Hass to Hass? Perhaps.

Per Ed Thompson of Scout.com, the Seahawks have signed former Saints and Bears receiver Mike Hass to a two-year deal. Terms are undisclosed at this time. NFLDraftScout.com had Hass as the 16th-ranked receiver in the country in 2006 out of Oregon State. Reports at the NCAA and NFL level indicated that Hass was one of the best-kept secrets in the college game, and a star in training camp. Primarily a practice-squad kid who the Saints took in the sixth round of te 2006 draft, Hass is a good guy, a special teams standout in college, but also a guy who couldn't seem to make a dent in Chicago's receiver corps.

One thing we know for sure -- there won't be very many better places for receiver opportunities than in the Emerald City.

Per Adam Schefter. This was about as surprising as ... well, something not very surprising. I'm off to e-mail a buddy of mine who has covered the 49ers for years with some intel. Be back with that by the end of the day.

Update by John Morgan: A few quick reactions for now. Tomorrow, I'll start a week and a half look at the Greg Knapp playbook.

• Knapp shoots for a 50+ percentage of run plays. To do that, he spreads carries between two or ideally three backs. Justin Forsett lovers could see Force seeing regular carries. I would expect Seattle to pursue a running back this offseason.
• Knapp does not run with his fullback. Justin Griffith, who followed Knapp to Oakland, has never recorded even twenty carries in his five seasons playing under Knapp. That's deceptively high, the mode for Griffith's carries per game is zero. Griffith received most of his carries substituting at running back.
• That means Leonard Weaver is either on his way out, in line to be transitioned to running back, or about to get a whole lot less valuable.

Per Chris Steuber of Scout.com. If you saw Nicks bitch-slap everyone he faced in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, this is potentially exciting news for any team with obvious need at receiver. Here's a snippet of his writeup from NFLDraftScout.com, who compares him to Jerricho Cotchery:

2008 ALL-ACC CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM (MEDIA): WR Hakeem Nicks, North Carolina (130), has been selected All-ACC Conference First Team for the 2008 college football season by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association. Nicks, a junior wide receiver from Charlotte, N.C., had the second-highest vote total (130) on offense trailing only Georgia Tech tailback Jonathan Dwyer (135). Nicks became the first 1,000-yard single-season receiver in school history, eclipsing the previous single-season record of 990 by Sam Aiken in 2002. Nicks has 60 receptions for 1,005 yards and a school-tying nine touchdown receptions in 2008. In just three season, Nicks is Carolina's all-time leading receiver with 2,623 receiving yards. Nicks was a second-team All-ACC selection in 2007. He is the first Tar Heel wide receiver to earn first-team honors since Earl Winfield in 1985. - North Carolina football

A lil' mo sumpin.

http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010509aaa.html

My Wild-Card preview is up over at FO -- Aaron Schatz will have a stat-heavier one Friday afternoon. Looking forward to Adrian Peterson vs. Philly's surprising run defense, Chad Pennington's ability to hold off the Ravens (leave the Wildcat at home, guys...), and what could be a big day for Darren Sproles.

I almost called this post “The Curious Case of Kevin Boss”, but Bess is more current. You may know him as the Dolphins’ best possession receiver down the stretch; he’s also the guy who caught a touchdown pass against the Baltimore Ravens (no mean feat) in Week 7 on a cute little combo route. He might very well do it again this weekend. Bess finished the regular season 49^th in DYAR, which isn’t bad for a rookie in an offense that features tight ends as well as any in the league – Bess’ DYAR is the highest among ‘Fins receivers. (Conversely, Koren Robinson led the Seahawks in DYAR at 68^th; he was the only starter above league average). Bess came on strong late, catching 54 passes total and enjoying the second most prolific undrafted rookie season in catches in NFL history (Wayne Chrebet topped him with 66 catches in 1995). He’s a smallish guy who isn’t afraid to go inside.

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The final Inside the Numbers this season will be up soon at Danny O'Neil's Seattle Times blog. It's worth mentioning again that Danny's one of the good guys. Anyhoo, here's an excerpt that begins to explain the Arizona Cardinals' Month of Suck: 

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Per Farnsworth, beating out Jason Jones, Ed Reed, Leon Hall, and Jason Taylor. Wilson's performance against the Jets was a great bright spot in a tough season peppered with legit concerns about Seattle's secondary.

"I see you, Maryland!"

