Seattle Seahawks news, rumors, links, info, interviews, analysis, and more! Happy Sunday Twelves. Here are some links. For you to click on. And read. If you can read.
Video: Russell Okung coaches up the kids at Nike’s ‘The Opening’ event - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports: "Seattle Seahawks left tackle Russell Okung(notes) talks at the Nike Campus about his excitement in giving pointers to some of the nation's best high school offensive linemen during Nike's "The Opening" event. Okung also discusses his rookie season in Seattle, his eagerness for NFL football to resume, and his thoughts on Matt Hasselbeck."
Video: Aaron Curry coaches at Nike’s 7ON Tournament - Shutdown Corner - NFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports: "At Nike's "The Opening" event and final 7ON tournament day, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry(notes) talks about how coaching some of the best high school players in the nation has confirmed his own love of the game, reminds him of his own high school days, and put him in mind to mentor more in the future. He also discusses his offseason workout plan and what he learned in a new NFL scheme in 2010."
Ndamukong Suh, Jerry Rice, NFL stars work with top recruits - ESPN: "Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry was one of the coaches in the tournament. He was there hours before it began Friday afternoon, working with almost every position as his team prepared for the tournament, which will be televised at 9 p.m. ET Friday and Saturday on ESPNU. "That's what we're here for," Curry said. "We're here to serve, not be served. I accepted the invite so I can impact somebody's life. If I can impact one kid, then my job is done." It worked on Collins. "Seeing how all the guys have acted towards us, they have been nice and they aren't big-headed at all," the four-star prospect said. "They are professionals, and it shows me how professionals act." Curry openly wished he had the same type of tutelage when he was young. Sure, there was his older brother who played in college and his high school coach, but there weren't NFL Pro Bowlers roaming around giving tips. "It's like retracing my steps back to high school," he said. "I just think about how I would want an NFL guy to interact with me. How I would be all over them, trying to learn stuff from them. I see myself being the guy I wished I had when I was in high school.""
Okung talks Hawks, lockout, QBs at Nike's 7-on - CBSSports.com: "BEAVERTON, Ore -- Russell Okung and Ndamukong Suh spent much of the past week training the best high school football players in the country at Nike's 7-on-7 camp, "The Opening." Following a dominant performance by Okung's offensive line group, CBSSports.com caught up with him to talk about the Seahawks, the lockout, the Seattle quarterback situation, how he trained this offseason and what he did to prep the kids for this sort of exercise."
Waiting for the lockout to end | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL: "He was working as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Panama City, Fla., when he received a phone call from the Seahawks. "They told me they had been trying to find me because they wanted to sign me," Johnson said. "My mouth just dropped when I heard that. They called me at 1:30 that afternoon and I was on a plane to Seattle at 5 p.m. It was one of the greatest days of my life." Although he has had no official word from the Seahawks, Johnson feels like he has a decent chance to returning to Seattle. "I got good feedback from (coach) Pete Carroll and some of the players like (quarterback) Matt Hasselbeck when I was in Seattle," Johnson said. "Some of the guys I’ve talked to since tell me that I should be invited back, so that makes me feel good.""
Jordan Kent's new challenge | Statesman Journal | statesmanjournal.com: "Jordan Kent's words were laced with encouragement: "Keep coming toward the ball ... The catches will come ... Cut off the seam, there's the window." A three-sport athlete at the University of Oregon in football, basketball, and track and field, Kent is embarking on a new role this summer as a teacher. He is the president and CEO of Edge Combines, a football camp for high school students."
Seattle Seahawks' 2011 Free-Agency Preview | Bleacher Report | Bleacher Report: "The Seahawks should be one of the NFL ’s most active teams when free agency begins. Seattle has an array of holes across the board with 23 free agents including "restricted" players..."
Brandon Mebane or Barry Cofield: Which Top Free Agent DT is Best Fit for Broncos? - Mile High Report: "It's certainly no secret that the Denver Broncos have a gaping hole at the defensive tackle position, and assuming they are willing to spend some cash on the free agent market, they should be the top contenders for any of the big name guys out there at the position. Kaptain Kirk has already looked at most of the available free agent defensive tackles, and now it's time to start narrowing the list down for potential targets for the Broncos. As you know, two of the top targets I picked for the Broncos in Nick's recent FanPost were Barry Cofield and Brandon Mebane of the Giants and Seahawks respectively. Both players are due for large pay-days here whenever free agency begins, and the signings should happen quickly so these guys can get to an NFL camp as soon as possible. Of those two top of the line players, which is the better fit for the Broncos, if either?"
NFA Noise: Matt Hasselbeck to the Tennessee Titans a Possibility? | National Football Authority: "Prior to the lockout Hasselbeck turned down a one year offer from the Seahawks; and according to my sources, Hasselbeck wants a minimum two year deal. Now there is definitely some merit to what O'Neil is saying about Hasselbeck, but the issue that remains is whether or not the Titans are willing to sit Locker for two whole years. You must remember that the Titans shocked the world when they took Locker off the board at No. 8, and they did it because they saw something other teams did not. In today's NFL you don't draft a quarterback in the top-10 to sit on the bench—you take one there to play immediately."
ESPN's Paul Kuharsky thinks Matt Hasselbeck is Titans' first option - Blog - MyNorthwest.com: "Kuharsky said he thinks Hasselbeck tops the Titans' list of options for a veteran quarterback. "They don't want to start [rookie quarterback] Jake Locker from Day 1, although if he's the best guy in training camp they'll do it," Kuharsky said of the Titans, whose other two quarterbacks, Rusty Smith and Brett Ratliff, have a combined five years of NFL experience. "Even if Locker has a great camp and he's the starter they need a veteran presence who can offer some sort of leadership, not just to those young quarterbacks but to the entire locker room.""
Collins' retirement puts the Titans in a tough spot | National Football Post: "Maybe the Titans can scoop up Matt Hasselbeck if he doesn’t return to Seattle (a move I would put at the top of the list), or look to make a deal with Washington for Donovan McNabb. Sure, there are other possibilities such as Marc Bulger, etc. Veterans that can keep the No.1 job warm until Locker is ready to play some ball."
ESPN's Paul Kuharsky thinks Matt Hasselbeck is Titans' first option - Blog - MyNorthwest.com: "Even if the Seahawks are still able to re-sign Hasselbeck, having to compete with the Titans will likely drive up his price. "I think [the Titans' offer] would be a two-year, $15 million or two-years, $17 million," Kuharsky said. "I don't' know that they'd give him much longer than that based on their hopes for Locker." While it might seem like Seattle would have the home-team advantage in a close bidding war, Hasselbeck does have some intriguing ties to the Titans that could complicate things. The families of new offensive coordinator Chris Palmer and Hasselbeck are close. Furthermore, Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt, vice president of player personnel Ruston Webster and director of pro scouting Lake Dawson all have spent part of their careers in the Seahawks' front office."
Could Hasselbeck start in front of Locker in Tennessee? | Seattle Seahawks & NFL News - seattlepi.com: "The retirement of Tennessee Titans quarterback Kerry Collins could have ramifications for free agent Matt Hasselbeck and former Huskies quarterback Jake Locker, ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky said on the "Kevin Calabro Show" on 710 ESPN Seattle on Thursday. Kuharsky said the Titans will be reluctant to start Locker as a rookie and are now players on the extremely slim free-agent quarterback market."
Long and short of playing on turf: "The Sounders and Seattle Seahawks are currently studying the possibility of switching to a natural-grass surface at CenturyLink Field, formerly Qwest Field. Wright said Seahawks owner Paul Allen wanted a grass field installed at the stadium when it was first built but studies at the time kept telling him it wasn't feasible. "The studies kept saying you'd need to replace the field so many times, maybe three or four times in one NFL season," he said. "That's before there was even a soccer team to consider.""
NFL.com news: Latest talks accomplish little, but sides will meet again Monday: "Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in January that a deadline "has to be real" to create the anxiety needed to push parties to a new collective bargaining deal that works for everyone. And so it is. NFL players and owners wrapped up a frustrating couple of days in Manhattan with 10 hours of talks Friday that didn't produce much. In fact, three sources, including figures on each side, said there was little to no progress on the core issues the parties had hoped to break through in constructing a new labor deal this week."
NFL lockout: Judge schedules another mediation session - ESPN Chicago: "The federal magistrate judge who is mediating the labor dispute between NFL owners and players has scheduled another session for July 19 in Minneapolis. Judge Arthur J. Boylan set the meeting on Saturday but made clear that both sides were free to continue their own sessions as they work toward a new collective bargaining agreement. Little progress was made on Friday as talks continued in New York, a source told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio. Lawyers were going to work through the weekend, sources tell ESPN's Chris Mortensen, and NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith said negotiators will meet again Monday."
Sports Radio Interviews " Blog Archive " Devin Hester Not Intimidated By New Kickoff Rules: "I don’t care how far they move it back.": "On what he thinks of the new kickoff rules and how his game might affected by it: "It’s just a rule that came you know, and they’re saying that kickoffs and punt returns have increased over the years. You know, where you have a guy that may run one or two kickoff returns a whole season, and now you have guys running three or four. And you have like 8 to 10 guys in the league that are doing it. I guess what they’re saying is it’s easier than it was in the early ’90s, late ’80s. So they’re trying to, I don’t know, find a way to make it a little harder on us. But at the end of the day, if you’re built and bred to run back kicks and punts, regardless of how far they move the ball back you’re going to do it. So that’s my mentality, I don’t care how far they move it back.""
Follow @FieldGulls on Twitter | Like Field Gulls on Facebook