vikings and Jets) there is always those players you select at the backend of the draft that can always become the next star in your franchise. In this case Bryan Bulaga has that chance to be a great starting left or right tackle for the Colts.
Santonio Holmes turned out great for the Steelers.

NOTE: * means that team is in the playoff and current pick isn’t a lock (Overall wise).

Sound off

Seahawks targeting Broncos WR Brandon Marshall?

2010-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

First off this is just a rumor, thought up three weeks ago by ESPN NFC West blogger Mike Sando. Sando, who is a good friend of mine, suggested that the Seahawks could package one of their top three draft selections in the 2010 NFL draft as well as Deion Branch, who has underperformed in Seattle to the Denver Broncos in exchange for the standout Brandon Marshall, who is a restricted free agent this off season.

Sando does bring up a good point about shipping Branch and one of the Seahawks first three picks off to Denver for Marshall however since the hiring of former USC head coach Pete Carroll and Jeremy Bates as the offensive coordinator the idea of Brandon Marshall in Seattle has gotten more and more attention.

However there are a lot of things that need to happen first before there is even a chance for the Seahawks to speak with the Broncos about Brandon Marshall.

First the Seahawks need to hire a general manager to officially replace Tim Ruskell who was forced to resign in December of 2009. The leading candidate is former Tennessee Titans GM Floyd Reese who has worked with Pete Carroll in the past.

Second the Denver Broncos have to tender a contract to Marshall, probably in the neighborhood of $9 million. After they have offered Marshall a contract tender then the Broncos, if they decided to want to move Marshall could then start looking for trade partners.

Third the Broncos would have to work out the right package to make a deal work because the NFL business is not Madden 2010.

The Seahawks currently hold the No. 6, No. 14 and No. 40 overall picks in the draft, one of which, the 14th overall pick belonging to the Broncos. I don't see the Seahawks trading Denver back their first round pick but the two teams could work out a draft pick swap.

There are a few interesting notes to include about this Brandon Marshall Seahawks topic.

- WR TJ Houshmandzadeh called Brandon Marshall after Pete Carroll hired offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates and when TJ asked Brandon about Jeremy Bates he said "You will love the guy". So Bates and Marshall have a connection going back a few years when Bates was the offensive coordinator in Denver.

- Marshall worked with offensive coordinator Jermey Bates and possibly Jedd Fisch as the quarterbacks coach so there is some history with some of Carroll's guys and Brandon Marshall.

Now I do need to note that there are at least obsticals the Seahakws have before anyone can mention a Brandon Marshall to Seattle rumor

One, the Seattle Seahawks NEED to select a new general manager to assist Pete Carroll and make the transactions go through for the Seahawks. Pete Carroll is not the GM, he is the executive vice president of football operations and head coach. No moves can be made involving player movement without a GM.

Two, the collective bargaining agreement needs to be situated one way or another because it will effect Brandon Marshall's status as a free agent. If there is a new CBA in place before the deadline then Marshall becomes an unrestricted free agent and unless the Broncos decide to franchise tag him the Seahawks won't have to make a trade for Marshall. If there is not a new CBA in place then Marshall becomes a restricted free agent because he has not played six years in the NFL. So then the Seahawks would have to match the tender offer and work out a trade with the Broncos IF the Seahawks decided that they want to pursue Brandon Marshall.

Three, depending on what happens after the CBA deadline the Seahawks still have to create the right package to offer the Broncos. It will not be Branch and a mid round pick for Marshall because that wouldn't even work in a fantasy league.

So there is A LOT that has to happen between now and the time the Seahawks could possibly be thinking about having Brandon Marshall dawning Seahawks blue.

So this should put a stop to the Brandon Marshall Seahawks rumors until the Seahawks have hired a new GM and the NFL collective bargening agreement has been sorted out.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Report: Pete Carroll Resigns at USC; Set to become next Seahawks head coach

2010-01-10T23:50:00.000-08:00

The wait is over; the Seattle Seahawks and former USC head coach Pete Carroll have come to an agreement to make Carroll the next Seahawks head coach, this according to the LA Times.

Since the Seahawks fired former head coach Jim Mora Jr, the team has been in direct contact with the Trojans head coach. When the news broke around 10 A.M Friday morning the quick names that came out were Vikings defensive coordinator Lesley Frazier (who would fill the NFL's Rooney Rule) and other notable suitors.

Then ESPN's Chris Mortenson reported that the Seahawks had been in contact with USC head coach Pete Carroll, and that the interest was mutual on both sides and that Carroll would become the next head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.

Right after the news broke about Carroll becoming the next Seahawks head coach there was massive uproar from both Trojan fans and Seahawks fans. Many people see Carroll's last stint in the NFL a complete bust, which appalls me.

However over the next 24-48 hours there had been conflicting reports about Carroll's role in Seattle and whether or not that would make or break Carroll's decision to leave Hollywood for Seattle, which has seen a few big names leave SoCal for Seattle.

Reports had come out that Carroll was going to be named the teams head coach and president. Then there were other reports saying that Paul Alan and Tod Leiweke were not going to give full control of the team to Carroll. Then there were even two or three reports saying that Carroll wanted full control and because he wasn't going to get that he was going to return to USC.

Well now there is only one report and that is that Pete Carroll has resigned as head coach at USC and will be named the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks organization as early as Monday, this according to the LA Times.

Now with the hiring of Pete Carrol has also brought along some questions and controversy.

- Why of all coaches did the Seahawks pick Pete Carroll instead of other names like Frazier, John Fox and other NFL names out there. Why did the Seahawks pick a college coach. Well I have the answer for that.

- In some people's eyes the Seahawks basically made a laughing stock of the NFL's Rooney Rule which states that an NFL team must interview a minority candidate for any coaching of font office job before making an official hire. Well the Seahawks did interview Vikings defensive coordinator Lesley Frazier, however some people thought the interview was just to fulfill the rule, not that it was to actually offer him the job.

- How much control over the franchise will Pete Carroll receive? Reports have said it's not about the money for Carroll because he made $4.4 million at USC and will now make $7 million in Seattle but it wasn't about the money it was about the control. Carroll never had control in New York or New England. In Seattle he will at least have 60/40 control, him being the 60 in all personnel decision and over the final 53 man roster.

- Will Carroll have success in Seattle and how long will it take to get that success? Carroll, while some people think is bust in the NFL, still had a 33-31 NFL record and also made it to the playoffs and had a 1-2 record in the playoffs so no matter what he is a step up from Jim Mora Jr. But the last two years the Seahawks have combined for nine wins (4 in 08 and 5 in 09) and before that they had five straight seasons of 9+ wins so they needed to go find someone who is a winner and knows how to build a winning program, something Carroll knows a lot about.

Now the timing of the Carroll to Seattle move is a very opportunistic for Pete Carroll for many reasons.

One, USC is facing, and will continue to face sanctions for the Reggie Bush, O.J Mays (Basketball) and more recently Joe McKnight incidences and Carroll obviously doesn't want to be around for it, and he has a great shot at a job that Carroll has been wanting for a long time and that it to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks as well as front office title. Much like Mike Shanahan in Washington. HC/EVP.

Also as Carroll is taking over the Seahawks, they are currently wanting to rebuild the franchise starting with the core and branching out. This is great for Carroll because he wants to be heavily involved in building this franchise the way he wants it and even though the Seahawks will hire a new GM as well both will have a lot of hands on work on the team. Plus with the Seahawks having three of the top 40 picks in the 2010 NFL draft this is the perfect shot for Carroll to get things going early in Seattle with a young QB, possibly Jimmy Clausen who he tried to recruit to USC but wound up losing him to Notre Dame.

Plus Carroll also has safety Taylor Mays, running back Joe McKnight, DE Everson Griffen, WR Damian Williams and OT Charles Brown entering the draft and you can bet that Brown and Mays will be high on his list because both fill needs the Seahawks have.

Not only does Carroll have his seniors(and some juniors) entering the draft but he also has former USC Trojans already on the Seahawks like MLB Lofa Tatupu, DE Lawrence Jackson and other players from the PAC-10 as well.

Any way you look at it this is the "perfect" job opportunity for Pete Carroll in the NFL. Let's run down why this is a great move for Carroll and then separately why it's great for the Seahawks.

Pete Carroll:

- Money, both from the Seahawks stand point of being able to have a now devoted owner in Paul Allen, who is the NFL's richest owner, and also a team that didn't make the playoffs by a mile so will have a easlier time being able to sign free agents.

- Power, I know the Seahawks aren't making Carroll the team president or the GM however I see him in the same role as Mike Shanahan in Washington where he is the head coach, and has 60/40 or 70/30 say in the final roster and all player movements. The Seahawks won't give him 100/0 control but they will give him a majority stake. However as I have learn over the past two days the reason why the Seahawks still want to hire a GM is to keep some form of balance in the organization.

-Division, not many people have spoken about this but I have looked over and realized that it seems harder to win the PAC-10 than it does the NFC West where ESPN's Mark Schlereth said Pete Carroll can bring this team back to a Super Bowl contender and definitely back to winning the NFC West.

-Draft position, this is probably the second best thing next to money/power for Pete Carroll because for a college coach coming into the NFL, and knowing a lot about college scouting and players in college this will be very huge. Carroll is in the position to select a QB like Jimmy Clausen who would fit will with Carroll's offense as well as a young LT like Charles Brown. Also He still has a high second round pick where he could pick up another starter for the long term. So Pete Carroll, also depending on what he does in free agency can really get things going in Seattle if he makes the right draft picks.

Seattle Seahawks:

-The Seahawks wanted a guy like Carroll: The Seahawks said that what they were looking for in a head coach was someone with experience, a great knowledge of the college ranks and someone with impeccable coaching skills. Well Carroll fit's the bill and is also a great players coach, and will sit more than well with the current and new players for the Seahawks.

- Outside the box thinking: The Seahawks hired Jim Mora Jr two years ago and in that contract included the deal that Mora would be named the head coach after Mike Holmgren retired. Well Mora got the job and lost it. Now when the Seahawks were thinking of their next head coach they wanted someone outside the box, someone who a lot of people wouldn't think would be the next Seahawks head coach. Unlike John Fox or Lesley Frazier, Carroll, who has been in the NFL before didn't come up in conversation with a lot of people to be the next Seahawks head coach but he will definitely get this ship turned around.

So with all the details worked out and all the contract finalized there is nothing standing in the way of the Seattle Seahawks naming former USC head coach Pete Carroll as the teams next head coach.

NOTES:

Jeremy Bates will follow Pete Carroll to Seattle as the teams new offensive coordinator, officially waving good bye to Greg Knapp.

Ken Norton will also follow Pete Carroll to Seattle as the teams linebacker coach.

Pete Carroll, as the title shows has officially stepped down as head coach at USC.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Seahawks, Ryan agree on six year contract

2010-01-04T22:58:00.000-08:00

The Seahawks off season has officially started today and no it's not because they hired a new team president and GM. They did not decided to join the coaching fire party that went on today so Mora, Knapp and Bradley all still have jobs with the Seahawks.

No today the Seahawks and Pro Bowl alternate punter Jon Ryan came to an agreement on a six year $9.1 million dollar contract with $1.9 million guaranteed and $1.6 million in signing bonus.

The Seahawks signed Ryan last year after they decided to parted ways with underachieving punter Ryan Plackemeier mid season.

