Seahawks add Richard, Ulbrich to coaching staff

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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Michael Crabtree Still All Talk?

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.