The Seahawks, rather surprisingly, showed some solid depth at the cornerback position this season with the emergence of Brandon Browner and Richard Sherman after Marcus Trufant and Walter Thurmond both went down. Browner and Sherman likely locked up the 'starter' designations going into next season by playing solidly this year and I would guess both go into camp with 'their job to lose'.

In 2011, Browner played every game, nearly every snap - after coming south from Canada and the CFL, and Sherman came in in relief of both Trufant and Thurmond and probably flashed the most potential of any corner on the team.

To play corner in this defense requires a certain mindset. First and foremost, you have to be physical, almost to the point where you're just trolling the opposing receiver. Browner displayed physicality in spades, regularly - I mean, really, pretty much every single game - getting in little tiffs with the opposing receivers, jawing, the occasional suplex body slam. I've been a fan of Browner since the day I found out he existed. For whatever reason, his size and speed intrigued me and I thought he might make a great corner/safety tweener that could come in on nickel situations and contribute. I did not, however, see him as the team's starting right cornerback and certainly didn't think he'd go to the Pro Bowl.

Now, there were some arguments on whether he should have even been included on that team or not and those are valid - I'm not here to dispute that at the moment but I do think that Browner excelled, considering the circumstances, at what he was asked to do, particularly as the season went on. I don't take Pro Football Focus' studies as gospel by any means, but a couple of their articles this offseason have shed some light on Browner as a player.

First off - Browner got off to a bad start. That's putting it mildy. He got off to a wretched start. In week 2, Browner had what PFF called one of the ten worst games by a cornerback in the past four seasons. He 'gave up' 10 catches for 194 yards and a touchdown, and - in a telling statistic of the game - "surrendered a catch every single time he was targeted." He couldn't keep up with Pittsburgh's speedy receivers and clearly looked rattled as the Steelers continued to pick on him throughout the duration of the game. And when I say pick on him, I mean, they essentially abandoned a balanced offense and went into the huddle and said "ok, we're just going to pass to whoever that Browner guy is guarding." Unfortunately, it worked in that game.

At that point in the season I remember people saying to me that he should be cut immediately. I wasn't particularly stoked on Browner at that time, but remained hopeful he could excel in what he really was brought in to do - match up with the big, physical receivers of the NFC West in particular, and re-route and manhandle at the line. Disrupt timing throws. Play strong on the edge against the run. Contain.

Throughout the season, he did this respectfully well. After that Pittsburgh game, he settled down and settled in, and became dependable at worst and even pretty great in some situations. The big plays over the top were cut down drastically - yes, he did surrender an over-the-top touchdown late versus the Redskins that hurt, a lot - but big plays happen and even some of the better corners get burnt from time to time. It's a really, really hard position to play.

Regardless, Browner came into his own. He began to jam at the line more effectively, he began to anticipate a little bit better. He's not going to win footraces with some of the elite receivers but again, he held his own, limited big plays, and tackled well. Which brings me to my second PFF post, this time on "Tackling Cornerbacks." According to their charting, Browner logged 1021 snaps and had 55 tackle attempts in coverage and against the run. According to their numbers, he only missed three tackles the entire year and that trio were in pass coverage. Importantly, particularly in this defense, according to that charting, Brandon Browner didn't miss a tackle in run support the entire year. That's pretty huge, actually.

On the other side, Richard Sherman came out of the gate at full-speed, taunting and trash talking from the get-go. Sometimes you loved it, sometimes you didn't. I love a good trash talker - I mean, my favorite athlete all time is probably Gary Payton - but there's a fine line between being awesome and being annoying. Taunting whilst standing over a player after making a great play in the redzone, leading to a flag and new set of downs for the opposing team is annoying. Getting in the head of opposing receivers and taking them out of their game is awesome. Sherman toed the line separating the two this year but you certainly can call me a fan. He appears to have, still, a lot of room for improvement and refinement after only a few years at the position, so his natural ability to turn his hips while running and head while the ball is in the air make him a very exciting prospect.

