Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Wednesday

Here you go.

Cap restrictions, draft philosophy make grading free agency tough - NFL - CBSSports.com News, Rumors, Scores, Stats, Fantasy
Seattle Seahawks They are going for it in 2013. They had pass-rush issues, so they signed ends Cliff Avril (Lions) and Michael Bennett (Seahawks). And they gave them small deals, which helps. Their offseason also includes trading for Percy Harvin, but that grade isn't included here. Grade: B+

The Life of an NFL Agent During Free Agency | Bleacher Report
The life of an NFL agent can be exciting at times, but this lifestyle can be stressful at times as well. Free agency is definitely one of the "freak-out" times. I do not run a big agency like CAA or Priority Sports...

Bob McGinn - Rating the 2013 NFL free agents
The Journal Sentinel's Bob McGinn rates the best players among the 400-plus unrestricted free agents, the 90 or so players who have been cut since Feb. 4 and the 62 potential restricted and exclusive-rights free agents who were not tendered. The signing period began at 3p.m. March 12. The six players designated as franchise players weren't considered.

Vance Walker speaks to media - Silver And Black Pride
Which other teams besides the Raiders were talking to you? I was talking to a couple Seattle, Giants, Philly, and a couple other teams but I felt like they had lesser interest.

NFL passes two new rules concerning player safety - NFL.com
Teams will no longer be allowed to have more than six players on either side of the snapper at the snap of a point after or field goal attempt. This "overloading" one side strategy was deemed to be unsafe and unnecessary. You can no longer hit a O-lineman low and the snapper is now considered a defenseless player. This was a fairly simple fix. A slightly more complicated rule passed Tuesday banning peel back blocks, making those low-blocks illegal even if they occur in the tackle box. This will likely be known as "The Brian Cushing rule" after the Houston Texans linebacker suffered a serious injury on a peel back block in 2012.

Carroll, Harbaugh hanging out like old pals - NFC West Blog - ESPN
"Just talking football," was how Harbaugh explained their conversation Tuesday.

Seahawks.com Blog | Seahawks will face best and worst of opponents in 2013
The ESPN.com Power Rankings are out, and the Seahawks are ranked No. 1. But what about the teams the Seahawks will face during the 2013 season? The league won’t release the schedule until next month, but the Seahawks already know which teams they’re playing. And they have road games against four of the other teams ranked among ESPN.com’s Top 10 – the No. 2-ranked 49ers, away and home; the No. 4-ranked Falcons in Atlanta; the No. 7-ranked Texans in Houston; and the No. 9-ranked Colts in Indianapolis.

Robert Woods is extremely underrated " Seahawks Draft Blog
This piece was partly inspired by a reader comment on Sunday. ‘Bobk333′ wrote in the Gavin Escobar article that he considered Robert Woods the most underrated player in the draft, stating:

I think I might have found our late round read option backup " Seahawks Draft Blog
Last night I was watching game compilations on some of this draft’s top corners, more out of curiosity than of any kind of Seahawks relevance. I started up a game compilation of Xavier Rhodes- a probable top 20 pick- against the University of Southern Florida. I was only about 3 plays in though before the opposing quarterback caught my attention and started to steal the show. A quarterback by the name of BJ Daniels.

Don’t snicker at those extra seventh-round picks
When the NFL handed out compensatory draft choices on Monday, the Seahawks were awarded a pair of seventh-round selections. And the club has been able to find players with these late picks in the past.

Seahawks now a destination for players - Blog - MyNorthwest.com
We may be several months away from the start of the NFL season, but there's plenty to be happy about for Seattle Seahawks fans -- especially since the team is sitting atop ESPN's pre-draft Power Rankings.

Walter Thurmond: Seattle Seahawks cornerback will break out in 2013
The Seattle Seahawks have had three-fourths of their defensive backs appear in the Pro Bowl at least once in the past two seasons. Free safety Earl Thomas, strong safety Kam Chancellor, and cornerback Brandon Browner have each played in the game, while potentially the best of the bunch, Richard Sherman, had to "settle" for merely joining Thomas as an All Pro in 2012.

