Courtney Greene Signs with Jacksonville

by John Morgan on Sep 25, 2009 7:30 AM PDT Comment 27 comments

More photos » by Ted S. Warren - AP

Losing Courtney Greene doesn't hurt. The financial tight rope Ruskell walks, and the big risks he takes to ensure the team has enough money to sign the Colin Coles of the world, does and has hurt the Seattle Seahawks.

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Readers number_twentyone brought this to my attention and I thought it deserved a front page post. LoHud.com reports that Courtney Greene signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars and will be on their active roster. The intriguing detail is that Seattle was set to re-sign him to their practice squad.

Courtney Greene was all set to return Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks. The rookie from New Rochelle had completed rehab for his sprained left knee, and after being cut by Seattle Labor Day weekend, he was prepared to reach the NFL by way of the practice squad.

Hours before Greene boarded a flight back to Seattle on Sunday, he learned his NFL dreams would be realized on this side of the country.

That kind of too-clever roster wrangling, and pound foolish money saving is nothing new to Seahawks fans, but this is a reminder that not much has changed. Tim Ruskell has found some hidden talent and pulled off a few financial coups, but he gets too cute with penny ante decisions. His most infamous blunder was losing Steve Hutchinson. The loss and decisions that led to the loss have become the third rail of Seahawks coverage. Ruskell doesn't want to talk about it and fans don't want to read about it. Was the decision made before he arrived? Could he have anticipated the Vikings treachery? I don't know, but applying the transition tag to Hutchinson sure fits Ruskell's MO.

Greene didn't show much in the preseason, but he has pro talent. I praise Ruskell when he finds pro talent for cheap, be it a free agent or a late draft pick, but when he loses pro talent to retain Mike Hass or Logan Payne, I have to chide him. Seattle lost special teams and secondary depth, but it didn't have to. It could have signed Greene to the practice squad and allowed him to heal in the confines of the VMAC.

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What does this move have to do with saving money?

And why are we so high on a 7th round pick that “didn’t show much in the preseason”?

Even if we’d signed Greene to the PS, Jacksonville could have grabbed him and signed him to the active roster.

Mike Wahle(OG), Walter Jones(LT), Chris Spencer(C), Marcus Trufant(CB), Deion Branch(WR), Sean Locklear(OT), Brandon Mebane(DT), Leroy Hill(LB), Lofa Tatupu(LB), Josh Wilson(CB), Justin Griffith(FB), Matt Hasselbeck (QB)

by ninjasocks on Sep 25, 2009 7:51 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

by lemonverbena on Sep 25, 2009 8:08 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm confused too.

What difference would it have made if he were on the PS? The Jags still could have signed him without having to compensate us, right?

by thebyron on Sep 25, 2009 8:08 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

A team can offer a player on a practice squad a contract

and he can refuse. Seattle would have been much more likely to keep Greene if he was in his organization.

by John Morgan on Sep 25, 2009 11:17 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This move isn't much about saving money

So in that I misspoke. I think Ruskell was trying to game the practice squad: Keeping players on it that can play now and assuming Greene would re-sign when he was healthy.

by John Morgan on Sep 25, 2009 11:20 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ok, that makes more sense to me now

by ninjasocks on Sep 25, 2009 11:57 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

If Greene was on the PS, I think he would be more likely to stay with us

but it would be no guarantee. Late-round draft picks in the NFL need to take advantage of every opportunity they can get. Their chances at a starting job are low and their chances of an injury are high.

by ninjasocks on Sep 25, 2009 12:07 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed.

by John Morgan on Sep 25, 2009 12:29 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Um, isn't that exactly the position Greene was in?

The Seahawks were about to offer him a spot on the practice squad. The Jaguars offered a spot on their full-time roster. He chose to be on a full-time roster. What makes you think he’d choose differently if he were already on the PS? It would still be a choice between a PS spot and a roster spot.

by Mr Fish on Sep 25, 2009 1:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Close, I guess.

I think if Greene were in camp, he would be less inclined to sign with another team. I think that’s human nature, but I don’t know for sure.

by John Morgan on Sep 25, 2009 1:34 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Early.

I keep asking my self what if Paul Allen doesn’t re-sign Timmay in the off-season?

by Seahawka 12th on Sep 25, 2009 7:57 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

First and last time Courtney Greene will ever be compared with Steve Hutchinson

Sorry, I’m not sharing the outrage. These kind of things happen with late round practice squad guys all the time. So Ruskell didn’t want to reserve a roster spot for a guy with a knee injury. You win some you lose some. I wouldn’t even be suprised if he winds up back on the Seahawks roster in few weeks when Jacksonville puts him on waivers. See: Justin Forsett.

by Keasley on Sep 25, 2009 8:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Jacksonville's secondary must be awesome

Brian Russell, now Courtney Greene. Wow. Is their secondary this year’s version of the Seattle Seahawks receiving corps?

Outside Reshean Mathis they look pretty vulnerable.

What’s next? Do they gobble up Omare Lowe?

by Section 128 on Sep 25, 2009 8:54 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Ha!

Russell and Greene both in Jacksonville. Well I guess that speaks well of our depth.