Sherman was the only member of the Seahawks secondary to not make the Pro Bowl this season but arguably has the greatest potential of the four, after Earl Thomas. Like Browner, he shows a lot of physicality in run support and tackling, frequently upending running backs or pass catchers. He should be a mainstay for years to come.

Past Browner and Sherman another high-potential player for the Seahawks is Walter Thurmond. Walt not only sports a sick 90's era fade, he backs it up with solid coverage and run support and lightning fast reaction times. I see Thurmond as an ideal small nickel coverage cornerback that can also move to the outside against certain teams that feature smaller receiver units. I don't know if Carroll would really do this much - he stuck with Browner in Pittsburgh even though he was getting smoked, but then again Carroll has shown the willingness to adapt his players to certain situations.

Thurmond is the antidote to the Mike Wallaces, Kyle Williamses, and DeSean Jacksons of the NFL and should have a solid place on this roster moving forward, if he can stay healthy. He was an injury risk to start, as they drafted him after he had suffered a pretty bad ACL injury at Oregon, and he's had his issues since. Hopefully in more limited snaps he can stay healthy through a season and contribute more frequently in the defense. It will be interesting to see what the Seahawks do with their pass defense next season after relying overwhelmingly on their base package in 2011.

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Thomas' "Zach Miller, John Carlson and the Value of the Chip-and-Release" piece from last week was a great precursor to this article because it did an excellent job in pointing out the value in having a player like Carlson that, while on the field with Miller, can easily disguise a run/pass play. As Beekers put it, 'these type of tight ends make it near impossible to read run or pass based on alignment, which is often too easy on the current incarnation of the Seahawks offense.'

I couldn't have agreed with the article more and Beekers' argument for re-signing or possibly franchise tagging Carlson is sound, in my mind. The gap between Carlson's skillset and that of Anthony McCoy or Cameron Morrah is a lot wider than some probably assume and with the frequency Seattle likes to run with two tight end sets, spending a little on Carlson makes sense. Having Miller and Carlson on the field together presents interesting matchup issues for opposing defenses, who have to account for both Miller and Carlson as legitimate receiving options down the field and not just someone to keep an eye on. It's why Pete Carroll has raved about using the two together, why he's talked about the plan to do so prior to Carlson's labrum issue, and why he's still talking about re-signing him.

I think we all fall victim to the 'value' idea with this front office in hopes that Cameron Morrah and/or Anthony McCoy can just as easily assume the role that Carlson would be able to fill, but unfortunately both were fairly invisible and ineffective this season, dropping passes and missing blocking assignments and my confidence in their potential has waned quite a bit. My sense is that we've sort of forgotten the talent that Carlson does possess and was showcased in his first two seasons but hasn't been apparent in the last couple years. As Carlson's value is primarily as a receiving tight end, you have to look no further than what happened with Zach Miller this year as an indication of what happens when your offensive line needs help.

Now, operating under the assumption that the line, with an offseason of work together under the tutelage of Tom Cable, may be more ready to protect the quarterback without the dedicated services of a sixth person, one could guess that the tight end group will become more involved in the passing game. I highly doubt the Seahawks spent so much money on a guy like Zach Miller in the hopes he'd be a dedicated blocking tight end. I also think Carroll was being sincere when he addressed the questions of redundancy once Miller was signed, completely refuting the "trade Carlson" rumors.

"Anybody who thinks anything otherwise doesn't get it," Carroll said. "I think those guys will play together in tandem. They'll be on opposite sides. We'll be moving them around for matchups and all kinds of stuff. I think it's a great asset for us now. We've always liked to play with two tight ends in a number of different packages, and this just gives us tremendous flexibility at a really high level, so I'm really hoping this is going to be difficult for our opponents because of the matchups we'll be able to create."

Tremendous flexibility at a really high level. Those words stick out to me. You can't say that type of thing, yet anyway, about Morrah/McCoy. It's easy to forget Carlson had 106 catches for 1,201 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first two seasons when he was actually being used as a chip and release TE and not an in-line blocker or fullback. That talent hasn't disappeared.

