Hat tip to B.B.Finnegan for linking this. Often times a Field Gulls member's fanpost coincides with me finding the news for myself, but not this time. The Seattle Seahawks signing Ricky Foley is news to me. I had never heard of the guy.
Let's talk about expectations. What does Foley bring other than a lot of extraneous u's? He was a CFL rookie at 24 and served as a situational pass rusher his first three seasons with the BC Lions. That is not promising. Foley will be a 28 year old NFL rookie. He is 6'2", 245 according to Wikipedia. So he's 3-4 outside linebacker sized and outside linebacker would seemingly be his best fit in the NFL. Seattle already has this player and his name is Nick Reed and he is glorious. Foley is a bit quicker than Reed and might be able to contribute more on special teams, and barring something legendary in the preseason, special teams is likely how Foley will earn a roster spot. And by legendary, I mean legendary. It would be typical for Foley to play well in the preseason, polished pass rushers typically do, but it wouldn't tell us much about how he will stand up against NFL competition.
I can't tell you much more about the guy. Maybe one of our resident CFL aficionados can. A highlight package appears below. I can tell you that this move confuses me. Seattle does not need an undersized pass rusher without a position. Even if Seattle were entertaining a 3-4, it has no shortage of pass rushing linebackers. Moves like this always worry me a bit, not because there's anything wrong with signing a free agent, but because signing a free agent like Foley doesn't make much sense and makes me wonder what exactly the front office is thinking.
Seattle also signed two long snappers, Patrick MacDonald and Matt Overton. Seattle had its long snapper situation solved until Kevin Houser suffered a collapsed lung. The Seahawks now have four long snappers under contract, including soon to be 40 year old Jeff Robinson. All I can say to MacDonald and Overton is: Buy life insurance.