Ryan racked up 4,068 yards on 88 punts with a 46 yard average per punt and 28 touchbacks.

Ryan was set to be a restricted free agent this off season but now doesn't have to worry about his future.

Now the Seahawks next move is to decide on their new team president and GM. Also they will have to decide about their coaching staff as well and mainly if Jim Mora Jr. will be back or not.

2010 NFL Mock draft: First Round

2010-01-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

The time has come where we transition from one season into two different seasons. The playoffs and post season and the off season aka looking ahead to the 2010 NFL draft.

So far Cal running back Jahvid Best, Tennessee safetey Eric Berry, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen and other projected first round picks have already declared for the 2010 Draft.

So with that being said my first mock draft of 2010 is here. My mock draft order follows the offical order.

1) St Louis Rams: Ndamukong Suh, DT Nebraska

Examination: Well the most dominant player in the 2010 Draft, Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is the first player selected in the 2010 NFL draft. With the St Louis Rams going no where but up, and acquiring talent along the way the best place to start is at defensive tackle. With new head coach and former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnolo putting a lot of attention on the defensive side, it's only fitting that the electric, overpowering 6-3, 295 lbs goes to the St Louis Rams and Steve Spagnolo with the first overall pick in the 2010 draft.

2) Detroit Lions: Russell Okung, OT Oklahoma State

Examination: Well in the 2009 NFL draft the Lions got their "frachise quarterback" in Matt Stafford and it's now time to get someone to protect that $72 million dollar pick. With current LT Jeff Backus not even being able to protect the air it's time to draft their other corner stone of the franchise in Russell Okung. Okung is an athletic monster; at left tackle at 6-8 300 lbs he's a perfect fit in Detroit. Giving Stafford and the offense a solid offensive line anchored by Okung will go a long ways to help the Lions grow to a winning franchise.

3)Tampa Bay Bucs: Eric Berry, S Tennessee

Examination: With Ndamukong Suh off the board the Bucs have to go to the next best defensive player at a position of need. That player would be hard hitting safety Eric Berry from Tennessee. The Buccaneers have Tanard Jackson and Sabby Piscitelli currently starting at strong safety and free safety. Adding Eric Berry in the defensive backfield will help improve their young defense greatly.

4) Washington Redskins: Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma

Examination: Well it won't matter if Jim Zorn is the head coach in Washington or not but the fact is the Redskins need a new start at quarterback. Last off season they went to Jay Cutler, Mark Sanchez and even Josh Freeman but wound up sticking with Jason Campbell. With Campbell becoming a free agent and not really playing well enough to deserve a return ticket to D.C the Skins will need to find their replacement. Who better than former Heisman trophy winning QB Sam Bradford? Bradford has missed the majority of the 2009 season but already declared for the draft after he announced he would have shoulder surgery. Even with the year off Bradford is the best NFL ready quarterback in this draft class with Jimmy Clausen falling, Tim Tebow finishing behind Bradford and Locker and Ryan Mallet going back to school. So with the fifth overall pick the Redskins will take Sam Bradford.

5) Kansas City Chiefs: Bruce Campbell, OT Maryland

Examination: With Russell Okung off the board and both the Chiefs and Lions having the similar situations of needing to protect their big money quarterbacks, in this case it's Matt Cassel and his $63 million dollar contract. The Chiefs have former first round pick Brandon Albert but he's been under performing this season allowing 10sacks. Albert can also play at the LG position and that would allow the Chiefs to select talented offensive tackle Bruce Campbell to play LT.

6) Seattle Seahawks: Tim Tebow, QB Florida

Examination: Yes, now before everyone starts sending me hate mail for not drafting an OT, RB, WR, DL or anything else I'm going to give you three clear cut reasons why Tim Tebow is the right pick for the Seahawks first of two first round picks. One, Tim Tebow is the best athlete in the draft. He's an inteligent QB who can throw very well and can also make the plays with his feet. Tebow is a left handed version of Jake Locker. Tebow can learn the pro style offense from Hasselbeck for a year and then take over, but can also be a QB that can bring an added piece to make the offense electric his rookie season too. Tebow needs to work on his delivery with Hasselbeck and the new OC. Two, Tebow will give it his all every single play of every single game he's in which might not be starting next season but it could be depending on his progression. But the Seahawks need a player, and especially at QB who will give it his all every game of his career and also a QB who is rarely hurt and very durable. Third and final reason is the fact that Seattle doesn't have a real QB picture long term. Seneca Wallace isn't it and neither is Mike Teel and knowing Tebow's experience in the best conference in CFB in the SEC he's definitely the man for the job in Seattle if Bradford is gone. NOTE: This selection is pending what happens in free agency, if they get a LT and or a LG then Tebow would be a great pick.

7) Cleavland Browns: Dez Bryant, WR Oklahoma State

Examination: Well big ol' Mike Holmgren is now in charge of the Browns organization and knowing the man on a personal level he's gonna make this team a winner. First off he's going to have to bring life to this wastland of an offense and how better to do that then select Oklahoma State wide out Dez Bryant with the sixth overall pick. The pick of Bryant makes sense on a few levels, mainly the fact that they have NO receivers but all around play maker in Josh Cribbs and you will need more than a guy who seems to be the only alert player on offense other than Harrison. Bryant, missing most of 2009 for NCAA violations is still the best play maker at wide receiver in the draft and will help bring water to a desert wasteland in Cleavland, and Brady Quinn will love this pick.

8) Oakland Raiders: Rolando McClain, LB Alabama

Examination: I do apologize to Rolando you have been selected to go into the black hole known as Oakland, and the ageless wonder Al Davis has called your name. Ok enough with the sarcasm and back to the pick. McClain is a blazing outside linebacker and will fit great into what they are doing in Oakland. Speed, speed and oh yea more speed. McClain I could see as the next Patrick Willis if he gets his shot in Oakland. This is a great pick and I wish Rolando McClain luck in Oakland.

9) Buffalo Bills: Trent Williams, OT Oklahoma

Examination: Well so far four players have been selected from the great state of Oklahoma and Trent Williams going to the Bills at nine overall is a steal for the Bills. They could go QB with Jimmy Clausen but he's not that worth it. They could go DT with Gerald McCoy to fit with Marcus Stroud. But going with Williams is the right choice for the Bills. They traded Jason Peters to the Eagles last year and really need to find a replacement for him. They have the rest of the offensive line but left tackle and with the selection if Williams eighth overall they can plug him right in and he'll be a starter for a long time in the NFL.

10) Jacksonville Jaguars: Joe Haden, CB Florida

Examination: Sorry to all Jags fans but your dream of Tim Tebow staying in Florida is over. The Tebow pick, if he was available is not a field move it's a money move. I know the NFL is a business but give yourself a player who you need, not just for money. He's rocking in Seattle with the best fans in the NFL the 12th man. However you do keep shutdown CB Joe Haden in the state of Florida and he fills a need at the second corner back opposite of Mathis. Haden is the best cover corner in the draft by far and he'd be a real added benefit for the Jags defense and Jack Del Rio.

11) Denver Broncos(via CHI): Terrance Cody, DT Alabama

Examination: The first half of the season the Broncos had the best defense in the NFL not allowing a single second half score. Well now they are fighting to get into the playoffs at 8-7. However this pick is thanks to the Jay Cutler trade, who by the way has thrown 25 Int's in his first year in Chicago. Anyone saying encore? Back to the Broncos pick. Mike Nolan has an electric pass rusher in Elvis Dumervil and a talented trio of linebackers. The one thing I see as a weakness is a strong NT in their 3-4 defense. With the selection of Terrance Cody he'd be a great fit in Nolan's defense right in at nose tackle. It just keeps getting better and better for Denver.

12) Miami Dolphins: Gerald McCoy, DT Oklahoma

Examination: The "Big Tuna" is large and in charge in Miami and he's done an excellent job turning around the Dolphins organization in two years but is still missing a top notch defensive/nose tackle on defense. Parcells finally will get his guy with the selection of Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy 15th overall. McCoy is a beast at 6-3, 296 lbs with above average speed and an a tough SOB who will play through injuries giving it all he's got. That's a Parcell's guy. So with the 12th pick in the 2010 draft I have McCoy going to the Dolphins.

13) San Francisco 49ers: Bryan Bulaga, OT Iowa

Examination: The 49ers have just about everything on offense. They have a QB in Alex Smith. A running back in Frank Gore. Michael Crabtree and Vernon Davis as receiving options. All they are missing is a left/right tackle depending on where they put Joe Staley. Either way RT/LT will be the only hole the 49ers need to fix on offense and it just so happens that Bulaga is available at 13th overall. This would be a dream pick for the 49ers and I do think they will take him.

14) Seattle Seahawks(via DEN): Taylor Mays, S USC

Examination: Well with Tim Tebow already in the fold via the sixth overall pick the Seattle Seahawks can go to work on their next need, but this time on defense. That need being a young talented safety. Taylor Mays, a Seattle native, would be the next best safety behind Eric Berry and would be a great selection 14th overall. The Seahawks have some other questions at LT, LG, DE and RB but I don't see Charles Brown or Anthony Davis being worth a top 15 pick. The only other possibility would be DE Derrick Morgan from GT. But I'm going to go with safety Taylor Mays to the Seattle Seahawks 14th overall.

15) New York Giants: Sergio Kindle, DE/OLB Texas

Examination: This was one of the hardest predictions I had to make because looking at the Giants they really don't have any major glaring need. However DE Osi Umenyiora was benched this season and it could be that the Giants decide to move Umenyiora this off season. That would bring an opening at defensive end and Sergio Kindle, who reminds me a lot of last years top DE/OLB from Texas Brain Orakpo who went to the Washington Redskins and dominated in his rookie season. Kindle could bring the same presents to the Giants defense, which allowed the 3rd most point in the NFL this season.

16) Tennessee Titans: Derrick Morgan, DE Georgia Tech

Examination: In recent drafts the Tennessee Titans have been known for not drafting need but overall talent. S Michael Griffin, RB Chris Johnson and WR Kenny Britt was a need and a great talent pick. So that's why I have decided to go with Derrick Morgan 16th overall to the Titans. Also the Titans can use a talented, speedy defensive end on the defensive line with defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil.

17) San Francisco 49ers: Patrick Robinson, CB Florida State

Examination: Well their ideal corner back, Joe Haden is already off the board so at this point the 49ers need to address their corner back need with the next best CB in the draft which I believe is FSU's Patrick Robinson. Robinson is in competition with Michigan's Donovan Warren to be the next corner back drafted after Joe Haden. Robinson has top end speed and prototypical height for a No 1. corner in the NFL at 5-11, 192 lbs. The 49ers will have to hone in his skills and keep him from jumping routes too early. He's excellent at reading routes and is great at jumping routes but sometimes jumps too early. The Niners could also go QB with Jimmy Clausen but I don't think they are giving up on Alex Smith so Robinson is the right pick for the 49ers 17th overall.

18) Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Iupati, OG Idaho

Examination: Well this is kind of a tough spot for the Steelers to pick because it's way to early to select OG Mike Iupati but they still need some serious help on the offensive line. Watching Max Starks and Willie Colon against the Dolphins this week just made me hang my head when every time you saw a flag being thrown you knew it was holding on Colon or Starks. So with that being said the Steelers need to improve the talent at OG and they can do that by selecting Mike Iupati 18th overall from Idaho, even though it's a little early.

