Raheem Brock Signs With Seahawks
by Danny Kelly on Aug 4, 2011 7:20 PM PDT
in Seahawks News & Rumors
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PrintDefensive End Raheem Brock has signed a one-year contract with the Seahawks. This move comes as a bit of a surprise to me -- Brock had visited the Patriots this week and it looked like the Seahawks didn't have much interest in him after signing DE Jimmy Wilkerson to a one-year deal on Tuesday. The signing was first reported by Jason La Canfora and confirmed by his agent. The team confirmed the signing shortly thereafter.
Brock busted on to the scene later last season with the Seahawks and finished the year second on the team with nine sacks and also had 19 pressures, per Football Outsiders charting. He was most effective later in the season when the Hawks semi-abandoned their hybrid unbalanced four-man front that had so much success early with Red Bryant manning the strong side DE. They dabbled with replacements Kentwan Balmer and Junior Siavii, but when Siavii went on the I.R. with a neck injury, the Hawks started running Brock at the LDE spot. In the final five games, Brock had six of his nine total sacks. Per a great piece Thomas put together on Seahawks defensive ends and blitz sacks, only one of Brock's nine sacks came from blitzing.
Brock is a veteran guy that played effectively in the Seahawks system last season so I don't think it's a bad move. He can play the strongside DE spot in passing situations and proved last season that he can get to the quarterback. He'll provide depth at LEO, theoretically, and I can assume he'll be cheap, though the money figures haven't been released as of yet. He joins a rather large group of defensive ends, and will face competition from Chris Clemons, Jimmy Wilkerson, Dexter Davis, Lazarius Levingston, A.J. Schable, and even undrafted free agents Pierre Allen and Jarett Crittenton.
The signing strengthens my suspicion that the Hawks will be running more traditional looking fronts in 2011 in certain situations, much like they did near the end of the year. I can see a scenario where they run with the hybrid unbalanced front on running downs and then switch to the lighter pass rushing defensive ends like Brock in passing situations. We'll have to see, but regardless it looks like the Hawks really value what Brock brings to the table.
I posted a piece breaking down a sack play that Raheem Brock was involved in, and it shows his quickness getting off the line and getting to the passer. Check it out here. Also, here is a video I actually posted this morning that shows Brock in action against the Saints.
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The Lance Moore Catch is ridiculous
That is impossible to defend. One handed out of bounds catch while keeping his feet hugging the sideline.
All these DE's on 1 year contracts
I think its safe to say we will be drafting one or two DE’s next year. Red Bryant will also be a FA so outside QB this is going to be one verrrrryyyy important position to address.
by The Great Googly on Aug 4, 2011 7:33 PM PDT reply actions
One of the OK things with this defensive scheme is that Bryant's only useful here.
As a standard DT, he wasn’t much. I don’t know how much interest he’s going to get from other teams.
Maybe
He isnt a LEO so he will still have plenty of value with 4-3 teams as a run stuffing weakside DE.
by The Great Googly on Aug 4, 2011 7:58 PM PDT up reply actions
Red's position on this D is just as rare as the Leo.
Sure, he can be a run-stuffing DE, but he’s not much of a pass-rusher so I don’t think he’ll be that sought-after.
i figure we sign him to a 3 year deal after 4 games if he plays well...
like we extended mike williams
Smashmouth is the new sexy!
Signing Brock to a long-term deal is a bad, bad idea.
I don’t care if he has 12 sacks by week 4.
12 sacks by week 4!
I’d pay him out of my own pocket!
by RawkEmHawkEmBirdbots on Aug 5, 2011 8:02 AM PDT up reply actions
If he's got 12 sacks by week 4 I will be rooting for him, don't get me wrong.
But he’s 33 years old and lots of sacks or not, he’s simply not going to be worth the contract in 3 years. Let the Redskins sign him and overpay for his (hypothetical) production.
my comment was in regards to the comments about Red Bryant, not Brock
Smashmouth is the new sexy!
