Seattle's Off-Season Options in 2010

There is no way he’s riding the bench. Hasselbeck is greedily munching away at about 10 million in cap space, and a rookie QB drafted that high would be making a bundle as well.

I’m not sure if it’s the pain in my gut still throbbing from yesterdays beat down, or the 4 options you presented, or simply the wording of those 4 options, but I’m left feeling less than optimistic concerning any of them. They all leave me feeling depressed. I think part of the underlying consternation is the realization that drafting a couple good rookies or trading away a player here for a player there won’t probably make a hill of beans of a difference if the coaching staff is unchanged. I believe Mora will survive for another season, even with the new GM, but somebody is going to lose their job and my guess is it’s Knapp. The D has played well enough for Bradley to have another year as well. With a new GM and OC, I think that while we will still be geared toward running the ball due to Mora’s preference/experience, it may be a more power running style. That would take a makeover of the O-line. We may simply see a draft that looks like OT, OG, RB in that order with guys like Trent Williams, Iupati and Dwyer. Fixing the O-line also allows Carlson to spend more time running routes and less time in-line blocking, something he has yet to master (or sucks at in my humble opinion). I guess this is looking like your option 4 without Campbell. Another mid-round QB prospect to compete and develop with Teel. Under this scenario, JJ, Sims, Spencer and Branch are gone, replaced by Dwyer, Iupati, Unger (who is replaced by Willis who is replaced by Williams) and Butler. The D is left largely intact.

He sure isn’t sexy. That’s good. The less sexy he is, the cheaper he’ll be.

Meanwhile, his stats since Sherm Lewis took over playcalling: 1749 yards, 249 ypg, 7.4 YPA, 11 TDs, 6 INTs. Against Ds like Phillies (twice), Caroline (elite pass D) and Saints, that’s actually very, very good, especially since he has 0 premier weapons in the passing game with Cooley gone.

Suh? No thanks. But not possible anyway. He’ll go 1st and 2nd overall as it’s projected now anyway, Bucs/Rams could both really use him so they have no reason to trade down.

The team is very unlikely to turn things around in a year. They need to build the franchise towards being a contender in 2011 or 2012 (more likely the latter). That means a few things:

a) They are likely to be a bad team in 2010 and therefore should get another high set of picks.

b) They don’t need to draft a quarterback in 2010. They shoul draft a QB in one of the next couple years. I really don’t like the grasping at straws, and large expenditure of assets, approach to finding the quarterback of the future (where the team acquires a QB almost every year in the hopes that one is good) See the dark days between Krieg and Hasselbeck: Rick Mirer, Kellly Stouffer, Dan McGwire (shudder), though Moon was pretty good in that era if past his prime.

c) It’s been said by John and others that the team should cut Hass, Walt, Kerney, and let Burleson and others walk. Trade TJ etc. I only agree with this to a point. There’s no point in being way under the cap as not all the money can be moved to future years. It doesn’t hurt to have some highly paid vets around as mentors, role models etc. If the money is available (because, say Kerney was cut) then I like the idea of having Hass around to help groom the next QB. if Matt plays great, then the young QB can watch and learn. If Matt gets hurt, then the kid can step in. If Matt starts the season but sucks, then you bench him. Seems better than releasing him outright, unless you’re up against the cap (which they shouldn’t be)

d) Related to point c, there’s definitely something to be said for being a team well enough to win most games, even when rebuilding. Part of the reason bad teams stay bad is bad management. Part of the reason bad teams stay bad is they never learn how to win, how to drive down the field and score with 2 mins left etc. A culture of losing is perpetuated. Potentially good players give up on the team (see: Shaun Rogers). And it can be hard to retain your players and they become free agents and recruit new FAs to your squad.

A few things to chew on…

The first thing that needs to be settled is, who will be the next GM/Pres?

On that question, one name I haven’t seen discussed here is Shanahan.

Sure, he’d want a lot of power (and Holmgren wouldn’t?), and he’d probably want to replace Mora (after yesterday, I wonder if that’s the sticking point for Leiwecke that it might have been before). But I’d rather have him than Holmgren.

I’d even be OK with it if he wanted the head coach position too. I hated his Broncos, but I always respected them. I’d be far more ready to accept Shanahan at the helm than I would that SOB Cowher that the idiots are clamoring for.

Marshall is in the last year of his rookie deal and has had a very solid season as the starting right corner for the league’s No. 6 overall pass defense. A sure tackler, the 25-year-old has also chipped in three interceptions. -Rotoworld