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It's pretty easy to analyze the Seahawks safety position when it comes to projected starting lineups - Earl Thomas is one of the best in the game and Kam Chancellor is an up-and-coming Pro Bowler this season that should only improve in the next couple of years. The starting lineup for next year's Seahawks is almost set in stone - or more so than any other position on the team I'd say - for both the free and strong safety positions. So, the natural question becomes, 'what about depth?'

An injury to either Thomas or Chancellor could be potentially crippling to the defense, though more so for ET, in my opinion, and I know that Beekers has been beating this drum a lot as well. Pete Carroll learned it the hard way in the 2010 season that lack of depth can become a serious issue after Red Bryant went down with an MCL tear and they've tried to build in more redundancy at each spot to prevent any catastrophic falloffs going forward.

Now, I'm not implying that the Seahawks are going to be able to find a depth player that can do what Earl Thomas does - simply put, Earl is on a different level than most players and really cannot be replaced - but that doesn't mean the front office isn't going to churn the hell out of that spot or potentially draft a guy or sign a free agent to provide a little insurance in the case Earl is forced to miss any time.

Thomas brings excellent range, versatility and instincts, and those skills make him a very important player in this defense. It allows some scheming with certain players and positions that otherwise might be ... ineffective. It's probably not too coincidental that Pete Carroll, a defensive minded coach that used to play free safety, drafted a guy like ET with 2nd piece of draft capital.

In the oft-quoted series from TrojanFootballAnalysis.com, Pete Carroll describes the role of this 'deep safety,' at least from his days at USC:

"The deep safety is a player that is close to my heart. That is what I played. The deep safety has to play two routes. He has to defend the seam route and the post route. That is all I ask him to play. He has to find the seam route from the number two receiver. If there are two of them then he has to get in the middle and play them both. On the post route he has to stay on top of that route. That is easy to do but it becomes harder as offenses do more of it and get better at it."

In other words - he's responsible for the middle of the field, and to take away the deep bomb.

He elaborates, "Teach your [safeties] to play the deep middle and forget about all the confusing rules. The guy who is playing in the middle of the field has to figure out who can get into the middle. We want our safety to play in the middle of the two receivers that can run the post route. He wants to split the relationship with anyone who can get down the middle."

One reason Thomas had a somewhat quiet year was that in watching many of the games on TV, Earl was often so deep you couldn't even see him on the screen. He played a big part in the Seahawks ability this year to diminish, drastically, the big-play, 20+ yard passing plays and over the top touchdown throws that dogged them in 2010, and Earl seemingly improved in his decision making and reaction time. You'll often hear players use the words:

"The game has slowed down a lot for me."

I remember hearing Earl say that one point this season and it makes sense. There's a pretty steep learning curve from the college game to the pros, for any player, and he has adapted quickly, making strides from his first season to his second, and presumably he's caught up to the speed of the NFL game.

Also, I do think they've toned down his role variance a little bit this year too, though that's just my initial reaction. He still gets involved with blitzing now and again but I think they've asked him to do what he does best more often, and that's patrol the secondary and dissuade big passing plays.

So - as of right now, who do the Seahawks turn to for depth? First, for Earl Thomas...

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This story is kind of about two things: casting forward to the Superbowl, as I'm looking for points of interest in this snoozefest of a matchup, and furthering the discussion on the receiver depth of the Seattle Seahawks.

The Patriots team is of interest because it's such a weird team, cobbled together from different concepts, and flexing in and out of them as the situation calls for. Last time they played against the Giants, the Patriots mostly played 4-3 defense, but they dominated the championship game using mostly 3-4, and I expect them to roll out mostly 3-4 again. That brings up a point on defensive designations that...uh...I'll have to come back to next week.

