Seattle Seahawks news, rumors, links, info, interviews, analysis, and more! Happy Saturday, here are some things for you to read right now.
Thirty Acre Fortress - A Seahawks Blog: Strongside / Weakside: Marcus Trufant: "It’s been a couple of days filled with half-written posts (still trying to get into my groove, apologies for the re-learning process…) and technical snafus. That’s okay though, because today, I’m going to introduce a new feature on TAF: Strongside/Weakside. I think you’ll get the basics pretty quick…"
Thirty Acre Fortress - A Seahawks Blog: The Hasselbeck Conundrum: "Everyone knows that the Matt Hasselbeck question continues to hang over the franchise. The poll on the sidebar makes it very clear that fans prefer to sign Hasselbeck to a two year contract. I’ve made it pretty clear in the past that I do not favor keeping Hasselbeck, even if it means riding with Charlie Whitehurst for a season (which I think is the least likely outcome of this whole foofarah, for what its worth). Can I convince you? Probably not, but let’s give it a go before the holiday weekend…"
Joseph might be best free-agent CB option - CBSSports.com: "When discussing soon-to-be free-agent cornerbacks, the conversation usually begins with Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha. He's long been considered one of the best cover corners in the league, often mentioned in the same breath as Darrelle Revis, and earlier this decade, Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson. But Asomugha's not the only prized cornerback likely to hit the open market when the lockout is resolved. In fact, he may not even be the best. That honor could go to Cincinnati's Johnathan Joseph, who at 27, is also three years younger."
Clayton: Johnathan Joseph could fill Seahawks' need at cornerback - Blog - MyNorthwest.com: "ESPN's John Clayton thinks the Seahawks' financial flexibility could allow them to fill their need for a starting cornerback with Johnathan Joseph, who's spent the first five years of his career with the Bengals. At 27, Joseph would fit with the Seahawks' plans to get younger. At 5-11 and 190 pounds, he has the size that Pete Carroll seems to prefer in a cornerback. Clayton thinks the Seahawks could get Joseph for around $8 million a season, which makes him a much cheaper alternative to Nnamdi Asomugha."
Kent State recruits are a forgotten pipeline to the pros - Top Stories - Ohio: "The next to follow in the overlooked footsteps of Cribbs, Harrison and Gates might be Konz. He played linebacker in 2005-07, then was moved to tight end in 2008, when he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the opener. In 2009, Konz switched to H-back, catching 21 passes for 298 yards and two touchdowns, his numbers limited by a rash of injuries at quarterback.
Konz, 6-3 and 234 pounds, was not invited to the combine, but dazzled at pro day. He hit 10 feet, 8 inches in the broad jump (better than any combine tight end by 3 inches) and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.41 and 4.46 seconds. A Browns scout was reportedly one of the few there. Martin said Konz's recent workout for the Super Bowl champion Saints was just as spectacular, especially in the vertical jump."
Mailbag: Rounding up those QB options - NFC West Blog - ESPN: "Zachary from Davis, Calif., wondered why we haven't heard much about the Seattle Seahawks possibly having interest in acquiring Green Bay Packers backup Matt Flynn. Separately, NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert tempered suggestions that Seattle could be the logical landing spot for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. Five quick considerations on these and other NFC West quarterback possibilities:"
Potential second-year impact players, Part IV | National Football Post: "Tuesday’s post was supposed to be my last article on potential second-year impact players, but I have had a number of requests to talk about other players that I had not included in the first three posts. After looking at the 2010 draft list, there are still a number of players who should show great improvement in their second year."
NFL.com news: Help us celebrate America by having a go at 'America's Team': "3. Tony Romo The Cowboys have had some of the greatest names in NFL history under center. Roger Staubach. Troy Aikman. Don Meredith. Now even the backup tight end isn't sure that the current starter should be given his job without competing with a journeyman for the gig."
FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Formation Analysis: Empty Backfields: "Time to take a look at another strategy from the 2010 season: the empty backfield. How often did each team run an empty backfield, and how successful was each team?"
