At this point, you have to wonder about roster spots, not just cap room.  I guess it wouldn't be so unusual for the Hawks to keep three HBs (presumably Morris, Duckett, Shaun), but that's a lot of old dudes not playing special teams.  Pearman was our third, I guess, for a while last year, but he was a ST guy.

It's hard to imagine Shaun getting many touches next year.  Then again, it was hard to imagine him getting many touches this past year, and he did. Officially, explicitly, dead weight now.

I posted this in joeshow's diary...

:(

Haha, oh well. This is about as much FA impact as I was hoping we'd have (besides resigned Trufant...)

on your call Mr. Morgan.  That's pretty damn hot!

at short yardage stuff for his entire career. I think his initial resposability will be largly focused on converting those 3rd and ones that were such a pain last year. It seems like he's taking Pearmens roster spot. This also seems like an insurance policy incase Alexander get's hurt.

I can't stress enough how unlikly it is that Alexander gets cut this year. He can be designated as a June 1rst cut now, just like Wahle was. Whenever Clayton gets asked on his radio show what the chances of Alexander getting cut or restrucuring his contract, he laughs. He has stated many times that cutting Alexander would only save 250K in the cap. You can't even sign a long snapper for that. Next year however, is an entirely different story.

With a deep OT class, this is the position most likely to have the best player available.

Why is everyone so excited about the Hawks getting a 3rd string RB? Morris has significantly better numbers over the last 2 seasons, so there's no way Duckett plays in front of MoMo. And it's pretty obvious the team isn't (and shouldn't) getting rid of SA.

So I ask, with his stats not even close to the current backup RB, why is everyone so stoked on this acquisition?

Yards Per Carry isn't a very good metric for comparing Duckett to MoMo. Duckett is typically running in short yardage situations where getting 1-2 yards is a big time success. MoMo gets most runs on 1st and 2nd down where you need around 5 yards (typically) for success.

I like this acquisition a lot because we needed a short yardage back. MoMo/Duckett/Weaver make for a very, very good backfield IMO. There is no longer any need to draft a RB in this draft unless there is a good value / special teamer available.

One thing I am wondering is, is Duckett good in pass protection? Can he lead block?

I like the idea of Duckett putting in some work at FB (if he has the skill set for it), to free Weaver for some carries/catches. We also could use the added depth at FB.

Great pickup. Never more than 200 carries for Duckett in a season, and only 655 total. I wonder what the $ is though.