Who will in the 2019 “Kasen Williams Award” for the Seahawks?

I posed a question on Twitter on Sunday regarding which player would end up as a preseason fan favorite who gets released. I originally called it the Troymaine Pope Award, but Kasen Williams was even more recent. Without a doubt, there will be a player who excels during training camp and preseason and he will unfortunately be at a position with apparently too much depth already.

This has happened to Pope. This has happened to Kasen. In both cases, fans threw daggers in the direction of Pete Carroll and friends for their idiot mistake and obviously the reasonable responses were what were ultimately rewarded. Neither Pope or Kasen have made a significant mark in the league as of yet.

Though time remains and we root for them nonetheless. Especially since Pope keeps coming back to the Seahawks.

Most answers have been in the form of “wide receiver” which does make sense and not just because Kasen is a wide receiver. The problem at receiver is that it is an exciting position, it’s where points are often made, and there are too many good ones. Even the sixth wide receiver on a team is an exceptional athlete at any level, and many free agents beyond them can attest to the same.

In a preseason situation, with non-pro players facing off against non-pro players by the second half, it can be easy for fans to see exciting plays and assume this is what would happen with regularity in a regular season game. But you’re not watching them face off against the cornerbacks they’d be facing off against in a real game. And you’re not getting the same coaching on either side either. They’re not calling real games. They’re testing plays and players. Can Kasen Williams make an extraordinary catch? Of course he can. So can most professional wide receivers and that’s why they’re the one percent of the one percent.

If you wanna be Doug Baldwin you have to be in the one percent of the one percent of the one percent. And that’s where fans hope to find Terry Wright.

Less often will you see a player at another position breakout and not make the team. At least, that’s something I think, not something I’ve researched. I can’t imagine a young, cheap cornerback playing well and getting cut. We’d never see any offensive lineman show some competence and have Seattle release him. I mean, I guess something was amiss in the Mark Glowinski situation but he wasn’t playing well. But at running back and receiver there are usually just too many choices.

The Seahawks need help at receiver following the loss of Baldwin, but they might not choose to go with potential over experience. That bodes well for Jaron Brown and less so for Jazz Ferguson. They might also be focusing on different strengths, such as blocking over speed, or special teams acumen over size. The functional over the flashy.

I’ll leave the poll to you.