Twitter / @SI_JimTrotter: "@shuofa03: will the Cards ...""@shuofa03: will the Cards make a move for Kolb? And what/who will they give up?"<--yes. the name i'm hearing will surprise you. (patience)"
Inside the playbook: the NFL route tree | National Football Post: "Today, let’s take a step back from route combinations that we see on game tape and break it down in very basic terms by checking out the actual route tree. Because if you want to play receiver in this league, you have to be able to run every route in the game plan."
Should we buy into the Terrelle Pryor hype? | National Football Post: "Maybe I am missing the point here on former Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor, because I just don’t see it. Yes, I caught some of the ESPN special last night with Pryor and Jon Gruden. No question I respect the former Bucs’ coach and his opinion. I played against his teams multiple times when he was the headman in Tampa. They played physical in all three phases of the game and you can tell as an opposing player when a team is prepared for Sundays. ICON How much time will it take for Pryor to develop at the NFL level? That is what you got from Gruden’s squad. But that doesn’t mean I have to buy the Pryor hype yet becasue of what the coach said, or the QB's agent and his clients that are spinning propaganda."
Jon Gruden meets Terrelle Pryor " Seahawks Draft Blog: Check out the videos from Gruden's QB camp with Terrelle Pryor.
Colin Kaepernick is quarterback of San Francisco 49ers' future - Ann Killion - SI.com: "This isn't the way Colin Kaepernick would have drawn up the start of his NFL career: locked out of the 49ers facility, unable to contact his coach, prevented from going to work. "It's an odd situation," Kaepernick said, sitting outside a weight room at San Jose State University, where he and other 49ers have been working out on their own. But Kaepernick can roll with it. Because there's a lot about Kaepernick's football career that hasn't gone exactly the way he would have planned."
And now your NFL Lockout crap:
Courts could inject chaos into fragile NFL labor talks - NFL - CBSSports.com Football: "There have been several moments when Judge Arthur Boylan -- mediator, babysitter, peace negotiator, the antidote to saber rattling -- has stepped in to break up verbal sparring between NFL players and owners. One such moment happened during a recent negotiating session. While a source wouldn't discuss what the particular argument was about, there was a moment when voices were raised. Boylan made a gesture with his hand signaling for everyone to calm down. The tempers cooled and talks continued in a more reasonable manner, I'm told."
The owners are wrecking negotiations - CBSSports.com: "FreeStyle - The owners are wrecking negotiations"
Sources: Optimism waning, latest NFL talks trending 'backwards' - ESPN: "Optimism is waning after four consecutive days of negotiations concluded Thursday between NFL owners and players and was described as trending backwards, player sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen."
Sources: 'Bizarre' twists stifle NFL labor talks - NFL - Yahoo! Sports: "Each side believes the other has tried to manipulate the CBA negotiation process in its favor. - National Football League news"
NFL.com news: Sides make progress on revenue split with N.Y. talks on tap: "At 4 p.m. Thursday, the NFLPA conducted a conference call with its player reps and executive committee members that painted a grim picture as the labor situation made a turn for the worse. Then everything changed. As it turned out, the call, made after seven hours of negotiations at a downtown Minneapolis law firm, came less than halfway through the day's talks. And after those talks finished just before 1 a.m. CT and another set was staged on Friday morning, a different story was emerging. The owners and players still have much work to do, but major progress was made to fix the revenue split, the overriding issue in the labor battle, on Thursday night and Friday morning. One source said that if smaller pieces connected to it don't shift the numbers too much, it "might not even be a stumbling block going forward.""
NFL Lockout Meetings Become Marathon With Lengthy Negotiation Sessions - SB Nation Seattle: "The NFL lockout meetings reportedly took a step backwards on Thursday after the owners and players disagreed on how to split the revenue. Throughout the collective bargaining agreement negotiations, the NFL and NFLPA have argued over the percentages of revenue each side would take under a new deal, with the owners lobbying for a credit off the top before a split takes place. After the expense seemed to have been a thing of the past, it reared its ugly head again on Thursday."