19) Atlanta Falcons: Navorro Bowman, LB Penn State

Examination: Mike Smith has led the Falcons to consecutive winning seasons for the first time in...well it's been so long I can't remember. The point is their defense has come around but still needs some work. They selected Curtis Lofton at MLB last year and he's done wonders for the Falcons defense. They can improve apon that with the selection of Navorro Bowman 19th overall.

20) Houston Texans: Donovan Warren, CB Michigan

Examination: The Texans came close to making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history but fell just short on week 17, even though they got the win. Going into the off season they have needs at CB, S, DT and maybe another WR if Kevin Walter leaves. Since Mays and Berry are off the board and there aren't any DT's that would work for the Texas and CB is a much bigger need for them. So with the 20th pick overall to the Houston Texans I have them selecting the second best CB in the draft Donovan Warren from Michigan.

21) New York Jets*: Jahvid Best, RB Cal

Examination: Well this is more of a "what can we do to add more talent pick" for the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. Thomas Jones, still a productive runner is getting up there in age and they could sure use a player like Best who has the similar game of Tennessee Titans RB Chris Johnson. Add that with Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense becomes even that much better.

22) Baltimore Ravens*: Arrelious Benn, WR Illinois

Examination: The Ravens offense is almost complete. They have an electric running game with Ray Rice, a stand out quarterback in Joe Flacco and a great offensive line. They have some questions at wide out however and Derrick Mason retires again they will need another big play WR, and Benn would be a huge upgrade over Mason no matter what. So give Joe Flacco the missing piece to the Ravens offense and select Arrelious Benn 22nd overall.

23) Arizona Cardinals*: Charles Brown, OT USC

Examination: With the Cardinals going 10-6, winning the NFC West for the second year in a row they still are a hit and miss team. They need some serious help on the offensive line with Mike Gandy and Levi Brown both playing horrible this season giving up 11.5 sacks combine and 10+ false start penalties. They did good with Chris Wells late in the draft last year. Can they make it two in a row with Charles Brown filling their hole at LT?

24) Green Bay Packers*: Jason Fox, OT Miami

Examination: Well here we have to go with another early selection but the Packers have a serious need on the offensive line and mostly at LT. Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher won't make it another year and protecting Aaron Rogers is going to be crutial to their success. So I have Jacson Fox going to the Packers 24th overall.

25) Cincinnati Bengals*: Brandon LaFell, WR LSU

Examination: RIP Chris Henry before I say anything else. The Bengals haven't put up more than 25 points in a game more than one time this season and that's not good. In the wake of Chris Henry passing and Chad Johnson seeming to have lost a little bit of his greatness the Bengals NEED a true No 2. WR next year.

26) New England Patriots*: Corey Wootton, DE Northwestern

Examination: We all know Bill Belichick doesn't like first round picks but this time he's selecting on the back end so he's ok with it. Belichick likes players who are talented and that don't break the bank. In this case they need a new young defensive end in their 3-4 defense and Wootton would be a great selection 26th overall.

27) Philadelphia Eagles*: Jerry Hughes, DE/OLB TCU

Examination: The team that always comes out winners in the NFL draft, the Philadelphia Eagles are back at it again, this time on defense with talented DE Jerry Hughes from TCU. He would be a great replacement for Victor Abiamiri who has majorly underachieved this season.

28) Dallas Cowboys*: Golden Tate, WR Notre Dame

Examination: It all makes sense. Jerry Jones, big name player from a big name school and at a need position. I don't see Roy Williams sticking around in Dallas because of Miles Austin and the fact that Golden Tate would be a better fit for the Cowboys than Williams. Either way the Cowboys need another WR and Tate is the only remaining one with talent.

29) Minnesota Vikins*: Colt McCoy, QB Texas

Examination: Why not? Colt McCoy is the most accurate passer in the draft and fits well with the Vikings offense, but still would need to adjust into the pro style offense in Minnesota. The Vikins need a QB long term after Favre is gone so make the pick now, don't wait to see what Favre will do, because we never know when he will.

30) San Diego Chargers*: Dan Williams, DT Tennessee

Examination: Jamal Williams is getting up their in age at 34 and they need a young defensive monster at DT for the long term and Dan Williams at 6-3, 327 lbs would fit the bill perfectly.

31) New Orleans Saints*: Sean Weatherspoon, LB Missouri

Examination: Well Weatherspoon is the best available player and the Saints defense is in need of a young talented strong side linebacker. So Weatherspoon would be the right pick for the Saints.

32) Indianapolis Colts*: Anthony Davis, OT Rutgers

Examination: The Colts pretty much have everything on offense except a running game but I still believe in Addai. However they don't' have an elite left tackle to protect their man in Peyton Manning. So with the selection of Anthony Davis at 32 the Colts would get their long term man at left tackle.

NOTE: * means that team is in the playoff and current pick isn't a lock (Overall wise).

Sound off

Seahawks Draft Prospects: OT Russell Okung

2010-01-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

As today dons a new year and more importantly a new decade in Seahawks history. However they still have one little bit of 2009 left attached to them, that being their final regular season game this Sunday at home against the Tennessee Titans and C2k Chris Johnson.

After the Tennessee game this Sunday the Seahawks will go into full on off season mode, starting with the hiring of the teams new president/GM replacing Tim Ruskell who resigned in December.

Once that new GM is in place they will have a lot of work ahead of them to add talented to this depleted roster. The Seahawks new GM will have to attack some of those needs through free agency as well as the 2010 draft where the Seahawks have two first round picks (7th and 19th currently projected).

The Seahawks will be going into the off season needing to address the following needs.

Starting left tackle to replace Walter Jones immediately.

Starting left guard to finally replace Steve Hutchinson and give the Seahawks a real strong left side once again.

A young talented running back to give the Seahawks a true presents in the running department, something they haven't had since Shaun Alexander.

An aggressive, strong defensive end to give the Seahawks a real pass rush, something they have seriously lacked the last two years.

A tall, speedy, physical corner back to match up against some of the tall NFC West WR's like Larry Fitzgerald.

A tall, explosive play maker at wide receiver to complement TJ Houshmandzadeh over the middle, and a real No. 1 target for Matt Hasselbeck.

TALENT, TALENT AND MORE TALENT.

So where do you start? Well over the next next three to four months leading up to the 2010 NFL draft I'll be profiling a lot of possible draft selections for the Seattle Seahawks at the need positions I just listed above.

So with that being said, first on the list is Oklahoma State left guard Russell Okung.

Physical stature and Skills:

6-8, 300 lbs, long arms, quick feet, 34 consecutive starts, great agility, Patient and doesn't over extend

Character/Experience :

Leader on and off the field, hark working, consistency throughout his entire college career and has started all four years at Oklahoma State.

NFL comparison:

Joe Thomas-Great footwork, experienced and hard working along with all the intangibles.

ESPN scouts Inc Todd McShay has Russell Okung as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2010 draft and a top seven pick. Okung might have a hard time slipping by the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions who will pick before the Seattle Seahawks, but do have a lot of other needs on their team as well.

On the Seahawks draft board Okung, with out any doubt will be the first player on their board. He could be the second behind Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh who, baring a trade or miracle won't fall to the Seahawks between 5th and 7th overall.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Mike Leach: You Deserve What's Come To You

2009-12-31T06:30:00.000-08:00

As everyone knows over the last three to four days the saga unfolding with Adam James, Mike Leach and the Texas Tech Football program and at the core being a report that former Red Raiders head coach Mike Leach sent the sophomore wide receiver to a "shed/electric closet/press room" after he had a diagnosed concussion.

Here is the known timeline of the reported events in this situation.

1) Reports come out that Texas Tech coach Mike Leach sent WR Adam James to a shed as "punishment" while he had a concussion.

2) Texas Tech suspends Mike Leach for bowl game

3) Leach sues Texas Tech

4) Texas Tech fires Mike Leach a day before he was due to receive a 800K bonus in his contract.

So that's the timeline of events in this entire situation. Now the reports variety a little bit between the Leach camp and the Jones camp (including Craig James, ESPN CFB analyst and Adam James' father).

Some say it was a closet that was at least 40 sq ft in size. Some said it was a small shed with no lights. Others have it being a press room and so on.

The real problem is not that Adam Jones had a concussion or that Mike Leach was fired. It was the treatment of Jones that started this entire fiasco.

Texas Tech is a Big 12 program, a division I school with top of the line school facilities. The question and the confusing part in this entire situation is the fact that when Jones had his concussion (mild or sever a concussion is still the same) why was he not sent to the team room to be attended to and treated by doctors for his concussion instead of being secluded into a shed with a guard standing outside making sure he did not get out.

I know that there are some coaches out there who want to send a message to their players and want to be tough on their players but this goes way outside that boundary. A player with a concussion needs to be in a controlled situation, with team doctors around to check and clear everything so that there is no long term effect.

But locking a player in a shed with a concussion does nothing for the player, your reputation and it does not even come close to making sense on any level.

You want to send a message to your players bench them, or have extended workouts that are more grueling but not put a college football players career and possible life on the line by secluding him in a shed or tight space while having a concussion.

Now the real shocker in this saga is the fact that Mike Leach and his attorneys have not denied any reports of Leach sending James to a closed shed while he had a concussion.

Usually you will see a coach say that it's false and deny all reports. Leach is flat out saying "yes I did send him to the shed".

That right there would make me, if I were the Texas Tech AD, fire Leach on the spot. There is no way that on field success, no matter how great you are as a head coach, can justify these actions taken by Leach.

Leach has won 84 games at Texas Tech, more than any coach in school history. He's led them to 10 straight bowl games and was the AP coach of the year last year.

Yea that's great you're an outstanding football mind and a great head coach. The down side is you don't know how to handle personal contact with a player.

Here is Craig James on ESPN about the situation and I'm fully in support of what Craig James said.

When I hear some people say that Leach is the winningest coach in Texas Tech so he shouldn't have been fired.

Well I have a response for those people. Florida head coach Urban Meyer has won two national championships in his five seasons at Florida. Meyer is 56-10 in his five years at Florida and yet Meyer is more close to his players and personally and emotionally attached to his players more than any coach is to their team.

So there's a difference. Two winning coaches. However Meyer is more of a man than Leach seems to be. Now Leach is a good coach but this will hurt him and his reputation a lot.

Most likely what's going to happen is that Leach will learn to go back to school, learn not to sue your boss because you will never win, and hopefully Mike Leach will learn from this mistake and give Leach a year and I'm sure he will have another coaching job in college football.

NOTE: Here is Leach's attorney on ESPN

Derek Lowe a Fit For The Seattle Mariners?

2009-12-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

As the hot stove season moves alone the talent level and the big names start to come off the market. This week Jason Bay, the second best hitter on the free agent market was plucked off the market when Bay and the New York Mets came to an agreement on a four year, $66 million dollar contract with an "easy vesting option" that can push the contract to $80 million over five years.

That leaves Cardinals/A's left fielder Matt Halliday as the main headline hitter left on the free agent market.

There is a pretty weak crop of starting pitchers left on the free agent market with Joel Pineiro, Ben Sheets, Jarrod Washburn, Aroldis Chapman and Erik Bedard all make up the decent crop of remaining free agent starting pitchers.

