For the Hawks.  Great season for Field Gulls.  Thanks, guys.

If you've got it in you, I'll be looking forward to the personnel analysis this offseason.

Is Trufant a FA?  Do you think the Hawks will be able to re-sign him?

I'm relatively new to Field Gulls. Only in the last few weeks of the season did I "discover" it. I don't even remember how. The blog has been a welcome source of insightful analysis. I still say that Seattle has the most insightful fans in football, along with the Pats. (I lived in Beantown during the first SB season.)
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Seattle has, as you say, some big decisions ahead. The big plus heading into this offseason as opposed to last, is that both the draft and the market should supply more of what we need.

Foolishly I thought I'd be the first to post this, but none-the-less I think I enjoyed this season a TON more because of the excellent analysis and writing here.   Thank you so much for your insight and your knowledge!

analysis on the web and at very least for coverage of the Hawks. Also, thanks for keeping me sane throughout the year during the times I thought, "am I the only one who thinks Shaun is horrible and the coach is suspect for playing him?" I could always count on Morgan seeing things the same way.

The window is fast closing. Like you mentioned, and I agree, an upgraded O line and back to expoit it would greatly improve this team. IN your opinion, should the team's first pick be an offensive tackle (RG) or RB?

to read Seahawks commentary and analysis that is interesting and informative as compared to the same old boiler plate crap you find on sports pages.  Kudo's and thank you.

I really like Pollard the guy, I hope this isn't the last football he has played. I know it's not the way it always works out but class guys deserve better exits than that.

This team should be vastly improved next year.

Provided they franchise Trufant, replace Chris Gray and find their feature running back of the future and should Holmgren retire they make the right hires; they should be drastically better.

This draft really shapes up well for the Hawks given what their needs are.

Just throwing names out there but a draft like this would make the team drastically better:

RD 1: Jonathan Stewart,RB,Oregon/Rashard Mendenhall, RB , Illinois/ Felix Jones,RB, Arkansas

RD 2: Duke Robinson,G, Oklahoma/ Roy Schuening, G, Oregon State/ Eric Young, G, Tennessee

RD 3. Jermichael Finley, TE, Texas/ John Carlson, TE, Notre Dame/ Martellus Bennett, TE, Texas A-M

And knowing this FO they will go find someone substansial in free agency and more likely than not it will be on the oline, they tried for Dielman last year, so I would imagine they make another run. I like big man Stacy Andrews of the Bengals who can solidify RT should Lock leave or either guard spot.

Think of the defense returning in tact. With Stewart or Mendenhall running behind an improved oline with Hass and his wrs still.

Saying we need to jump in Round 1 on the latest stud Running Back seems particularly curious in light of Ryan Grant, fresh from the practice squad, curbstomping us. Just between Morris and Weaver next season the Hawks will have a better running game. Given a limited number of draft choices, snagging someone in the 5th or later would be sufficient.

I think the Hawks main priority is upgrading both lines, but primarily the offensive line. Most pressing is a replacement for Chris Gray and Sean Locklear, and possibly a later scrub to push Sims/Spencer depending on how good Mansfield Wrotto and Ray Willis look. I don't trust our DL to be consistent in either pass rush or containing rushers (LIKE RYAN GRANT), with Kerney's age and Tapp's disappearance DE should be a big priority- you can't have too many pass rushers. DT is less of a need through Mebane's play and Marcus Tubb's triumphant return from IR next season.

TE is a big hole that hopefully would be addressed within the first 4 rounds. That cost us a Super Bowl, I have no idea why we still don't have the future nailed down there.

It will be interesting to see what Tim Ruskell does with Seneca Wallace and Shaun Alexander. We have a particularly valuable commodity in Wallace, possibly one that could be leveraged into a 3rd round pick or better. For Alexander, if someone was willing to drop a 6th round pick for him I'd pull the trigger.

Thanks for the memories, Jordan Babineaux, but if we want to beat the best next season, when Green Bay or New England go 4 or 5 wide the Hawks can't stand to have such a terrible void.

That's basically how I'm thinking this offseason should go- the Hawks need to be held to a higher standard then winning the division, they should be ready to take on and defeat the big AFC teams. Our Defense is a known quantity, they should be really good next year. I think what will ultimately determine the Hawks' success next year is how well they can improve the personnel on the OL. We've had a good record drafting lineman, I think the pieces are in place that, with a productive off season, the Hawks should be competing as one of the top two teams in the conference.