I wish we got to play Jacksonville more than once this year. At least we’ll know who to throw at. I don’t think Russell played much last week, but Kurt Warner sure didn’t have much trouble with the Jags secondary.

http://www.azcardinals.com/photos-videos/videos/Kurt-Warner-highlights-at-Jacksonville/9e5d8cf1-1752-4d90-b741-1859b19c6e72

"Football players are temperamental. That's 90 percent temper and 10 percent mental." - Doug Plank

by Stevo's on Sep 25, 2009 11:46 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good post, John, and good point.

by jacobstevens on Sep 25, 2009 9:24 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It sounds like you understand this post a lot better than me

Can you help explain it to me?

by ninjasocks on Sep 25, 2009 9:26 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well I don't consider it outrate

But just an observation that’s critical of Ruskell, but doesn’t go overboard or suggest he doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s not an indictment. It’s nice, first off, to just read a crticism of a GM that isn’t an indictment or calls for his head or use results to prove why he’s a complete idiot.

Ruskell seems good at evaluating defensive talent, acquiring value throughout the draft, and appears to have proper perspective on the good value but admittedly project picks he throws around at the end of the draft. I think he realizes the odds of developing anything significant there is slim, and his penchant for drafting guys with high floors early in the draft mitigates the need for consistent success in the late rounds to bolster depth. So he treats it like the lottery. Two or three guys out of the 6th & 7th rounds of three or four drafts contributing something worthy of a mid-round pick, would be a success. To me, anyway.

So his method, I like. A couple of exceptions aside, he seems to know who to re-sign and when, and seems to be kind of prepared, or able to mobilize and prepare, well enough, when he does let someone significant go.

And he’s not frivilous with contract, but clearly he’ll pay up for guys he wants, guys that are worth it. And the margin there is greater than the savings he might possibly yield that he plays around with on some deals, like Hutchinson or Greene, and loses the guy as a result, it just seems like so much diligence gone to waste.

Just a minor criticism that’s kept well in perspective. I like that. I Suppose I could have written just these last two paragraphs to make my point, but hopefully this isn’t a burdensome read.

by jacobstevens on Sep 25, 2009 10:03 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

This.

Child please...

by Airborne Hawk Guy on Sep 25, 2009 10:12 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

I'm not criticizing the tone of the piece

I don’t have a problem admitting that Ruskell makes frequent mistakes. I just honestly don’t understand the logical connections that constitute this argument.

Courtney Greene got signed to the active roster of the Jaguars. The only way that we could have prevented this were to sign him to our active roster first. If we had signed him to our practice squad, as I imagine this piece suggests, he probably still would have signed with the Jags.

Both our active roster and practice squad have a limited number of roster spots. The reason why we wouldn’t sign a player to either one would be due to a shortage of room, not money. Presumably, Ruskell wanted more depth in other areas (OL, WR, etc) and was hoping to get Greene on the practice squad eventually. While Hass and Payne are far from NFL stars, they are familiar with our schemes and could probably sub in as 3rd or 4th receivers if we suffered injuries in our WR corps again. If Nate or Branch or Housh went down, I’d rather call up Hass or Payne to fill in than trading a 5th for the next Billy McMullen to play on one weeks’ notice.

Beyond this, the article suggests that Greene was an NFL-ready talent. While I’m not going to suggest that he can’t succeed in the NFL, the chances of it are low. He was selected in the 7th round (245th overall), failed to show much in the preseason and wasn’t selected for the practice squad. While I had high hopes for Greene, the odds for his success are really, really low.

by ninjasocks on Sep 25, 2009 10:38 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

You know what? I agree with this.

The choice between the Seattle practice squad and the Jags active roster would be a no-brainer, wouldn’t it?

Early prospect watch: RB C.J. Spiller, QB Jevan Snead, OT Ciron Black, DT Gerald McCoy, S Eric Berry, DT Ndamukong Suh, CB Ras-I Dowling 6'2, 200, RB Jonathan Dwyer

by Misfit74 on Sep 25, 2009 7:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who do we not have instead of keeping him, though?

The only option I see is not signing Milloy. Milloy will help us out this season, Greene won’t. I see what you’re saying, but we’re pretty stacked with low rent “potential” players because of Ruskell’s selections and at the end of the day, someone’s got to get the axe. It was him, Reed, or Bennett. Maybe CJ Wallace. Unless the NFL enlarges the rosters, and Ruskell stops making good late round picks, this will always be a problem, and it’s not a bad one to have.

by B.B.Finnegan on Sep 25, 2009 10:41 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

"Who do we not have instead of keeping him"

I think I just confused myself. Double negative?

by B.B.Finnegan on Sep 25, 2009 10:43 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

+ failed reply

I’m going back to bed.

by B.B.Finnegan on Sep 25, 2009 10:44 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Truth be told

This wasn’t meant to be published, because I wan’t behind the thrust of the opinion. I scheduled it to publish a few nights ago and kept pushing it back because I wasn’t happy with it. Then I forgot about it. There is a central opinion about how Ruskell games the system and sometimes fails that I believe in, but I don’t think Courtney Greene is a good example. Seattle wanted a robust practice squad with wide receivers, so that Deion Branch and T.J. Houshmandzadeh could sit out practices. That’s a practical decision. It didn’t retain Greene, but it was able to sign Jamar Adams instead. Adams is a better player in my opinion.

No cause for outrage by me. I should have scrapped it, but it is up now.

by John Morgan on Sep 25, 2009 11:29 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Well I appreciate the integrity in keeping the post up.

If one of our top 4 receivers was already out for the season, perhaps keeping Haas and Payne on the PS would look really smart. I know you aren’t high on them, but better than trading a 5th rounder for Colbert. Ruskell may make mistakes, but it appears he learns from them.

by Surf Hawk on Sep 25, 2009 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs