Balancing 'Win-Now' with 'Building Towards the Future'
by 12thman on Nov 22, 2010 5:12 PM PST
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PrintHere is a link to all the team's transactions in 2010 on Seahawks.com:
http://www.seahawks.com/team/transactions.html
Pulling certain players from that page, here is my perspective on how they affect winning today vs. winning in the future.
Signed/Traded For:
Mike Williams (BMW): Win today, win tomorrow, win forever.
Ben Hamilton/Chester Pitts: Stop-gap today, no future.
Lawyer Milloy: Win today, while mentoring young defensive backs for tomorrow.
Chris Clemons: Surprising contributions, surprising health. 29 years old. Debatable future.
Brandon Stokley: Immediate Contributor. No long-term future.
Kentwan Balmer: Strongside DE today because of Red Bryant's injury. Could be part of long term rotation.
Marshawn Lynch: Please give him more time with a healthy Okung... YPC went way up yesterday. Fumbles as well. Better backfield partner with Force than Julius Jones.
Charlie Whitehurst: In my opinion, no. Not given enough time as of yet to prove either way.
Released/Traded Away:
Josh Wilson: Would have been better today, but trade paved way for Thurmond III playing time.
Rob Sims: Not seen as pure "ZBS" fit. Major loss in lieu of abandonment of pure "ZBS." Major loss regardless.
Kevin Vickerson: Confusing. How is Guitar God Craig Terrill better today or tomorrow?
Lendale White: No.
Seneca Wallace: Replacement level today. Nothing more, nothing less.
Darryl Tapp: Not a Leo(per se) and not big enough for strongside. Right guy, wrong scheme.
Deon Grant: Too small for SS, too slow for FS.
Draft:
Russell Okung: Right GD Now. Stay healthy for 10 years please.
Earl Thomas: Start Immediately. Make rookie mistakes. 10+ years.
Golden Tate: Spot duty. Needs to take his lumps and grow.
Walter Thurmond III: Amoeba, Bandit, crazy dime package participant. Larry Fitzgerald's nemesis. What a great gamble and potential success.
Etc, etc, etc.
This is obviously just a sampling. 250+ transactions, many with the same players over and again, is astronomical. My point here is to say, on the grand scale, that I have faith in this Front Office based upon their talent evaluation and willingness to take risks on players. Many of these players are part of the solution beyond this year and next. If you were to put Seattle on the spectrum of win now on one end and full rebuild at the other, they would fall somewhere in the middle. The risk of being in the middle? Mediocrity now to be followed by mediocrity later. The hope? Mediocrity now that maintains suppressed excitement among the fan base followed by success.
Sam Presti took the Seattle Sonics(sorry to bring them up) and gutted the team. They stockpiled top draft picks, took some great players, and suffered through a couple years of bad play. Their patience has been rewarded and they will be great for years. Maybe the Seahawks should have done that, like so many here want. It doesn't always work. Many cities do not have the patience to endure the few years of bottom-dwelling. OKC was the perfect fit because it matched a complete rebuild with a brand new city coveting a major team regardless.
There are several ways to skin the cat, and based upon team performance, must be adjusted just like a team would adjust at halftime. Forgive my optimism, but I like what I see.
Sea!
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The key to your question is Depth.
To balance the “Win Now” and “Future” you need to be able to have a solid starter and a promising rookie in the same roster. We have Mike Williams and Butler who are great options at WR, but guys like Obamaknew and Tate now have the chance to develop while not being in the spotlight.
There are drawbacks to committing to a “Win-Now” and “Draft for the Future”. Win Now, you trade in long-term success for short-term wins. Bengals this year is a example. They completely disregarded their starters health and instead stockpile on free agents. Now they are 2-8 after a 10-6 record. On the other hand, you look at the Detroit Lions, who have been “Rebuilding” since Sanders retired and only now is starting to pickup on the season. Their potential players all turned out to be busts, making it difficult for them to make the most of their talent.
Mediocrity might be acceptable in the NFL’s worst division, because we have the ability to go to the playoffs at 8-8, perhaps even 7-9. How we build from this season however, will decide our success for the future.
I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul - Invictus
I am just in love with Earl Thomas
Sure, he has his rookie mistakes, but he is the next Ed Reed! I hope this guy has a lengthy career as a Seahawk. Not a very intelligent analysis, but whatever.
If you're a fan of basketball, watch a movie called Sonicsgate. It's free, just google it.
Winning now sets a standard
Punks jump up to get beat down.
by Lo Pann on Nov 22, 2010 11:13 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I agree.
Why not both. Winning now only settles for mediocrity if you trade young player’s time for veterans. I like seeing this young team win while getting the feeling that Carroll knows there’s more work to do over the next couple seasons.
by Hopefulmsfan on Nov 23, 2010 12:35 AM PST up reply actions
The Sonics had it easy though.
They get rid of all of the vets and force Seattle to watch the worst team in Seattle basketball history so the city would become apathetic and not care when the team was moved. OKC had to watch one bad year and now they’re elite. Pretty easy to gut your team and rebuild when you know you’re skipping town and don’t care about the fans of the original city.
Not insulting your post, just pissed off thinking about the Sonics again.
by Hopefulmsfan on Nov 23, 2010 12:33 AM PST reply actions 1 recs
Not to mention that if the Sonics had ended up with Oden instead of Durant their rebuild probably goes all to hell.
Absolute gutting rebuilds almost always require that you end up with an elite talent out of it. For all the good trying to get in position to grab the next franchise whatever, sometimes you end up with Alex Smith or Greg Oden or Ryan Leaf
And now I’ve likely managed to annoy Trailblazer fans. Heavens dear me.
Just to nitpick
I believe “elephant” is an old synonym for “Leo”. I assume you mean strongside end.
This wooden soul of mine, it cannot ever climb from places it has fallen: In between where light can shine. It never falls in line, it barely has a spine, like branches severed from the vine. Like it was faulty by design.
Win now
forever
"We just had a near life experience."
Semper Fi' (Now a proud member of Couch Company, 1st Civ Div.)
Pain don't hurt...
We do have some great potential
And Hasselbeck is playing well enough at this point, but I’m really not sold on Whitehurst, we need a quarterback, even a mid rounder to get ready for Hasselbeck’s departure. Heck I’d even trade for a vet like Orton or Fitz.
I am a bear of very little brains and big words bother me.
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