So that leaves the trade market for teams, including the Mariners to find a starting pitcher. The Braves have already moved Javier Vazquez to the Yankees. The Phillies and Mariners were involved in a monumental blockbuster trade which sent Roy Halliday to the Phillies and Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners.

That leaves Braves SP Derek Lowe, Reds SP Aaron Harang, and possibly Bronson Arroyo but if the Reds move Harang they won't move Arroyo. So one of the two Reds starting pitchers and Derek Lowe remain the top pitchers on the trading block.

Now the Seattle Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik have stated this off season that they want to acquire two top tier starting pitchers to add to the rotation behind Cy Young runner up Felix Hernandez.

Zduriencik has already acquired one top end starter in Cliff Lee and his search is now to find a suitable No 3. starter behind Felix and Cliff Lee.

Derek Lowe would be a viable option as a No 3. starter that Zduriencik could look to acquire.

The Braves, if they decided to move Lowe want to dump the majority of his $15 million dollar salary and are willing to receive major league players as well as maybe a prospect to get a deal done involving Lowe.

The Mariners as it stands right now would have a starting rotation like this.

Felix Hernandez
Cliff Lee
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Ian Snell
Doug Fister

The Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik are looking for a solid 15 wins pitcher to put in that third slot so that they can move down Rowland-Smith and Snell.

Derek Lowe would be the perfect fit for the Mariners. Lowe is a ground ball pitcher and in a park like Safeco that's a wonderful trait to have. Not only would Lowe work great in a pitchers park like Safeco but the Mariners also have one of if not the best defensive infield in baseball with Chone Figgins (3B), Jack Wilson (SS), Jose Lopez at 2B and other fill in players around the diamond.

Now the only tricky part in this deal would be how the Mariners can offset the contract of Lowe who stands to make $15 million in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The Mariners could work a deal with the Braves involving OF Milton Bradley, who stands to make $9 million in 2010 and $12 million in 2011.

Most likely the Mariners would have the Braves compensate for the missing $6 million between Lowe's contract and Bradley's contract. Most likely the Mariners would have to throw in a mid level prospect to get the Braves to take $6-8 million of Lowe's salary for the deal to become complete.

So as the title of the article asks is Derek Lowe a fit for the Seattle Mariners? Well with a few tweaks in a possible trade the answer would be yes.

Lowe would be a welcome addition to the Mariners starting rotation and be a great No 3. starter behind Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee.

Over the last eight seasons Derek Lowe has averaged 206 IP, 127 K's, 58 BB's and 15 wins each season.

Should Bill Cowher Be the Next Seahawks Head Coach?

2009-12-30T06:15:00.000-08:00

If you live in Seattle Washington you know the sports scene is a work in progress with the Mariners, Sounders and UW Huskies football program all on the rise while at the same time watching the Seahawks organization fall apart right before our eyes.

A team that last year went 4-12 and a team many predicted to have a huge bounce back year because the 2008 season was decimated with injuries to a lot of key players headlined by Matt Hasselbeck and Walter Jones among others.

The Seahawks added a high profile free agent wide receiver in TJ Houshmandzadeh, who signed a five year, $40 million dollar contract and a player who was suppose to headline a talented trio of wide outs that would help the Seahawks offense bounce back.

Well with the Seahawks season one lonely game away from being over the Seahawks stand 5-10, third in the NFC West and in recent weeks have been tagged as the worst franchise in the NFL. Worse than the 1-14 Rams, the 2-13 Detroit Lions, the 3-12 Tampa Bay Bucs (who humiliated the Seahawks 24-7 at home), the 4-11 Washington Redskins and worse than the 3-12 Kansas City Chiefs.

The Seahawks have been humiliated the last three weeks, being outscored 106-24. The highest amount of points they have put up the last three games was 10, against the Green Bay Packers last week and they didn’t score a touchdown until the end of the fourth quarter when the score was 48-3.

Now you might think looking at those two stats I just put up and think oh my god the defense is just horrendous. Well in fairness to the lackluster, zero heart or effortless defense the Seahawks offense has accounted for 10 turnovers and only three touchdowns.

Breaking down those 10 turnovers all ten have been at the hands of quarterback Matt Hasselbeck who has racked up nine interceptions and one fumble while only putting up three touchdowns in three games. Some in fairness some were because the receiver fell down on the route but for the most part Matt has nor been clicking on ANY cylinders this season.

So where does this lead in terms of relevance to the title of the article?

Well the Seahawks kicked off the month of December by announcing that GM Tim Ruskell was resigning as GM of the Seattle Seahawks leaving three months left on his original five year contract that was up this off season.

The move showed to the NFL that the Seattle Seahawks were officially rebuilding and would begin searching for their next general manager.

The Seahawks took a hit in their PR department when they announced that Mike Holmgren, the former Seahawks coach who many thought would return to Seattle in a GM or front office position, turned down the Seahawks offer of a “senior leadership position” and two days later signed a contract with the Cleavland Browns to become their club president.

Right after it was announced that Holmgren turned down the Seahawks everyone in the city knew it was just a PR move by the Seahawks to show the fans that “hey we offered him the job be he turned us down, we didn’t turn him down, he turned us down”. This really started the whole fire that boiled over on 950 KJR-AM Seattle with the Branch and Burleson Show with a special guest host, WR TJ Houshmandzadeh.

Branch, Burleson and TJ all spoke their minds in what was a very explosive and firey show in which the trio of wide outs called out local TV and Radio analyst and former NFL quarterback Hugh Millen on air as well as calling out the Seahawks offensive coordinator Greg Knapp for horrendous play calling, and even the Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck got thrown under the bus.

As Branch and TJ put it “either you’re with us or you’re against us”.

So it really shows just how bad the waters have gotten in Seattle when it comes to Seahawks football. A hot topic in Seattle has been the teams recent effort after Seahawks head coach Jim Mora Jr. called his team out during his weekly press conference three weeks ago.

Mora said during that press conference that he wants more “nasty, dirt bags” on this football team. Well Jim Branch and Burleson just gave you your dirt bags you wanted.

Mora is in his first full season as Seahawks head coach and some people have questioned the effort that the players have had over the last few weeks and some suggest it’s a sign to management that the players want Mora out as head coach.

When you have your big money wide receiver in TJ Houshmandzadeh saying this team sucks you know its time for a real change on the coaching staff. And TJ blames himself as well saying he’s going to work his butt off this off season to get in shape for next year.

So with all the mess that is unfolding in Seattle with the Seahawks organization and a new GM coming in this off season, no one knows who it is but for sure it’s not someone currently with the Seahawks there is sure to be a major face lift on this franchise from the front office down to the coaching staff and players.

So all signs point to Jim Mora Jr. not sticking around as the Seahawks head coach, as well as offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, defensive coordinator Gus Bradley and the rest of the Seahawks coaching staff most likely won’t be around with a new GM coming in.

Rarely do you see a current head coach stick around with a new Gm coming in (Todd Haley in KC, Eric Mangini in Cleavland and etc).

So who would replace Mora next season as the Seahawks head coach?

Well with not a lot of new head coaching options coming open except for all but three possible teams the Seahawks could use this opportunity to cash in big time on a great head coach like Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher who has said he wants to return to coaching in 2010.

The Seahawks would be an excellent fit for Cowher, all depending on who is hired as the GM but no matter who that is Cowher will for sure be on that short list of head coaches for the Seahawks.

Now some might ask the question, why does Bill Cowher make sense as a top candidate for the Seahawks possible head coaching opening (I say possible because Mora is still the head coach).

Here are three reasons why Bill Cowher makes complete sense as candidate for the Seahawks possible head coaching job.

1) Cowher is a winner and knows what it means to be a winning NFL head coach. In his 12 years in the Steelers organization he compiled a regular season record of 149-90-1 and a post season record of 12-9 with two AFC titles and one Super Bowl title in 2005. His winning percentage as a head coach is .623 while Jim Mora in his fourth season as a head coach, first in Seattle has a regular season record of 31-32 and below a .500 winning percentage. The Seahawks need a head coach that has been to the top before and knows how to win. Cowher has done both, like former Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren.

2) Cowher knows how to use talent to the fullest and especially knows how to build a great defense, like he had done in Pittsburgh for 12 years. The Seahawks current roster has some talent on it but the current coaching staff seems to not know how to use the talent the right way. Cowher knows talent and how to put the right players in the right position to make an all around successful team.

3) Cowher, coming into the Seahawks organization would be able to work with the new GM on how he wants the team run and which players he wants to keep, let go and bring in knowing that he will know what to do with those players to build a successful all around team.

Also Cowher is a winner and all the Seahawks players can trust that, something I don’t think they can buy into with Mora.

Now I would like to point out that that Jim Mora Jr. is still the head coach for the Seahawks but once the season is over at four PM Sunday PST then the doors open wide for this circus to really open up this off season.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Seahawks Decade In Rewind: Full of Highs and Lows

2009-12-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

What a decade it has been for the Seattle Seahawks organization and the city of Seattle in general. The Seahawks, one of two original expansion teams along with the Tampa Bay Bucs have been to their highest high and their lowest low (still currently going lower) in franchise history, which is arguably the most successful decade in franchise history.

The Seahawks started out in 2000 still in the AFC West with John Kitna as their starting quarterback so when you take a look at the current Seahawks roster the organization has been through a lot of changes, both good and bad this decade.

If you want to compare the start of the decade to the conclusion of it, don’t, it won’t even be close. For example Anthony Simmons was the Seahawks leading tackler at the end of the 2000 season with 119. Ricky Watters ran for 1,242 yards and recorded seven touchdowns while crossing over the 30 year old mark.

Now the Seahawks leading tackler is still a middle linebacker, but in the form of David Hawthorne who has done an exceptional job of filling in for the injured Pro Bowl middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu. Hawthorne has recorded 103 tackles heading into week 16. For the Seahawks running game, they don’t have anything close to Watters or the young Shaun Alexander. They have “never was” running back in Julius Jones who’s rushed for 563 yards and two touchdowns in 149 attempts. Justin Forsett, the better of the two running backs has rushed for 475 yards and four touchdowns in only 90 attempts and at least four less total games.
Clearly a substantial difference in the overall team.

However the 2000 Seattle Seahawks finished 6-10, which the Seahawks still can top but by only one game. So the same start has the same ending to the best decade in Seahawks history.

From 2000-2010 the Seahawks have produced countless Pro Bowlers and a few HOF’s with the likes of left tackle Walter Jones, running back Shaun Alexander (basically retired), Bobby Engram (best slot receiver in Seahawks history), fullback Mack Strong (retired, best fullback in Seahawks history), middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu (3 straight Pro Bowls), and by far the most influential man in this decade, head coach and GM Mike Holmgren all will make this decade one to remember for a long time.

Mike Holmgren, now with the Cleveland Browns as their team president, led the Seahawks to their only Super Bowl appearance in team history and going 13-3 in their miraculous season winning 11 straight games.

Holmgren also brought in quite possibly the best starting quarterback in franchise history in Matt Hasselbeck. Over the last few years Hasselbeck has not been given a fair shot to take this team back to the Super Bowl with a makeshift offensive line, horrendous coaching (Greg Knapp and Jim Mora Jr.) and other injury problems across the board.

With the Seahawks moving into a rebuilding mode, this could be a good sign for Hasselbeck and he may finally get the offensive pieces he needs to take this team back to the Super Bowl starting with a talented offensive line and a real NFL running back.