I bring them up here to note something that pretty much everyone knows: when they last played the Giants, the Patriots were a 3-wide, passing offense. This time, the Giants offense is much more predicated on these 3-wide passing concepts, while the Patriots play a majority of their snaps out of two tight end sets, and have a much stronger, reliable running game, led by Lawfirm. In those concepts, this Patriots offense is fairly close to what I would guess Pete envisioned when he hired Jeremy Bates to be his offensive coordinator (but only in those specific aspects). And the Patriots showed what a monster truck of an offense this can be, when you have the personnel.

As Cosell discusses in his Superbowl pick post, the NFL often boils down to a simple numbers game. With the new model of tight end becoming a bigger factor in the NFL, many of them converted basketball players, it is tempting to view them as nothing more than wide receivers under another name, but that ignores their value as both blockers and receivers. To replace a single Gronkowski, you'd need both an extra blocker (tight end or extra offensive tackle) and a receiver. This was on full display during the AFC championship, where Gronkowski would effectively take his man out and then release into his route, even if that man was Terrell Suggs. That is essentially two jobs done by one player, and that shifts the balance on the field significantly. On top of that, these type of tight ends make it near impossible to read run or pass based on alignment, which is often too easy on the current incarnation of the Seahawks offense.

The Patriots don't have to worry that much about replacing Gronk as a receiver, they have options aplenty, but without him or if he's still significantly slowed down, they'll have a hard time slowing down the Giants front four pass rush without making significant receiving option sacrifices. That's huge.

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I'm very organized by nature. I think it is why I do coffee and cigarettes every morning - I like to have everything that I want to read laid out in a neat little list that I can just go down one by one. I am extremely neat and tidy and clutter, chaos, or loose ends really stress me out. I think that's why I've been looking forward to doing this series. Let's lay out exactly what the Seahawks have at each position and then we can start talking about free agency and the draft with a more in-depth angle. Now, obviously, 99% of you already know which players are on the Seahawks, but I'm going to give you my take and then you give me yours.

First off - as a primer, here follows the initial 53-man roster from the beginning of the 2011 regular season:

Offense:

QB: Tarvaris Jackson, Charlie Whitehurst, Josh Portis
RB: Marshawn Lynch, Leon Washington, Justin Forsett
FB: Michael Robinson
WR: Sidney Rice, Mike Williams, Ben Obomanu, Golden Tate, Kris Durham, Doug Baldwin
TE: Zach Miller, Anthony McCoy, Dominique Byrd
LT: Russell Okung, Tyler Polumbus
LG: Robert Gallery, Paul McQuistan
C: Max Unger, Lemuel Jeanpierre
RG: John Moffitt
RT: James Carpenter, Breno Giacomini, Jarriel King

Defense:

DE: Chris Clemons, Raheem Brock, Dexter Davis, Red Bryant, Al Woods
DT: Alan Branch, Brandon Mebane, Clinton McDonald, Landon Cohen
LB: David Hawthorne, Leroy Hill, Aaron Curry, KJ Wright, Matt McCoy, Malcolm Smith
CB: Marcus Trufant, Walter Thurmond, Brandon Browner, Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell
S: Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Jeron Johnson, Atari Bigby

Things didn't change a whole hell of a lot from that list - Dominique Byrd was released early in the year despite showing some promise in training camp, Tyler Polumbus was a similar story, but his departure came a little later. Apart from that, the offense remained relatively stagnant, which is kind of surprising, considering the 2010 season. Remember Quinton Ganther? Anyway, players were added and released to account for injuries (we barely knew ye Eddie Williams) but by and large, the offense didn't undergo a huge makeover in-season, save for a few PUP guys that came on mid-season.

On the defensive side, a fairly similar story. Al Woods came and went and we heard probably five words about him the whole time. Same with Landon Cohen. The Aaron Curry trade was rather blockbuster, but apart from that, again, no major makeovers and the Seahawks really relied on their initial 53-man team to perform the whole season. Heath Farwell replace Matt McCoy on special teams, primarily, as did David Vobora. The Hawks went back and got Kennard Cox to specialize on gunning as well. Some guy named Philip Adams is on the team, I guess. But I don't think he played. Waiver wire pickup Chris Maragos saw some action, very briefly. That's it, I think.