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It's official per Clare -- Seattle's entire projected starting offensive line for the 2008 season is now on Injured reserve. Safety Jamar Adams, who has no doubt been practicing his gritty, gutty whiffs and pile-ons all season in hopes of a shot at the big time, has been promoted from the practice squad.

I wrote a piece on Adams elsewhere in late April which I can't link because it's premium, but I've pasted the article in after the jump.

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Seahawks-Jets Inside the Numbers is now up on Danny O'Neil's Seattle Times blog. Thanks as always to Danny for his ability to embrace new ideas and his generosity in letting an unaccredited geek take over his blog once a week. He's one of the good people.

Styles make fights, or so they say in the boxing trade. Joe Frazier would see your razzle-dazzle, Mr. Ali, and stand flat-footed, waiting for you in the middle of the ring with a fist of cement. Ali knew when to ride the rope and let a physically dominant opponent like George Foreman swing himself into exhaustion and vulnerability. Styles also make sports. In baseball, Randy Johnson’s 98-MPH heater versus Mark McGwire’s Kingdome triple-decker is a moment I’ll never forget. In football, aficionados love the marquee matchups – that rush end with the blur of a first step versus the left tackle with the FBI-registered handpunch.  Can Nnamdi Asomugha cover Randy Moss? Will Michael Turner shake Barrett Ruud?

I’ve been writing a weekly game-tape (or DVD and DVR) analysis column called Cover-3 for Football Outsiders all season, and one of the most interesting matchups I’ve covered was the Week 13 game between the Colts and Browns. Indianapolis won a tight 10-6 game, but I was focused on the middle of the action when the Colts had the ball. Center Jeff Saturday was out with a strained calf, which affected the offense for two reasons. First, Saturday is as smart and experienced as any lineman in the NFL when it comes to line calls, that subtle science of reading defenses and calling protections. Second, the Browns had nose tackle Shaun Rogers, a one-man wrecking crew, in the center of their 3-4 defense. Replacing Saturday was rookie Jamey Richard, a seventh-round pick out of Buffalo. Richard had some draft experts calling him a sleeper, but the expectation was that Rogers would take the kid to school (and possibly put him to sleep!)

Didn’t happen. Sure, Rogers got through on his share of plays (especially at the goal line), but Richard held the point impressively by using his quickness after the snap to counter Rogers’ ridiculous first-three-steps speed. Richard also displayed great power in standing Rogers up at times. He was vulnerable to Rogers’ ability to peel off either side of center in a straight three-man front, but every center Rogers has faced this year has fallen victim to this. A selection of chips and double-teams by Indy’s guards helped a great deal.

The point of this ad hoc scouting report? Well, the Seahawks are going up against the New York Jets this week, and not one of Seattle’s starting offensive linemen were starting in Week 1. Replacing Walter Jones and Sean Locklear at left tackle is Kyle Williams, a second-year undrafted free agent from USC. Why an untried player at the line’s most important position? The team feels that switching around the rest of the line to put anyone else there will upset the continuity, which strikes me as odd for two reasons: First, Seattle’s line HAS no continuity; it’s basically a M*A*S*H* episode at this point. Second, this might wind up backfiring like Green Bay’s "Hey, let’s put Charles Woodson at safety  and have Tramon Williams man up on #2 receivers" strategy did. Sometimes, you put your best guys where your best guys need to be.

The Jets counter with a line fortified by Kris Jenkins, who, like Rogers, is one of several dominant AFC nose tackles. Jenkins has been slowed by a hip injury, and the Jets gave up 187 rushing yards against the Bills last week – a very uncharacteristic total for a defense that Jenkins has transformed into a run-stopping wall. Could Jenkins’ limited ability give center Steve Vallos a shot at playing Jamey Richard this Sunday?

 

At Football Outsiders, we all have our teams. Aaron Schatz is a Pats fan from way back, while Mike Tanier is partial to the Iggles. Bill Barnwell bleeds Giants blue, while the West Coast contingent of Vince Verhei, Ben Riley, and yours truly have that Seahawks thing going on. Sean McCormick, a Brooklyn high school teacher (he’s one of two teachers on the staff; Tanier had high school senior Joe Flacco in one of his classes), is our Jets fan. Sean contributes to FO via detailed weekly breakdowns of his team’s adventures in Audibles at the Line, and his fine work in Pro Football Prospectus. I asked Sean seven questions about his J-E-T-S as a game preview of sorts, and the quality of his answers didn’t surprise me at all.

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