With all that being said lets travel back in time and go through the highlights, both good and back of each year this decade from 2000 to 2009/2010.

2000 highlights/stats:

• 6-10 in AFC West, 4th in the division
• 320 points scored (20 p/g, 19th in the NFL)
• 405 points allowed (23 p/g, 25th in the NFL)
• -9 in takeaways (23rd in NFL)
• John Kitna starting quarterback: 18 TD’s, 19 Int’s and 2,658 yards passing
• Ricky Watters 1,242 rushing yards, 7 TD’s in 278 attempts. 31 years old
• RB Shaun Alexander first round pick (19th overall), OT Chris McIntosh (22nd overall)

2001 highlights/stats:

• 9-7 in AFC West, 2nd in the division
• 301 points scored (18 p/g, 19th in the NFL)
• 324 points allowed (20 p/g, 18th in the NFL)
• +6 in takeaway/giveaway (11th in the NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 7 TD’s, 8 Int’s and 2,023 yards in 12 games starting
• Shaun Alexander 1,318 rushing yards, 14 TD’s in 309 attempts.
• WR Koren Robinson first round pick (9th overall), LG Steve Hutchinson (17th overall, best LG in Seahawks history) and CB Ken Lucas (2nd round pick)

2002 highlights/stats:

• 7-9 in NFC West, 2nd in the division

• 355 points scored (22 p/g, 16th in the NFL)

• 369 points allowed (23 p/g, 23rd in the NFL)
• +2 in takeaway/giveaway (14th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 15 TD’s, 10 Int’s and 3,075 yards in 10 games started.
• Shaun Alexander 1,175 rushing yards, 16 TD’s in 295 attempts.
• TE Jeremy Stevens first round pick (28th overall)

2003 highlights/stats:

• 10-6 in NFC West, 2nd in the division
• 404 points scored (25 p/g, 7th in the NFL)
• 327 points allowed (20 p/g, 15th in the NFL)
• -1 in takeaway/giveaway (18th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 26 TD’s, 15 Int’s and 3,841 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 1,435 rushing yards, 14 TD’s in 326 attempts
• CB Marcus Trufant first round pick (11th overall) and S Ken Hamlin (2nd round pick)
• Mike Holmgren no longer GM, remains head coach

2004 highlights/stats:

• 9-7 in NFC West, 1st in the division
• 371 points scored (23 p/g, 12th in the NFL)
• 373 points allowed (23 p/g, 22nd in the NFL)
• +8 in takeaway/giveaway (9th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 22 TD’s, 15 Int’s and 3,382 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 1,696 rushing yards, 16 TD’s in 353 attempts
• DT Marcus Tubbs first round pick (23rd overall)

2005 highlights/stats:

• 13-3 in NFC West, 1st in division- Super Bowl runner up
• 452 points scored (28 p/g, 1st in the NFL)
• 271 points allowed (16 p/g, 7th in the NFL)
• +10 in takeaway/giveaway (7th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 24 TD’s, 9 Int’s and 3,459 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 1,880 rushing yards, 27 TD’s (NFL record, then broken by LT) in 370 attempts
• C Chris Spencer (1st round pick 26th overall), MLB Lofa Tatupu (2nd round) and OLB Leroy Hill (3rd round pick)
• Shaun Alexander named NFL MVP

2006 highlights/stats:

• 9-7 in NFC West, 1st in division
• 335 points scored(20 p/g, 14th in the NFL)
• 341 points allowed (21 p/g, 19th in the NFL)
• -8 in takeaway/giveaway (27th in the NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 18 TD’s, 15 Int’s and 2,442 yards passing
• Shaun Alexander 896 yards, 7 TD’s in 252 attempts
• CB Kelly Jennings first round pick (31st overall)
• Shaun Alexander missed six games involving the “madden curse”

2007 highlights/stats:

• 10-6 in NFC West, 1st in division
• 393 points scored (24 p/g, 9th in the NFL)
• 291 points allowed (18 p/g, 6th in the NFL)
• +10 in takeaway/giveaway (5th in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 28 TD’s, 12 Int’s and 3,966 passing yards
• Shaun Alexander 716 yards, 4 TD’s in 207 attempts (10 games)
• CB Josh Wilson second round pick (teams first pick in the draft)
• Seahawks, and Mike Holmgren went to a pass heavy and pass only offense which shot them into the playoffs
• Seahawks traded 1st round pick to New England Patriots for WR Deion Branch

2008 highlights/stats:

• 4-12 in the NFC West, 3rd in the division
• 294 points scored (18 p/g, 25th in the NFL)
• 392 points allowed (24 p/g, 25th in the NFL)
• -7 in takeaway/giveaways (25th in NFL)
• Seneca Wallace starting quarterback: 11 TD’s, 3 Int’s and 1,532 yards passing (8 games started, most by a single Seahawks QB in 08, Hasselbeck had seven and Charlie Frye had one)
• Julius Jones 698 yards, 2 TD’s in 158 attempts (10 games)
• Matt Hasselbeck, WR’s, DB’s where all injured for the majority of the 2008 season.
• DE Lawrence Jackson first round pick (28th overall) and TE John Carlson (2nd round pick, best pick in a long time for the Seahawks)
• Mike Holmgren retires as HC, leaves Seahawks organization

2009 highlights/stats:

• Currently 5-9 in NFC West, 3rd in division (Green Bay and Tennessee coming up)
• 257 points scored so far (18 p/g, 22nd in the NFL)
• 325 points allowed so far (23 p/g, 23rd in the NFL)
• -5 in takeaway/giveaways (22nd in NFL)
• Matt Hasselbeck starting quarterback: 15 TD’s, 12 Int’s and 2,656 yards passing
• Julius Jones 563 yards, 2 TD’s in 149 attempts (12 games)
• LB Aaron Curry first round pick (4th overall), C Max Unger (2nd round pick) and WR Deon Butler (3rd round pick)
• Hasselbeck has missed 2 games. A horrendous offensive line to start the first 10 games. Not much talent on the OL currently.
• Horrendous play calling from offensive coordinator Greg Knapp.
• TJ Houshmandzadeh signed five year, $40 million dollar contract with the Seahawks
• Jim Mora Jr. new head coach
• Tim Ruskell resigns as GM

So as you take a look at each year by year you see how the Seahawks can have consistent success in the future if they learn from the past.

Age has been a problem the last two years with the Seahawks with Walter Jones at 35 and Matt Hasselbeck at 34 both have been great in this decade for the Seahawks but as the Seahawks go into a rebuilding mode Jones will most likely retire and Hasselbeck could as well or finish out his contract and then retire next year.

Either way you chose to look at it, the Seahawks have been a winning franchise this decade until the tail end of the decade which will being to change as the Seahawks look for a new GM.

As a Seahawks writer and fan I will never forget the following great Seahawks this decade. LT Walter Jones, LG Steve Hutchinson, C Robbie Tobeck, RG Chris Grey, QB Matt Hasselbeck, RB Shaun Alexander, WR Darryl Jackson, Mike Holmgren and a few others.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Breaking Down The Morrow-League Trade

2009-12-23T23:11:00.001-08:00

The Mariners finalized the Brandon Morrow for Brandon League and Johermyn Chavez of the Toronto Blue Jays. The trade comes a week after the blockbuster Cliff Lee-Roy Halladay trade which sent prospects from Philadelphia to Toronto.

In that trade Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik sent former No. 1 pick Phillipe Aumont and to other prospects to the Phillies in exchange for SP Cliff Lee. Zduriencik continues to put his impressive finger print on the Mariners franchise by trading or releasing all of former Mariners GM Bill Bavasi players.

Good news for Mariners fans is that Felix Hernandez and Ichiro Suzuki were not brought in by Bavasi.

Now back to the Brandon Morrow- Brandon League trade.

If you look at it on paper it seems like the Jays come out the clear winner but if you did deeper its not as one sided as people are making it out to be.

In his career with the Seattle Mariners, Brandon Morrow has been the guy "who was picked instead of Tim Lineceum", the San Francisco Giants Cy Young winner. In his career Morrow has bounced between being a starting pitcher, relief pitcher and even trying to become a closer last year.

Now mostly to blame for this is former M's GM Bill Bavasi and his staff of clowns but Morrow get's the blame for last season. He said he didn't feel comfortable enough being a starting pitcher so he wanted to become a closer.

Fair enough, he's got the fastball to do it.

Well in a series against the Texas Rangers Brandon Morrow blew two straight saves giving up three homeruns in the process.

Afterwards he was sent down to AAA Tacoma to fix the kinks and develop more. He's never developed into a quality pitcher let alone what people think he can be which is a front line starting pitcher.

Well unless he goes back to single A ball he's just not going to be that big time starting pitcher. Now yes Morrow has shown flashes of greatness with the almost no-hitter against the New York Yankees.

Now for the two players the Mariners will receive in exchange for Morrow, relief pitcher Brandon League and OF Johermyn Chavez (Triple Crown winner in Single A this past season).

League brings an added presents to the Mariners bullpen which was very key to the Mariners success last season. David Aardsma's 38 saves and the rest of the bullpen locking it down.

League brings a great two seem fastball and he's plus groundball pitcher which is great considering the outstanding defense behind him with Chone Figgins, Jack Wilson and others.

League went 3-6 last season with a 4.58 ERA and 76 SO in 67 appearances for the Jays.

The other player the Mariners received in the deal, outfielder Johermyn Chavez is a Jack Zduriencik type of player.

Chavez, a 20 year old who hit .283 with 21 homeruns and 89 RBI's last season for class single A Lansing is an outstanding complete hitter, who still needs to work on a few things before becoming a MLB player.

Luckily for Chavez time is greatly on this side. Chavez's 2009 stats are as follows.

.283 BA, 87 Runs, 144 hits, 21 HR's, 89 RBI's, 40 BB, 137 SO's, .346 OBP, .474 SLG and a .820 OPS.

Chavez will most likely start the season in class A in either Clinton (with the Lumberjacks) or High A Desert Mavericks.

Chavez is an upgrade over former OF prospect Tyson Gillies who was traded to Philadelphia in the Lee deal.

Look for Jack Zduriencik to continue building for his year, which he's pick as 2010.

My One On One Interview With "Invincible" Vince Papale

2009-12-22T21:15:00.000-08:00

It took a couple of emails back and fourth to get the time and the date to work for both Vince and myself but I finally got the chance to interview one of my most inspirational football players ever, former Eagles Wide Receiver Vince Papale.

It was a 45 minute phone interview and our topics varied from Papale's era to modern day to the controversial Brett Favre. With that being said here is my interview with Vince Papale.We are both watching the Giants-Redskins game on MNF while the interview took place.

Lars: Hey Vince

Vince: Hey Lars whats up, give me one second.

Vince: You ready?

Lars: Yea, my first question to you is who are you rooting for tonight?

Vince: Redskins of course because as an Eagles fan you need the Redskins to win to keep a two game difference between them and the Giants. It doesn’t look good now with the Skins down 14-0 but still rooting for them.

Lars: Yea I agree it makes sense, not looking good right now for the Skins and Jim Zorn. My second question to you is going back to your head coach Dick Vermeil, what’s your opinion on current head coach Andy Reid compared to the man you played under Dick Vermeil?