Anyway, because I'm sick of talking about quarterbacks, let's start with running backs. Right now (or more technically, as of the end of the league year, which is coming up), the Seahawks have one running back on their official roster, and his name is Leon Washington. Justin Forsett is a free agent. Michael Robinson is a free agent. Marshawn Lynch, - yep - is a free agent.

The Hawks have two running backs signed to futures contracts - Tyrell Sutton and Vai Taua. Sutton is new, and seemingly replaced Jay Finley on the offseason practice squad (no word on where Finley ended up, if anywhere). Taua has been with the team the whole year, on the practice squad and for four weeks on the suspended list.

Anyway, let's break it down.

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You know what's pretty good? The Seahawk's defense. You know what isn't? Beets. Also, the Seahawks offense. I don't think it's a lost cause, however, and by this time next year, it could be a strength (a big could, I'll concede). Still, here's my three-step plan (I'm guesstimating) to solving our offensive woes:

Step One: Cut a Hole in the Box

There are a couple of big holes on this offense. The play-calling by Darrell Bevell has been lacking, in my opinion, but it's understandable. You want to be a "run-first" team, so what do you do? Well, first, you run. Second, you fall behind because you can't run. Third, you pass. Fourth, you still lose because your quarterback is average and your line is not yet performing. Fifth, you run a draw on 3rd and 16 that nets you 8 yards so you can feel a little better about the rushing statistics if nothing else. Sixth, you lose.

My radical approach? Fire Darrell Bevell and elevate Tom Cable to OC.

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Perception is a funny thing.  It can mess with you and make you believe in your heart of hearts that something which is not true, is so entirely true.  The first problem possibly being that you have multiple hearts and that those hearts have their own beating lifeforce within them.

I perceived that Howard the Duck was a good movie when I was five.

I perceived that Pauly Shore was funny when I was twelve. 

I perceived that I could get drafted into the military when I was sixteen when they make you register.

But as we get older, we realize that these thoughts were quite silly and that you're always dumber than you were yesterday.

Through five games of the 2011 season, I perceived that the Seahawks had markedly improved from anything that they did last year.  Despite the fact that we were 3-2 after five games in 2010, and 2-3 this season, it still seems pretty obvious to me that we are better.

Russell Okung missed the first three games of last season, and was limited when he returned.  Marshawn Lynch had only made his Seahawks debut in game five against Chicago.  We didn't have James Carpenter, John Moffitt, Sidney Rice, Doug Baldwin, Zach Miller or KJ Wright last season.  Earl Thomas was just a rookie and Kam Chancellor didn't start a single game.

This year the players were starting to gel, becoming more experienced, getting better, and they have been healthier.  We've got a new offensive coordinator, who couldn't possibly be worse than Jeremy Bates, and Pete Carroll and his staff are now in year two of a rebuilding process that is surely going to take the Seahawks back to the Super Bowl.

I believe in the coach, the philosophy, and John Schneider.  I like the moves we've made and I like the fact that we've managed to stay relatively healthy.  Last season sucked, and we were one of the worst teams in the league.  The offense was terrible, it was hard to watch, and the division opened a door for us that should not have been open.  This season I've been full of hope, and while I didn't think we'd make the playoffs, I at least have been under the impression that we are better.  Both on paper and statistically.

Well, you can definitely make the argument that we are better on paper and that the roster has improved, but five games into the season how much different are they statistically than the first five games of 2010? 

Here are the numbers:

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The Seahawks defense goes into 2011 with pretty much no where to go but up. They were near the League worst in nearly every category last season: 27th in yards given up per game at 368.6 and 25th in points per game at 25.4.

In pass defense they were atrocious: 25th in the league with 12 interceptions. 31st in passes given up of more than 20 yards with 60 of those plays. 26th in the League in passes of 40+ yards given up. 6th worst in the NFL in passing yards yielded per game. 3rd worst in the NFL in passing touchdowns surrendered with 31. 