If other teams show significant interest
it’s probably going to be teams looking to use as a DE in a 3-4.
D-line vs O-line
Do you think that Carroll is approaching the D-line the same way as the O-line? Last year he found young talent where he could and replaced the rest with other veterans, and then this year invested heavily in young talent. Do you think next year he will do the same with the D-line? This year obviously signing Mebane was a start but there was not a lot of young D-line talent available. It will be interesting to see if we extend Bryant.
I think that is exactly what the plan is
Focus on offense this year and defense next year. Offensive players take longer to develop….then next year go youth on D
Yep I agree
I think other than a early round QB we will see nothing but defensive pickups in next years draft. If Carrol see’s a RB or O-Lineman he really wants in the mid to late rounds than he might take one but other than that I expect D-line, LB’s and Corners.
by The Great Googly on Aug 4, 2011 7:55 PM PDT up reply actions
OT which side of Clink do the Hawks sit on?
I have never seen a game so I am going to drop some duckets, fly up there and buy tickets near the 50 yard line. Any advise that would improve the experience would be appreciated.
i'd recommend thinking about getting tickets around the 20 if i were you....
you can see the field well about 20-25 yards either way. if you are at the 50, you see the game between the 30s very well, but it’s hard to see the red zone plays. if you sit at the 20, you can see about half the game very well, including red zone play that occur on your end – and watch the jumbotron for the rest.
it was my strategy when i purchased my season tix, and i couldn’t be happier than being at the seahawks tunnel sideline at the 18 yard line
Smashmouth is the new sexy!
Also, this might just be me but I didn't like being in the really close rows up front.
It made it hard to really see the ‘depth’ of some plays, especially plays along the other side line. However, being really close the field is an awesome stadium experience, it just sacrifices a little on your ability to watch the game.
Also, if you’re sitting in the lower bowl I’m not sure how if it’s covered or not. I’ve only been down there once on a crystal clear day, and spend most of my time up in the nose bleeders, dry.
by SgtSasquatch on Aug 4, 2011 11:31 PM PDT up reply actions
Section 149/150 Row K
End Zone, Best seats in the house! Watched a game from there in ’08 vs. Rams (game where Matt cut block two Rams on JJ 30 yard bounce out TD run). Row is by itself on the open end of the stadium right above the end zone club seats. Perfect height to view all the action, feel all the noise and see the game from a totally different perspective. Why watch the game from the same angles you see on TV? From the endzone you get to see the splits of the linemen, watch the holes open up and the routes develop. Offense for 2 qtrs and Defense for 2 qtrs. If I ever move back to Sea-town I will buy season tix in those seats!
PC is raising Ground Chuck from the dead!
by oldschoolhawk on Aug 5, 2011 6:05 AM PDT up reply actions
1:22 in the clip
I am still angry. I remember there being like 2 or 3 obvious holds that saved Bree’s from Brock in that game. They turned out to be pretty big plays as well.
Brock tries to turn around but the lineman has a grip on his pads. Start at 1:20. Brock is at the top
by Agent_J on Aug 4, 2011 8:46 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
I'm pretty sure you can't hang onto a player as he is trying to pull away from you.
Regardless if his hands are inside of Brock’s shoulders.
Damn that's legal?
That guy had a hand full of jersey. I dont know what the exact rules are on holding but i remember watching that game yelling “damn ref thats frikkin holding!” at the tv.
Having that much jersey in-hand isn't legal per se but it's hard as hell to call.
You have that split second in there as a ref to determine whether or not the jersey’s there because of stickum or something or an actual jersey pull. If he was anything other than head-up on the guy it would be a lot easier, but yeah… generally speaking, the rule is, you can hit a guy open-handed, and if those open hands just happen to close and grab onto some jersey, what can you do?
Right at 1:23 it looks like the dude is trying to pull Brocks right shoulder pad out.