Vince: Two difference personalities mostly. Andy is very close to himself and doesn’t share things with many people “outside his circle”. Dick, on the other hand was very emotional in how he coaches, with his players and it’s really hard to compare them because they are two different personalities in regards to their coaching. Now on the X’s and O’s we had it very simple with simple packages and not so much movements and motions before the snap where as now the game has developed so much to the point where is a lot different than when I played. But like as a person with the times I’ve talked with and been around Andy he seems like Mike Holmgren, very calm and close to himself like you have said Lars.

Lars: Yea I agree and like I said the way you describe him (Andy Reid), he seems a lot like Mike Holmgren.

Lars: My next question is what’s your current connection with the Eagles organization?

Vince: Well they do have an alumni organization, much like the Philadelphia Flyers do. Since I use to play for the Eagles, when they call me sometimes and ask me to do speaking I kindly accept. I do speaking everywhere when someone asks me to. I love your state, Washington and I did a speaking near Seattle before the Super Bowl. The stadium the Seahawks play in is phenomenal. So I do it when people ask me to or if the Eagles do but I don’t make a living off the Eagles, I don’t have to.

Lars: Yea it's really nice and relaxing in Washington and we have some of if not the most passionate fans it football. My next question to you is who is your favorite current eagle WR Desean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin?

Vince: Well if I could I would take both because they both are two great receivers. Maclin has great speed and he’s very young but watching DeSean Jackson is just unbelievable. So I’d take Jackson if I had to chose because watching him last night adjust to a route on a ball that normally you don’t see young players adjust to is just amazing to see. He’s got extremely light feet and that’s very key. DeSean is a complete game breaker.

Lars: Yea I'd pick DeSean in a heart beat, the guy is 5-10 but he's one of the most electric wide outs in the game. My next question for you is I’m sure u’ve been asked this a lot but what did you think of the Movie Invincible, based on you and how do u think Mark Wahlburg did playing you?

Vince: The movie was phenomenal, I think it was one of the best sports movies of all time of course but I still liked Rocky until some other more recent ones came out. Remember the Titans, Coach Carter, and the Rookie which really touched me and hit home. The Miracle on ice, another Disney based movie about the US Russia game was also another great movie that I think is one of my favorites. I’m proud of it and I’m sitting here opening mail that the postal lady dropped off this week with letter from over 30 people saying how the movie and story affected them so it’s impacted a lot of other people. Mark did the part better than anyone else would have. He worked his butt off to learn the information and the wide receiver work outs. He respected me throughout the entire process when he had to learn all the information. He was also a very nice, young respectable man about the city of Philadelphia, and the entire piece all around. Absolute blast to be with. He’s intelligent, talented and a part of my family. When he comes into Philadelphia we’ll have dinner with him and the entire family, my wife and two kids love him. Nothing but great things to say about Mark. I wrote a book the Reel story which fills in all the cracks of the movie and goes beyond everything. The movie goes beyond football and being a school teacher Lars, I survived cancer, I was a full time school teacher so I always try to reach out to people who need it.

Lars: Man Vince that's phenomenal and that's great, I was greatly affected after I researched your entire story, not just watching the movie. My Final question for you is what’s your opinion on Brett Favre?

Vince: Tremendous quarterback, such a role model and I feel he's entitled to take his time to make the right decision he wants. I admire him as a man and what he's gone through with his father dying and having to go through all he's had to go through it just shows how great of a man he is and always will be.

Lars: Yea I agree, when you get to the point Brett is at you need more time to make sure the decision you made is right. This season it's paid off.

Vince: So you got all you need there Lars?

Lars: Yea that just about raps it up, hopefully the Redskins get their act together.

Vince: Haha yea well it's not looking good now. Hey Lars take care and have a happy holidays.

Lars: Thanks Vince, you to and for the rest of your family. Stay warm as well with the snow.

Vince: I will, take care.

Lars: Bye

Vince: Bye

It was one of my top three interviews that I've had the pleasure of being apart of. When you get affected by a story through a movie is one thing, but to hear it from that person directly to you is a whole nother ball game. I thank Vince and his family for letting him spend the time to do the interview with me.

Hope you all who read it enjoy it aswell.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Rebuilding the Seahawks Part 1: The Front Office

2009-12-21T16:36:00.000-08:00

This is the first article in a five part series breaking down the rebuilding process for the Seattle Seahawks organization this off season. Starting with the front office and finding their GM to build the framework for a Super Bowl team. Second will be the coaching staff and who the possible GM's would hire. Third will be breaking down the current roster and who is staying and who is going. Fourth will be how the Seahawks should attack free agency and who they should sign realistically. Fifth will be the NFL and who they should take with their first four picks. Then there will be a concluding article summing up what the Seahawks roster will look like after all moves have been made.

So we start with the first part which is finding the replacement general manager for the Seahawks after Tim Ruskell resigned about a month ago.

I'll be giving an updated and in depth list of the possible candidates that the Seahawks could be considering for the job. Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke, who seems to have a choke hold on the Seahawks franchise, said that the GM must fit the Seahawks, not the other way around.

With that being said here is a list of possible candidates for the Seattle Seahawks general manager and executive vice president position.

1) Tom Heckert-Philadelphia Eagles GM

Examination: With Mike Holmgren officially being checked off the Seahawks list for their general manager position, in which was a complete PR move and really was a half-ass effort to give the Seattle Seahawks fans and the city of Seattle a great Christmas present, turned into coal.

With all that aside Tom Heckert will be very high on the Seattle Seahawks list to fill their GM void. Heckert, who is currently the GM of the Philadelphia Eagles doesn't have the final say in the player personnel decisions like he would if he were in Seattle. Right now head coach Andy Reid has the final say in his roster decisions, and also signed a two year contract extension so Heckert is really spinning his wheels in Philadelphia.

Heckert is highly touted for his skills with the NFL draft and very diligent when he is chosen his draft picks. Something the Seahawks desperately need in their front office after Tim Ruskell failed draft after draft to bring in the right players to make the Seahawks a winning franchise.

Also with the Seahawks having two first round picks it will be very important for Heckert, if he is tabbed as the Seahawks GM to put his exceptional draft skills on display for the Seahawks to have an excellent draft to start their rebuild.

If the Seahawks chose to hire Tom Heckert as their GM/EVP I'm sure he'll want to chose his own coaching staff, something the Seahawks might not let happen.

2) Steve Keim-Arizona Cardinals Director of Player Personnel

Examination: One common trait amongst these possible GM candidates will be that they are all exceptional at player personnel or have excellent draft credentials. Being in Arizona for 11 years Keim has had a hand in bringing in Adrian Wilson, Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and countless other outstanding Cardinals players over the years.

With the Seahawks needing talent across their entire football team Keim and his skills would be a huge asset in helping the Seahawks speed up their rebuild.

If the Seahawks tab Keim as their GM he might want to go with his own coaching staff or have current head coach Jim Mora Jr. fire some of the current coaches on the staff but have Mora be the head man.

3) Ruston Webster-Seahawks interim GM

Examination: Ruston Webster, who was tabbed as the interim GM the day Tim Ruskell resigned has already interview for the Seahawks GM position. He'll still be on the list as the third candidate because there are more qualified people for the job.

Webster in his third year as the Seahawks VP of player personnel worked alongside Tim Ruskell to oversee day-to-day management of pro personnel and college scouting departments.

Webster is solid at drafting players but over his last two seasons he, along with Tim Ruskell both dropped the ball so I don't see Webster getting the job.

4) Kevin Colbert-Pittsburgh Steelers GM

Examination: The Steelers have taken a step back this season and finally ended their
six game losing streak with a last second win over the Green Bay Packers. However I still expect changes to be made in the steel city and that could start with their GM heading to Seattle to become the GM of the Seahawks.

Colbert has turned the Steelers into a top five organization this decade winning two Super Bowl titles. Colbert as done an exceptional job building up the Steelers entire roster through the NFL draft with players like QB Ben Roethlisberger, WR Santonio Holmes, LB's LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons, S Troy Polamalu and RB Rashard Mendenhall among other talented players.

With the Seahawks lacking talented on the majority of the roster bringing in someone like Kevin Colbert to run the show would turn the Seahawks into Super Bowl contenders in a few years.

Colbert would also most likely bring in his own people on the coaching staff.

5) Jimmy Raye-Director of player personnel-San Diego Chargers

Examination: The same situation continues as Raye has had over eight years experience in the scouting and draft department of the San Diego Chargers, something the Seahawks will need to bank on heavy when they are looking for a new GM.

Raye oversees all of the college scouting for the Chargers as well as assisting in all player personnel movements.

Raye would be the next best option if all of the other candidates passed. Raye would also most likely bring in his own people.

6) Randy Mueller-Chargers Senior executive

Examination: Mueller was a former Seattle Seahawks front office executive before Paul Allen hired Mike Holmgren as the GM and HC which forced out Mueller and he left for the Saints.

Mueller drafted Joey Galloway and Walter Jones in his time in Seattle. He'd be a last resort if no one else worked out.

7) Floyd Reese-New England Patriots Senior Advisor

Examination: Reese, a former GM of the Tennessee Titans and ESPN Analyst would be an interesting fit if none of the other candidates worked out for some bizarre reason.

Reese did a solid job building up the Titans organization before retiring to join ESPN.

8) A.J Smith- San Diego Chargers GM

Examination: From 8-10 these will be the extreme long shot candidates to become the GM/EVP/President of the Seattle Seahawks. A.J Smith has done an exceptional job of turning the page on the Drew Breese era to a dominant Phillip Rivers era.

Smith has done a great job building up the Chargers via the NFL draft and that's how the Seahawks will have to attack this rebuilding process as well as getting top free agents.

9) Pete Ward- Colts Senior Executive Vice President

Examination: Ward has been an instrumental part of the Colts success this past decade and would be an excellent fit for the Seattle Seahawks GM job if the Seahawks other candidates don't work out.

10) Bill Polian- Colts President

Examination: I can say without any doubt that the Seahawks won't get to Polian on this list but if for some reason they do he's one of the best in the business and would be a great man to rebuild the Seattle Seahawks organization.

This concludes the list of the top ten list of possible candidates for the Seattle Seahawks GM job. The Next article in this five part series will break down each candidates possible head coach of who he would hire if he became the GM of the Seahawks.

NOTE: Mike Holmgren is officially off the list as a candidate.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Seahawks lose 24-7 To Bucs: The Matt Hasselbeck Show

2009-12-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

The title fits perfectly with the play of the Seattle Seahawks today. Seahawks lose 24/7 all day long, and it's headlined by the "Matt Hasselbeck Show".

Over the last few weeks, Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has looked worse than any quarterback in Seahawks history with his inaccuracy, inconsistency and just downright horrendous play.

In the last three weeks including today's game against the Tampa Bay Bucs Hasselbeck is 101/115 for 701 yards, 4 TD's and 5 Int's (four today).

Now overall, other than the five interceptions you might think those stats look pretty good. Think again, with Hasselbeck overthrowing wide open receivers, not making smart decisions with the football and being very unstable throughout this entire season.

Today Hasselbeck accounted for all five of the Seattle Seahawks turnovers, that's completely unacceptable for any veteran quarterback, which includes Hasselbeck.

Hasselbeck threw four interceptions and lose one fumble.