In rush defense they were middling, which I'll take, but they did give up 16 runs of 20 or more yards (6th worst) and 3 of more than 40 yards. 

If you look at the less traditional stats by Football Outsiders, the Seahawks overall team defense was ranked 26th in DVOA in 2010. They have a weighted rank for each defense that is adjusted so that earlier games in the season become gradually less important, which better reflects how the team was playing at the end of the season, and the Seahawks finished dead last in the NFL in this category. Meaning, they gradually got worse, not better, as the year went along. 

Worse still, Football Outsiders projects that the Seahawks will again have the worst overall defense in the NFL in 2011. Pretty much any way you look at it, statistically speaking, the Seahawks defense pretty much... sucks. Sorry. 

The Seahawks defense is built to stop the run and get pressure on the quarterback. If you want a lot more detail on this I think you should go back and take a look at our 4-3 Under series on the Seahawks hybrid defense. In a nutshell though, you'll see them try and stop the run on first and second down, put the opponent in a 3rd and long situation, throw in their bandit package, and hope to bring good coverage and a blitz or two to stop the pass. The problem is, of course, that teams don't always run it on first and second down so you need your 'run-stuffers' to get to the quarterback too. Problem is, as Vince Verhei of Football Outsiders put it, "when you bring in that much beef (Alan Branch, Red Bryant, Brandon Mebane) on the defensive line, you're basically sacrificing the acceleration that it takes to get to the quarterback."

This means, I'm guessing, that the Seahawks are going to use a heavy rotation of different packages meant to confuse the offense and maintain the health of the guys on the d-line. I would guess we'll get a variety of looks, from a more traditional, balanced, two-rush-ends type of 4-3 to a 'pass rush set' with Landon Cohen and Clinton McDonald replacing the bigger, slower dudes on the inside. This means that we may see more of Dexter Davis as well. That's just conjecture, but considering the reliance on passing a lot of teams use, it might be smart.

The problem though, is that much of the Seahawks' investments in draft capital and in free agency during the offseason went to the offensive side, so the defense doesn't figure to improve drastically, unless the scheme changes a lot. Here's what the roster looks like:

DE: Chris Clemons, Raheem Brock, Dexter Davis, Red Bryant, Al Woods
DT: Alan Branch, Brandon Mebane, Clinton McDonald, Landon Cohen
LB: David Hawthorne, Leroy Hill, Aaron Curry, KJ Wright, Matt McCoy, Malcolm Smith
CB: Marcus Trufant, Walter Thurmond, Brandon Browner, Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell
S: Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Jeron Johnson, Atari Bigby

Roster Surprises: 

There are varying degrees of surprise and there are a few on the high end and a multitude on the low end. The biggest surprise was the release of Lofa Tatupu. The fact that he hasn't gotten a job yet speaks volumes but it was definitely sad to see him go. The trade of Kelly Jennings (after the surprising re-signing of him) was welcomed with open arms by just about everyone but was nonetheless pretty jaw-dropping (maybe just in a relieved dreamlike sense). 

Past that, it's a little surprising that Jeron Johnson made the team and 5th round pick Mark LeGree was released. Apparently a small school to the NFL jump was too much too quick, and I'm sure the shortened offseason hurt LeGree's chances. On the other hand, Johnson made the most of his short time here and should be a great player to develop over the next couple years. 

I was pretty surprised that Junior Siavii was cut - I figured that he'd be quality depth for the team but they apparently have decided to build toward the future with youth. There's a pretty good chance he'll be back though in the case of any injuries. 

Finally, the obvious surprise (but not shocking, based on his skillset) is cornerback Brandon Browner. The CFL product was quietly signed this offseason but then began to build up a fanbase on the foundation of his measurables and reputation in the CFL. A 6'4, 220 pound corner is unheard of in the NFL, but we all love an outlier. Well, he made the 53 and it looks like he's going to be starting opposite Marcus Trufant. So far so good. 

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