It seemed pretty obvious that brock was trying to turn towards Brees and the guy wouldn’t let go. The head Ref should be right there on top of the play too. I know you can’t see him in the video but he’s probably only 10 feet away.
I couldnt help but notice that Lofa was not much of a concern for the Saint's offense
Granted he did let Thomas know who to cover on one play. Curry on the other hand played rather well. He got double teamed when he played the line. It appeared he forced a fumble that was called an incompletion.
I agree with you on Curry
There were a few plays in that game where he was a absolute beast
Man, that was awesome!
Curry blasted through there like a bowling ball. I had to watch that a few times just to make sure he did what i thought he did. Unbelievable!
I think Brock is depth at LEO, not a replacement at strong side DE
and I’m glad he’s back. You can’t expect much from a 33-year old DE, but you can’t expect much from a 32-year old DE either.
by Greetings from the Lord Humongous! on Aug 4, 2011 8:55 PM PDT reply actions 2 recs
I think hes both,
Maybe even 3-tech on passing downs?
canadian eh
by Unidentified flying orgasms on Aug 4, 2011 9:43 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
He's not, he's just a Leo
Formerly Known As Vasilii
by Thomas Beekers on Aug 5, 2011 8:24 AM PDT up reply actions
That was painful to watch.
Tats and Thurmond had a bad game.
http://17power.blogspot.com
I'm glad we resigned him.
I just like Brock overall, did well last year. Probably a good thing to have another experienced older guy on defense with Lofa gone, just to help transition through until next season.
I agree,
It seemed through all the interviews that he carried himself with a very strong leadership role. He liked it here a lot and always presented a lot of intensity in a good way.
by RawkEmHawkEmBirdbots on Aug 5, 2011 8:07 AM PDT up reply actions
Plus he's been on a Superbowl winning team with Indy in 2006
and knows what it takes. He’s been in that atmosphere which is important to have on a young team.
by RawkEmHawkEmBirdbots on Aug 5, 2011 8:10 AM PDT up reply actions
As long as he is scrubbing
the turf with QB juice, I am for one, happy. If we do not get pressure, our extremely young secondary is going to get creamed.
Our defense is going to get creamed anyway
Signing more veteran Leo depth doesn’t really change that
Formerly Known As Vasilii
by Thomas Beekers on Aug 5, 2011 8:48 AM PDT up reply actions
I like to be a bit more optimistic
It is my opinion that we will be somewhere in between the start of last year’s defense and the end of last years defense.
We are bigger, and younger. The one thing you can’t say anymore about the Hawks D, is that we are soft.
Depth is pretty important.
The team only has one other pass rusher in Clemons. This gives them a viable backup at the Leo and a rotational guy for Red on passing downs. It’s a nice pick up.
Eh?
We already signed Jimmy Wilkerson to backup Clemons as a pass rusher, that’s why the Brock signing was kind of unexpected. Now we have two veteran scrubs to back up Clemons. One of em has to go
Formerly Known As Vasilii
by Thomas Beekers on Aug 5, 2011 10:24 AM PDT up reply actions
Brock seems like a rather clear upgrade to Wilkerson.
I wouldn’t want to depend on Wilkerson for anything.
So... you'd rather they do nothing?
I’m a little confused. I’m sure it would be better if there were younger DE depth out there to be signed… but do you see any?
He’s only here for one year, and the team could use his pass-rush. Honestly, our pass-rush was going to be brutal, now it’ll be a little less brutal.
Did I say I was against the signing?
I just don’t see the point ever you added Wilkerson. One scrub Leo end or the other, the production of these rotational guys is more scheme than skill-based. Brock might be better than Wilkerson, sure, but both are JAGs. Don’t get the excitement some expressed over this signing.
And yes, I would have preferred signing Vernon Gholston to adding these two JAGs.
Formerly Known As Vasilii
by Thomas Beekers on Aug 5, 2011 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions
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