However the offensive line does not get the blame for the lose. It's all on
Hasselbeck. The offensive line did not allow hurry, sack or hit until midway through the third quarter. Hasselbeck had at least five seconds on each throw he made and still airmailed the ball at least 10+ times.

For a "franchise quarterback" that's just unacceptable.

The Seahawks are in an obvious rebuilding process that is looking to take longer and longer with each passing week.

Let's take a look and see how the Seahawks lose to a 1-12 Tampa Bay Bucs team.

First quarter:

Second quarter:

SEA- 29 yard touchdown pass from Hasselbeck to Carlson (8 plays, 85 yards and 4:09 TOP)

TB- Barth 25 yard FG (5 plays, 15 yards and: 37 TOP)

Third quarter:

TB-Barth 45 yard FG (10 plays, 50 yards and 6:16 TOP)

TB- 22 yard touchdown pass from Freeman to Williams (1 play, 22 yards)

TB- 6 yard touchdown pass from Freeman to Ward (9 plays, 37 yards and 4:30 TOP)
Fourth quarter:

TB-Barth 39 yard FG

Final Score: Tampa Bay 24 Seahawks 7

Final Stats for both teams:

SEA- Matt Hasselbeck: 27/46 for 256 yards, 1 TD and 4 Int's

TB- Josh Freeman: 16/26 for 205 yards, 2 TD's and 1 Int.

SEA- Julius Jones+Justin Forsett: 21 carries for 125 yards

TB- Derrick Ward+Cadillac Williams: 31 carries for 133 yards

SEA- John Carlson: 7 receptions for 86 yards and a TD reception

SEA- TJ Houshmandzadeh: 7 receptions for 73 yards

TB- Kellen Winslow: 6 receptions for 93 yards

TB- Sammie Stroughter: 4 receptions for 46 yards

SEA- David Hawthorne: 10 tackles

TB- Barrett Ruud: 8 tackles

The Seattle Seahawks will be at Green Bay next week in what is sure to be another blow out. A major note for the Seahawks is their head coach calling out the entire team this past week and the entire team toned him out which is not a good sign for the man who has a choke hold on this franchise, CEO Tod Leiwke.

Mora will make more changes this week for sure. Hopefully benching Matt Hasselbeck for rookie Mike Teel will be one of those moves. Teel can open up the offense and really spread it around.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Check out Lars’ sports blog: http://hansonsportsblog.blogspot.com/

Mike Holmgren Turns Down Seahawks GM Offer, Clearing Path for Browns Job

2009-12-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

This is news coming down within the hour. The city of Seattle has been shining bright on the sports map these past two weeks with the acquisitions of Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee and 2008 ASG MVP Milton Bradley to the Seattle Mariners (MLB) and having Jake Locker officially announce that he would return to the University of Washington for his senior season it seemed like something from the Seahawks had to come.

Since announcing that he wanted to return to the game he left two years ago after he retired as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Holmgren wanted to become the next GM/EVP of the Seattle Seahawks if they decided to offer the job.

Well after spending two days with the Cleveland Browns and their owner Randy Lerner about having Holmgren possibly becoming their "Czar" of Football Operations. Holmgren left Cleveland without a contract offer, an agreement and according to reports they did not talk money.

That left the door slightly open for Tod Leiweke and Paul Allen to offer the job to Mike Holmgren. Leiweke has become Seattle's most hated sports related player/person the last few weeks with the way he's decided to run the GM search along with Spencer Stuart, a New York firm.

It was also reported this past week that the Seahawks have a list of 10 possible candidates for their GM position and Holmgren was not on that list.

Now tonight Seattle Times reporter Danny O'Neil reported that Mike Holmgren will not rejoin the Seattle Seahawks after turning down the teams offer of a "senior leadership position" meaning their GM position.

Tod Leiweke said in the report that "Mike has declined our offer to rejoin the team given the structure we proposed. We hold Mike in high regard and wish the Holmgren family the very best with their new horizons."

As I reported last week with four possible candidates for the Seahawks GM position. Kevin Colbert was unavailable for comment about the Seahawks and their GM opening. Holmgren stated "I'd love a chance to become the GM if they decide to reach out to me" about the Seahawks GM opening. Well that can be checked off on their list.

Eagles GM Tom Heckert and Randy Mueller could also not be available for comment about the Seahawks opening.

This news clears the path for Mike Holmgren to accept the Cleveland Browns offer of "Czar" of Football.

Now the question must be asked, who are the other nine on the Seahawks supposed list of candidates. Knowing Tod Leiweke, who is becoming less and less popular in Seattle, could wind up with no other option that current interim GM Ruston Webster, who interview for the position this past week.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

Wyoming, Fresno State Kickoff the Bowl Season With a Bang

2009-12-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

Tonight finally marked the start of the 2009 College Football Bowl season with Wyoming (6-6) facing Fresno State (8-4). The bowl season started off with the New Mexico, in its fourth season as a bowl game.

Wyoming squeaked into a bowl game getting just enough wins, six, to be bowl eligible. They finished fifth in the MWC with a 4-4 record and 6-6 overall.

Fresno State, on the other hand, had more than enough wins to become bowl eligible at 8-4 overall. The Bulldogs finished third in the WAC behind Boise State and Nevada with a 6-2 conference record.

Coming into the New Mexico Bowl Fresno State were the easy favorites to win but predictions don't always come true.

Ryan Matthews, the number one running back in the nation didn't get a chance to hoist the Heisman trophy in New York so he took what he could and that was the New Mexico Bowl bid.

On the other side of the field Wyoming was coming into the game with a talented freshman quarterback in Austyn Carta-Samuels from San Jose California.

Wyoming started the scoring off with an electric 68 yard run by Freshman running back Alvester Alexander to give Wyoming the early 7-0 lead in the first quarter.

Fresno State strikes back early in the second quarter with running back Ryan Matthews capping off a seven play, 51 yard drive with a four yard touchdown run to tie the game a 7-7.

Wyoming's Austyn Carta-Samuels had by far his best game in his short career and he capped off the 15 play, 95 yard drive with a 21 yard touchdown pass to Greg Bolling to give Wyoming the 14-7 lead.

However Fresno State quarterback Ryan Colburn wanted a piece of the QB pie and he finished off a 10 play, 65 yard drive with a 10 yard touchdown pass to Jamel Hamler tying the game at 14-14 heading into half time.

Coming out of halftime Fresno State fired out of the cannon with a 43 yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Chastin West to Jamel Hamler to make it 21-14 Fresno State.

Wyoming kicker Ian Watts nailed home a 40yd FG to trim the deficit to 21-17 late in the third quarter.

Fresno State Junior running back Ryan Matthews was at it again and capitalized off the Carta-Samuels interceptions with a five yard touchdown run to make it 28-17 Fresno State.

However Wyoming wouldn't just go down from there. The talented freshman QB Austyn Carta-Samuels rebounded from is INT and capped of a seven play, 72 yard drive with an 11 yard touchdown pass to David Leonard and converted on the two point conversation to make it 28-25 Fresno State.

By far the best job of clock management I've ever seen in College Football was capped off by Wyoming kicker Ian Watts who nailed threw a 37 yard field goal, capping off a 19 play, 54 yard drive that took almost eight minutes off the clock.

Fresno State played it safe, taking the knee and sending the game into OT.

In OT Fresno State failed four times to get a touchdown with the ball on the three inch yard line, and yes that's three inches, not three yards.

Wyoming couldn't capitalize on the great goal line stand as Ian Watts missed a 40yd FG with the ball right in the middle of the hash marks, and a clean hold. It was just a clear miss.

Now what's any freshman’s goal? To make the biggest play in the game that matters most in your teams season right. Yes, and that's exactly what Wyoming Freshman Austyn Carta-Samuels completed a 13 yard touchdown pass to David Leonard, Samuels third touchdown pass of the night.

Fresno State couldn't get anything going and failed on a fourth down play that sealed the game and gave Wyoming the 35-28 win in 2OT.

The star of the game was by far freshman quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels who finished the game 17/31 for 201 yards, 3 TD's and 1 INT.

The Bowl win moved Wyoming to 7-6 on the season and dropped Fresno State to 8-5.

What an electric way to kickoff an exciting 2009 College Football Bowl season.

Seahawks Mock Draft: Offense Dominates Early

2009-12-19T00:16:00.000-08:00

With the Seahawks now officially eliminated from the playoff picture it's time to join Mora, Leiweke and look toward the future as the Seahawks officially move into their long awaited rebuilding process that is expected to take two or three years.

Now yes the NFL Draft is four months away but it's never t00 early to start thinking about who the Seahawks should target to help kickoff their rebuild.

This team has some talent but as Jim Mora Jr. put it in his press conference, "we need more nasty players". Now Mora wanted to clear the questions and explain what he meant by nasty as well as "dirt bags". He wants to see Sean Locklear shove a defensive end on his arse when there's a run play. He wants to see the offensive line be nasty upfront and not allow a sack all game, and have consistency over the season with it.

Now looking at the current players that project to be a part of the 2010 class there is a great opportunity to build a great young core for the future of this team.

The Seahawks lost All World LT Walter Jones, who didn't play a down this season due to the fact he could never recover from off season knee surgery. So there are major questions at Left Tackle long term. Also Sean Locklear, who was supposed to be the heir apparent to Jones, has failed to live up to those standards this season.

Then the Seahawks have questions about Matt Hasselbeck, how much longer can the great number eight play? He's only got one year left on his contract so most likely he will do exactly what Mike Holmgren did. Play out his contract and retire.

It still gives the Seahawks the chance to take their future starting quarterback, so that whoever that is can learn behind him for one full season and then take over.

Other positions that will be looking to upgrade would be LG/RG, DE, CB and FS as well as running back but Justin Forsett might be the long term answer.

With that being said here is my first mock draft of the "off season" for the Seattle Seahawks.

1st Round Pick (10th overall-projected): Bruce Campbell, OT, Maryland- This is a very smart and easy pick for the Seahawks at 10th overall. No one knows if Walter Jones will even play in the NFL next year with his unstable knee problems and even if he does make it back, he's 35 years old and would be entering his 14th season in the NFL.

Either way he's on his way out and Campbell is an excellent left tackle who would fit great on the Seahawks offensive line. They need to get the LT before the QB.

1st round pick (24th overall-projected): Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame- I think people who have Clausen in the top 15 or higher on their draft boards are just asking for it. Clausen doesn't have the top 15 or even top five talent as a complete quarterback.

Clausen has an average arm down the field and has a few other things to work on but will most likely fall to 24th overall to the Seattle Seahawks, also like ESPN's Todd McShay projects.

Clausen fits great with the Seahawks offense as well as the Seahawks wide receivers. They like to go under a lot and with the addition of Clausen would open things up more for TJ Houshmandzadeh who loves to go across the middle.

Now that the Seahawks got their LT in Bruce Campbell can now draft their long term QB in Jimmy Clausen.

2nd round pick(41st overall-projected): Mike Johnson, LG, Alabama- The title says it all. Offense dominates early for the Seahawks and that's exactly what needs to happen in order for this offense to start clicking again.

Johnson is a enormous talent at 6-5, 305 lbs and just what the Seahawks are missing on their offensive line. A dominant Left Guard to finally fill the void of Steve Hutchinson.

With the Seahawks having everything on offense except a stellar offensive line this is just what the Seahawks need. They already have their LT in Campbell, their QB in Jimmy Clausen and now their LG in Mike Johnson.

