Wednesday, June 22, 2011

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

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.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Donovan McNabb traded to Washington

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.

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

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

Thursday, March 18, 2010

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

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/

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Seahawks Finalize Whitehurst Deal; Agree To Contract Extension

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.

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

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

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Steelers QB Roethlisberger could interest Seattle Seahawks

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/

Friday, March 12, 2010

In my opinion: Matt Hasselbeck

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.

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

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

Monday, March 8, 2010

Seahawks trade Seneca Wallace to Browns

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