Seattle Seahawks news, rumors, links, info, interviews, analysis, and more! Hope you're all enjoying the nice weather, but if not, here are some links for you to peruse.
ProFootballWeekly.com - Report: No 'Hard Knocks' this preseason: HBO's 'Hard Knocks' will be taking a season off, Sports Illustrated's Peter King reported Saturday evening. The reality show follows an NFL team during training camp and the preseason. It began in 2001 with the Ravens and has had a total of six seasons after not being on air from 2003 to 2006.
Seahawks Blog | Take 2: Seahawks rookie Mark Legree is ready to go to work — on the football field | Seattle Times Newspaper: The job ended Thursday. When Mark Legree's career begins will depend on the resolution to the NFL lockout, which gives him a lot in common with the rest of the country: He's waiting for football. The league's players are currently considering a proposal the league's owners ratified on Thursday, both sides nearing a resolution to what has been the strangest of NFL offseasons. Legree knows that as well as anyone. He is a safety from Appalachian State chosen by Seattle in the fifth round of April's draft. He just turned 22 years old and is about to live the dream of playing a game he loves professionally.
Reactions and top moments from the inaugural The Extra Yard - 55 Yard Line - CFL Blog - Yahoo! Sports: TSN's The Extra Yard documentary series kicked off Sunday with the first episode, looking at training camp and the pre-season games. From this perspective, it was a great look behind the scenes at what goes on during the CFL's training camps. It got plenty of positive reactions on Twitter, too; you can see some of those in the picture at right below (a screenshot of this Storify page, which you can check out if you'd prefer an interactive version). My choices for the top five moments from the first episode are below the jump.
Players must take all time they need to make sure deal's right - NFL - CBSSports.com Football: Don't tell me there isn't precedent for what NFL owners did Thursday, because there is. In fact, the last time the two sides couldn't reach an agreement on a new CBA, a similar squeeze play was pulled. And it was then-NFLPA executive director Gene Upshaw who pulled it. That was 2006, when a frustrated and impatient Upshaw presented owners a take-it-or-leave-it offer before flying off to meetings with his executive board in Hawaii. Owners were given two days to ratify the offer after Upshaw and then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue agreed there would be no further negotiations, and, after much debate, they signed off on a long-term deal.
Free Agency 2011 - The Matt Roth Sweepstakes | ProFootballFocus.com: The Low Down . Who is Matt Roth? I can’t answer with intimate details but I can tell you a bit about the football player. . ● Had a very productive 2008 that went under the radar opposite the big sack numbers Joey Porter put up. ● Lost his spot as a Dolphin in 2009, went to Cleveland and played so well Eric Mangini decreed him the best player on the roster. ● Started 2010 in blistering, relentless form before tailing off a bit towards the end of the year. . Essentially, Matt Roth is a proven performer. He can play the run, and he makes life real tough for a quarterback. He may never lead the league in sacks, but he will help the coverage guys behind him by generating a lot of pressures. There should be a significant market for his services and I’ll look at five teams that should be interested and assess the fit, in this, the Matt Roth Sweepstakes. . Counting down to number one:
The NFL's Oklahoma land rush is coming | National Football Post: And then comes the Oklahoma land rush—football's version of speed dating. Don't confuse these next two weeks with the time free agency meant a leisurely series of visits by players to multiple franchises and cities to patiently compare offers and strengths. Where is Monty Hall now that we need him? Over four hundred veteran free agents have been sitting on pins and needles waiting to see where they will play this year.
NFL.com news: Owners, players agree on four points that will change game: Game-day rosters now at 46 Teams no longer must designate their No. 3 quarterback as the "emergency" QB. This might be the best news of the year for running quarterbacks like Vince Young and coaches who can figure out ways to use them in spot situations. In the past, teams had to designate which quarterback was the backup and stash the No. 3 signal-caller on the inactive list, with the only chance of him playing coming if one of the other two were injured. Now, with both quarterbacks free, coaches can play guessing games. Athletic backups can enter the game to run the ball or for run-pass option situations to confuse defenses. Teams also could use them at other positions (Joe Webb at wide receiver from time to time?). This seemingly subtle change could make for a lot more excitement come game day.
NFL.com news: Teams would be better off avoiding some free agents: Tommie Harris, defensive tackle The memory of a young Harris wreaking havoc will prompt several teams to consider adding the former Pro Bowler. However, those teams must see declining production and a growing list of injuries. He's a shell of his former self, with just 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks last season. Although there's a chance he can become serviceable as a rotational player, a team signing Harris should temper its expectations.
NFL.com news: Fitzgerald: 'No truth' to reports I'm helping Cardinals find QB: Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who's entering the final year of his contract, disputes claims that the team is so desperate to keep him happy that he's advising coach Ken Whisenhunt and general manager Rod Graves in their search for a new quarterback. "There's no truth to that at all," Fitzgerald said Friday via text to The Arizona Republic. "I have no criteria. The two sides haven't even sat down and talked. I have not talked to any coach on staff for six months. I'm like everybody else scrambling to make this season a success.
Bengals playing hardball on Palmer? " Seahawks Draft Blog: Today I received the first indications that Cincinnati may be playing hard to get over Carson Palmer.
FanFeedr | NFL | 22 Jul 11 | Echoing concerns of Matt Hasselbeck speculation: Don't look now, but Matt Hasselbeck may be on the outs in Seattle. That stands in contrast to the reports two months ago that Hasselbeck's return to the Seahawks was as likely as it ever had been. That report stood...
Titans will have to cut Vince Young in a hurry - CBSSports.com: Jeff Fisher might think that Vince Young can learn from his mistakes, but we all agree that if Young gets that opportunity it will be somewhere other than Tennessee. New Titans coach Mike Munchak made that clear in April and nothing's changed in the three month's since.
Under new CBA, rookies won’t have much of a reason to hold out | ProFootballTalk: With the good news (that said, we’re not yet prepared to make like the Sweathogs, like Schefty did) that the NFLPA* Executive Committee will meet Monday to recommend ratification of the deal previously adopted by the league, it’s time to keep looking at some of the new realities to which the two sides had agreed before the NFL agreed with itself that a deal was done, even though it wasn’t.
NFL.com news: Appeasing fans, standard of play are concerns as lockout drags: As lawyers for NFL players and owners spend the weekend trying to put the four-month-old lockout to rest, many fans wonder when professional football will return. And when it does, just how ragged will the preseason look? So ragged that the league and its 32 teams are considering ways to placate fans once a labor agreement is completed.
NFL.com news: NFL owners, players make significant progress in labor talks: There appears to be light at the end of the tunnel again. After a roller-coaster week, NFL owners and players made big progress toward a labor settlement Saturday, according to sources on both sides. Among the areas covered were the opt-out language, workers' compensation, injury protection clauses and the process to finish a collective bargaining agreement with post-recertification issues (benefits, drugs, discipline) if the NFL Players Association reformed as a union.