Seahawks Saturday: The Field Gulls Week in Review

Hello Field Gulls!  My name is Alistair, I’m a long time Seahawks fan and an avid reader of Field Gulls for many years.  I’ll be writing a new weekly post reviewing the week’s happening’s for you, the reader!  I’m excited to start contributing to a terrific community of Hawks fans, and I hope you enjoy what I bring to the table here!  But enough about me, onto the news!

Home Cookin’

Another week of great content here at Field Gulls, let’s look at some highlights!

Evan Hill gets into the Seahawks salary cap situation and how much money general manager John Schneider has to play with.  You can find that article here.

Over at the mothership, SBNation.com, Danny explains what the NFL’s new chop block rule really means, giving fans a primer on the NFL’s latest player-safety step.  You can find that here.

Meanwhile, fresh off the news of a five-year contract extension for Saints coach Sean Payton, Kenny talks about what ‘secure’ head coaches would have to do to get fired.  That can be found at Sports On Earth, right here!

And, lastly, another great week of podcasting from the Field Gulls unit.  This week’s 3000 NFL Mock Draft features some Twitter questions as well as Kenny and Rob going over Rob’s seven-round Seahawks mock draft.  Over at Real in the Field (Gulls), Danny, Kenny and many others (no others this week) talk free agency, Danny brings some serious long snapper heat, and Kenny talks about the United States trade deficit with China?

Seahawks Stuff

Not to step on the toes of the aforementioned long snapper heat, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Seahawks signed Drew Ferris, who spent some time in camp with the Jets last summer.  To make room, they released Andrew East, who had signed a future contract with the team in January.

Nothing too noteworthy to report from the coach’s breakfast at the annual owners meeting this past week, but Pete Carroll did mention that they hope to have Jimmy Graham back for week one, while Thomas Rawls should be "fully recovered and ready to go" for the regular season.

In between bites of what I assume are pancakes completely lathered in syrup, Carroll also spoke highly of both tackle Garry Gilliam and guard Mark Glowinski, echoing John Schneider’s comments from the previous day that as of now, Gilliam is very much in the left tackle competition.

The Wild Week of the NFC West

The Arizona Cardinals lost a member of their secondary on Friday when safety Rashad Johnson signed a contract with the Tennessee Titans.  Johnson, who picked off five passes and started fourteen games last year, had already been replaced on the roster by Tyvon Branch, who the Cards signed earlier this month.

Sticking in the desert, NFL Films and the Cardinals announced on Monday that the Cards will be the subject of a new show All or Nothing, which follows them from Carson Palmer’s ACL injury last season to there lose to Carolina this January.  If Hard Knocks is any indication, this is something to look forward to!

Speaking of Hard Knocks, it was also announced this week that the Los Angeles Rams will star in this year’s edition of the hit show, bringing rejoice and excitement to nose moustache enthusiasts everywhere.  Reasons to be excited for the Rams in the spotlight?  A closer look at a couple of budding stars, Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley.  Reasons to be disappointed?  Jeff Fisher, the inevitable complete avoidance of Gregg Williams by the cameras, and the currently uninspiring quarterback situation.  Really wishin’ Chris Long had stuck around one more year with the Rams for this one.

49ers defensive tackle Ian Williams initially signed a five-year, 27.5 million dollar contract to stay in San Francisco, but news came in on Monday that it has now been cut down to a one-year deal worth up to six million dollars due to concerns over his medical with the team.

Still in the Bay Area, 49ers G.M. Trent Baalke said Friday that a deal to bring back wide receiver Anquan Boldin would be "later than sooner", as the draft quickly approaches.

Crappy Quarterback Corner

Chip Kelly spoke with CSN Bay Area this week, reiterating that the quarterback spot is very much a competition, adding that he was ‘impressed’ by the ‘intriguing’ Blaine Gabbert. Huh.

Ian Rapoport reported Thursday that both the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets are out on a trade for 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.  While just a few weeks ago it seemed as though he was out the door, it’s becoming increasingly likely Kaepernick is a 49er when the season rolls around.

Monday morning brought some classic hilarity from the Rams, when both general manager Les Snead and coach Jeff Fisher stated Case Keenum will enter OTA’s as starter, with Nick Foles given a chance to compete.  This could all change come April 28^th, but as of now it looks like the Rams will remain in quarterback purgatory for another season.