The Seahawks have officially moved Max Unger to Center, and Mike Gibson, who the Seahawks claimed off waivers, is starting at RG now. So the Seahawks could possibly have a very talented and young offensive line to build around as they rebuild.

4th round pick (105th overall-projected): Jammie Kirlew, DE, Indiana- Well the Seahawks had other needs at more important positions so this is where they will pick their defensive end.

Kirlew has averaged 70+ tackles the last two seasons at Indiana and that's something the Seahawks lack on the defensive line, a great tackle machine. The highest tackle total is Darryl Tapp with 35.

So he might be a project to build up but with this rebuild it's talent that matters and Kirlew has a lot of talent at defensive end.

Since I want this mock draft to be realistic I'm not going beyond the fourth round because of the current timetable. As the draft gets closer it will become more relevant.

So to recap the projected Seahawks 2010 Draft here is what the Seahawks got.

LT Bruce Campbell: 6-6, 312 lbs and ranked 4th on ESPN's rankings at offensive tackle.

QB Jimmy Clausen: 6-2, 217 lbs and ranked 3rd on ESPN's rankings at quarterback.

LG Mike Johnson: 6-6, 305 lbs and ranked 4th on ESPN's rankings at offensive guard.

DE Jammie Kirlew: 6-1, 254 lbs and ranked 19th on ESPN's rankings at defensive end.

In all sense the Seahawks need to start their rebuild on offense with a young, talented quarterback in Jimmy Clausen and get him into the fold right away so he can learn. Then adding two offensive linemen in Bruce Campbell and Mike Johnson will help out the entire offense including Clausen and Forsett.

The Seahawks haven’t had a dominant offensive line since 2005 and that seems to be the one key reason why this offense has dropped the ball the past two years. Also Clausen will help things a lot.

You can follow Lars at Twitter http://twitter.com/larshanson

What The Additions of Cliff Lee and Milton Bradley Mean For The Mariners

2009-12-18T20:21:00.000-08:00

What an off season it's been for the Seattle Mariners and their general manager Jack
Zduriencik.

The Mariners, since the conclusion of the Winter Meetings in Indy have acquired Cy Young award winner Cliff Lee and OF Milton Bradley. At the Winter Meetings the Mariners and third baseman Chone Figgins came to terms on a four year, $32 million dollar contract with an option for a fifth year.

Now after reviewing the Chone Figgins signing I've moved on to reviewing the two recent acquisitions in Cliff Lee and Milton Bradley and what both mean for the Seattle Mariners in 2010.

Cliff Lee: 14-13, 3.22 ERA, 231 IP, 181 SO, 43 BB, 6 CG, 7 K/9, 1.6 BB/9, 4.2 K/BB and a 1.24 WHIP.

Cliff Lee, a 2008 Cy Young award winner played in both the American and National League last season with the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies respectively.

In the AL Lee posted a 7-9 recorded with the Indians before being dealt in a five player trade to the Phillies.

In the National League Lee posted an astounding 7-4 record, which doesn't sound like much but when you break down all of his performances his record could have been 11-0.

With Lee now heading back the American League, in a pitchers friendly ballpark in Safeco Field there won't be any problems for the former Cy Young winner.

Lee dominated in a hitters ballpark in Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia so with the defense in Seattle, added to the size of the ballpark there shouldn't be any problem for Lee.

The Mariners defense is all-star caliber with Ichiro and Franklin Gutierrez in the outfield and Chone Figgins, Jack Wilson and Jose Lopez in the infield Lee don’t have to worry about having a lackluster defense behind him.

One thing that Cliff Lee, as well as Milton Bradley doesn’t have to worry about is the press in Seattle. There is really on pressure unless for some bizarre reason the M's tank as bad as the Seahawks are right now.

Another added bonus for Lee is that when he was in Philadelphia he was their ACE and he was the man. In Seattle he's got the King in front of him in King Felix Hernandez who went 19-5 in 2008, and really had the better performance to win the Cy Young.

My prediction for Cliff Lee would be something along these lines: 18-20 wins, 2.35 ERA, 210 SO and maybe 240 IP.

I also think, which some people outside of Seattle will argue, that Cliff Lee will sign a long term deal in Seattle with the Mariners making the playoffs in 2010.

Milton Bradley: .257 avg, 12 HR's, 40 RBI's, .378 OBP, 61 R, 101 hits, 66 BB, 95 SO, .397 slugging percentage and a.775 OPS.

Bradley signed a three year $30 million dollar contract last year with the Chicago Cubs after coming off of one of his best seasons. Since the signing he's hated Chicago and the Cubs fans. Then again who wouldn't when the Cubs haven’t been in style since Gold was discovered in 1909.

Bradley never really fit in with the Cubs so trading him to the Seattle Mariners, who have a very supportive fan base, unless your name is Bill Bavasi or Carlos Silva as well as great team chemistry.

Throughout his career Bradley has always done better in the American League. Here is his AL/NL comparison in his career.

American League: 6 years, 450 games, 455 hits, 249 runs, 57 HR's, 230 RBI's, .294 BA, .390 OBP, .481 slugging percentage and a .871 OPS.

National League: 6 years, 491 games, 449 hits, 252 runs, 58 HR's, 209 RBI's, .263 BA, .353 OBP, .422 slugging percentage, and a .775 OPS.

As the stats show, Bradley has done better in the American League in 41 fewer games.

With Bradley being a switch hitter and playing DH and LF in 2010 I expect his numbers will be where they usually are in the AL.

.290 BA, 25-30 HR's and 95 RBI's. He'll hit in the 4-6 range in the lineup.

The major thing about both of these trades that brought Cliff Lee and Milton Bradley to Seattle is that the Mariners come out clear winners in both trades.

And Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said he's still not done. That's what scares me. What else is left for GMZ to do? Wait and see.

Wise Money: Mariners sign 3B Figgins to 4-year Deal

2009-12-08T16:56:00.001-08:00

Around this time last year, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik pulled off his first big move when he pulled the trigger on a three team, 12 player deal which sent closer JJ Putz to the Mets and OF Franklin Gutierrez, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp and four others to Mariners.

With that move, his nickname became "trader Jack". Now this off season is an entirely new ball game.

Last off season Zduriencik didn't have a lot of money and flexibility to work with and plus he was just taking over. Now Zduriencik has around $50 million free to spend this off season, the most by any club.

Now Jack Zduriencik won't go mad with the amount of money he has available to him but he will use more than half of that on free agents and arbitration raises. Then there is also Felix Hernandez, who has been talking with Zduriencik about a long term contract.

Hernandez's agent, Alan Nero, has said there is no immediate hurry to sign Felix long term. S.I's Jon Heyman said Felix will most likely seek a contract in the neighborhood of six years and around $100 million.

If there is an off season when the Mariners should sign Hernandez long term it would be this off season. They just came off an incredible 21 game swing, Felix was a few games from winning the Cy Young and the Mariners have the money to spend.

Back on subject with the announcement that the Seattle Mariners have officially signed former LA Angles third baseman Chone Figgins to a four year, $36 million dollar contract. The contract also reportedly includes a vesting option in 2014 which could push the grand total to $45 million.

Right away this is a win-win signing for the Seattle Mariners and just keeps adding to the great resume of Jack Zduriencik.

Win one: The Mariners filled their hole a third base with an outstanding defensive player who also fits the offensive mold of speed and hitting without great power.

Win two: The Mariners strengthen their club while weakening division rival LA Angles. Figgings has been a great leadoff hitter for the Angles for two years straight. The only in-house replacement would be long time prospect Brandon Wood who is the anti Chone Figgins.

High strikeout total, below average defense and hits for power but not consistently.

Here is a Figgins-Wood comparison. (Wood's numbers are AAA).

Brandon Wood: 99 games, 113 hits, 22 HR, 65 runs, 72 RBI's, 36 BB and 80 SO. Indepth stats : BB% 8.5, SO% 20.7, .353 OBP and 4.0 speed.

Chone Figgins: 158 games, .298 BA, 183 hits, 5 HR, 114 runs, 54 RBI's, 101 BB and 114 SO. In-depth stats: BB% 14.1, SO% 18.5, .395 OBP and 6.7 speed.

The clear winner would be Chone Figgings.

Those stats, along with the personality of Figgings fits the Jack Zduriencik to a T. The price is just right at $36 million and he will fit great either in front of or behind right fielder Ichiro Suzuki in the Mariners lineup.

Look for Seattle's next move to be for either a starting pitcher like John Lackey or Rich Harden or a first baseman like Nick Johnson, Jason Bay or possibly Jermaine Dye if he goes low price.

Michael Crabtree Still All Talk?

2009-12-07T21:30:00.000-08:00

Since his days at Texas Tech Wide Receiver Michael Crabtree has been loaded with talk. Rated in the top five by countless scouts and NFL analyst coming into the 2009 NFL Draft, Michael Crabtree was looking like a sure top five lock with the St Louis Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks holding three of the top four picks in the draft.

However, as we have seen in recent NFL Draft's, hype doesn't guarantee anything. Brady Quinn was a sure lock at 9th overall to the Miami Dolphins. He took a huge draft day fall and landed at 22nd when the Cleveland Browns and Phil Savage traded back into the first round to get "their" quarterback in Quinn.

Now flash-forward to Michael Crabtree in 2009. With all the hype (among other things) coming into the draft surrounding Crabtree it looked as if he would be a sure top 4-7 lock. Well that's not how it went down.

Crabtree was passed up by the Rams, Chiefs, Seahawks, Jets, Raiders (who took Heyward-Bay over him) and the Jaguars all the way down to 10th overall with the San Francisco 49ers.

At the time it looked like a steal for the 49ers, who were looking to add another playmaker to support Frank Gore, Vernon Davis and the other weapons in San Fran.

Well five months later it went from a great pick to a potential huge setback for the 49ers organization when Crabtree threatened to sit out the entire 2009 season and reenter the draft in 2010 in hopes of receiving the contract he wanted and the contract he thought he deserved.

Before Crabtree signed I wrote an article comparing Crabtree and the 49ers to the Cutler-Broncos situation.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/254098-the-michael-crabtree-situation-why-its-worse-than-the-jay-cutler-saga

Finally on October 8th, 2009 Michael Crabtree grew enough brain cells and agreed to a six year $32 million dollar contract with $17 of the being guaranteed.

Before Crabtree had signed the 49ers were looking great and were about to take that next step to the forfront of the NFC West along with the Arizona Cardinals.

Coming into their bye week they were 3-2. Since Crabtree has signed the 49ers are 2-5 and have lost sight of what made then a winner in the first half of the season.

Now even though he has only played seven games in his career I thought it would be interesting to see if Crabtree is really showing signs that he can be that true elite No. 1 Wide Receiver or just another bust.

Here are Crabtree's stats to date in 2009: 32 receptions, 406 yards, 1 TD with a 12.7 avg.

Going a little bit deeper into his stats through the first seven games Crabtree is averaging over four receptions per game and 58 yards per game.

Not bad numbers but what has changed since Crabtree was signed was the 49ers swagger and since officially joining the Niners they have lost their edge they had the first half of the season.

Is it because Crabtree forced the hand of the 49ers front office or is it just because that's the way the NFL goes?

We won't be fully able to judge Crabtree for at least two more years. After that he's either made it or he's out. That's how it is in the NFL.