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When did the Seahawks move out of Seattle? When did we die? At some point during 2011 it started to feel like Pete Carroll might be better at this "NFL thing" than we had previously thought. Then during last year, we started to see Russell Wilson do big thangs and emotions started to shift even more. The team was 6-5 and headed to Chicago to face almost certain death, but they led an amazing comeback and won in overtime.
Things just feel different since then and that feeling of "We might actually be different than we've ever been before" has carried into free agency after news that the Seahawks have now signed defensive end Michael Bennett to a 1-year, $5 million contract away from the Buccaneers. It might not be as big of news as trading for Percy Harvin or signing Cliff Avril but isn't that kind of the point?
Signing a 6'4, 271 lb defensive end that's 27-years-old and had nine sacks for Tampa Bay last year is the third biggest Seattle headline of the week. Lance Zierlein of Rotoworld called Bennett the best defensive end on the free agent market, period. It's sort of like the Jason Jones signing of a year ago, but probably better because Bennett was coming off of a career-year with production.
After beating the Bears, the Seahawks scored 150 points in their next three games and looked like a possible favorite to win it all. They were already going to carry that momentum into a likely-successful 2013 season. Now they've just addressed their biggest need on defense... twice.
Remember when our big news was signing Marcus Robertson? You would have thought we had signed Bennett, the running back.