Robert Griffin III, who some believed would end up a part of that murderer’s row of quarterbacks in Los Angeles, signed a two-year contract with the Browns this week worth up to twenty-two million dollars(!).  Griffin, speaking on the subject of the Browns drafting a quarterback in this month’s draft, said he would take the drafted quarterback "under his wing", which is equal parts comical and interesting.

With the signing of Griffin, Ian Rapoport reported that veteran quarterback Josh McCown is now on the trade block.  McCown, who is a saucy 2-17 in his last two seasons, would likely be available for a conditional late round pick.

First-year Buccaneers head coach admitted Thursday that a trade involving Mike Glennon is a possibility, with the former third round pick entering the final year of his rookie deal.

Lastly, Bengals owner Mike Brown wouldn’t rule out trading third year quarterback AJ McCarron if the right offer came along.  McCarron would more likely be a trade option next offseason when he’s entering the final year of his deal, with the Bengals still controlling him for two years at a cheap price during a championship window a trade wouldn’t make much sense.

Skills Positions, by Definition Alone

The Philadelphia Eagles replaced Miles Austin on Wednesday, signing former Giant Rueben Randle to a one-year deal.  While the deal guarantees Randle five-hundred thousand, Randle is still a big question mark to make the team coming off several poor seasons in New York.

Detroit continued to try to replace the retired Calvin Johnson, signing former Jet Jeremy Kerley to a one-year contract.  Kerley looked to have carved out a good role in the slot for New York until this past season, when he was unable to get on the field in Chan Gailey’s offense.

Former Atlanta Falcon Leonard Hankerson resigned with the Buffalo Bills this week, after ending last season on their roster.  Hankerson got off to a decent start in Atlanta last year but was unable to regain that momentum after missing several weeks due to injury.

Tom Brady gained another weapon on Thursday, as New England signed former Texan Nate Washington to a contract.  Washington will probably be an upgrade over the departed Brandon LaFell, who couldn’t make an impact this season after starting the year on the PUP.

Alfred Morris has a new home, as he signed a two-year deal worth up to 5.5 million dollars with the Dallas Cowboys.  Morris, after finishing second in rushing in his rookie year, has faced a steady decline in every season since.  That being said, he’ll certainly be an upgrade behind Darren McFadden and is more then capable of hitting one thousand yards in Dallas’ offense.

The Rest

Cornerback Patrick Robinson signed with the Colts on Wednesday, signing a three-year deal in Indianapolis.  A sensible signing from a team that signed their free agents based off of Madden ’09 last offseason.

Former Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn added another piece to his defense on Friday, signing former Raven Courtney Upshaw. Upshaw, a poor fit in Baltimore’s 3-4 defense, should do a solid job for Quinn playing to his strengths on the line of scrimmage, rather than in space.

It wasn’t all partying for the privileged in Boca Raton this week, as seven rules got passed for the 2016 NFL season.  A quick, vague run down; PAT’s are permanently moved back to the 15-yard line, coaches up in the booth will now be authorized to speak directly to the player using the coach-to-player communication, the horse collar penalty has been expanded, it’s now a foul to call a timeout if you don’t have one remaining, the five-yard penalty for receivers out of bounds illegally touching a pass has been eliminated, now making it a lose of down, and, finally, eliminated multiple spots of enforcement for a double foul after a change of possession.

Recommendation Station

I can’t recommend enough the Aaron Rodgers interview on Pete Holmes’ podcast You Made It Weird.  There’s very little football talk but Rodgers goes in depth on aliens, religion, history and more, all but affirming that he is in fact the coolest man in the NFL.

My album of choice while writing this today was Red Fang’s Murder the Moutains, and it rocks.

Lastly, a terrific football book I finished up this week was Ron Jaworski’s The Games that Changed the Game.  It’s an awesome read for those interested in the history of some of football’s more impactful game plans and schemes.

Wrap It Up, Guy

As you can see, it’s March 26^th and I’ll be damned there’s still a boat-load of news to talk about!  With that in mind, I hope you enjoyed the whirlwind tour of the last seven days in the NFL, and I look forward to talking to you again next week, Go Hawks!