Mike Tomlin downplays concerns about 2013 Steeelers - NFL.com
"I think it's the flavor of the day. We will see if it's the flavor of the year," Tomlin said. "See if guys are committed to getting their guys hit."

Instant Debate: Which free agent helped himself most? - NFL.com
With many of the big names signed in free agency, the NFL.com fantasy staff debates which of those players helped their fantasy value the most by finding a new team.

Indiana’s Adam Replogle states his case in front of scouts - NFL.com
Adam Replogle, DT (6-foot-2 3/8, 299 pounds) — Replogle ran the 40-yard dash in 5.09 and 5.08 seconds. He had a 31 1/2-inch vertical jump and an 8-foot-10 broad jump. He timed at 4.71 seconds in the short shuttle and 7.62 seconds in the three-cone drill. He also had 38 lifts of 225 pounds on bench press. Replogle could be an end-of-the-draft selection or rookie free-agent pickup following the 2013 NFL Draft.

Cornerback D.J. Hayden excels at Houston’s Pro Day months after near-fatal heart injury | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
Draft prospects have their scouting combine tests interrupted or cancelled by injury all the time -- that's just an unfortunate fact of life. But we can't remember any precedent for what happened to Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden during the 2012 season, and it makes his performance at Houston's Pro Day on Monday all the more remarkable. Per the school's official website, Hayden burned a 4.33 40-yard dash on his first attempt, and pulled up with a slight hamstring tweak on his second attempt.

NFL free agency brings about different approaches from different teams - NFL - Peter King - SI.com
John Schneider: Letting the market come to him. "We never say, 'We're not going to do this.' "

Draft Rumblings - Risers & Fallers Around The NFL | National Football Post
As we get close to the end of Pro Days and await the beginning of team’s final draft meetings, we are hearing a lot of rumors on the road. While there are a lot of stories floating around about different players, what we find most interesting are which players are moving up and down draft boards across the league. Below is a look at some players whose draft stock has been on the move.

2013 NFL Draft: FSU's E.J. Manuel draws split opinions - CBSSports
In the second installment of a five-part series on polarizing prospects, Dane Brugler and Rob Rang take a look at Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel. In the first edition, they debated Oregon pass rusher Dion Jordan.

How can teams best take advantage of the rookie salary cap?
The new NFL collective bargaining agreement that ended the 2011 lockout instituted some pretty big changes to the salary cap. When it comes to roster management, here are three ways the post-2011 NFL differs from how things were under the old CBA: Rookies are now super cheap relative to their production, especially high first-round players (relative to their old cost) Rookie contracts can not be renegotiated until three years after the player is drafted. Over a four-year period, each team must spend 89% of the cap dollars available to them, and the league must spend 99% of the cap dollars available to the 32 teams.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | Best and Worst Run Stop Rates 2012
It's time to start the usual offseason series presenting various 2012 stats from the multitude of Football Outsiders spreadsheets. Today, let's look at Stop Rate for running plays.

NFL bans low blocks from behind | ProFootballTalk
Defensive players are now protected from being blocked in the knees from behind, after owners voted to change the league’s rules today.

Some coaches are skeptical of ban on lowering the helmet | ProFootballTalk
Although NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s Competition Committee want the owners to vote at this week’s meeting to penalize running backs who lower their helmets into oncoming tacklers, the proponents of the rule are meeting some resistance from coaches.

Florida State Pro Day: News, Notes, and Results from the Seminoles Pro Day
In one of the more important Pro Days of the week for NFL scouts to attend, the Florida State program held there’s, despite the rainy conditions.

FSU Pro Day: Defensive stars, Manuel perform for 30 teams - CBSSports
ALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Riding the momentum of a strong combine and an MVP performance in the Senior Bowl, quarterback E.J. Manuel celebrated his 23rd birthday by throwing in front of NFL scouts and assistant coaches on Tuesday at Florida State's annual Pro Day.

FSU Pro Day: Defensive stars, Manuel perform for 30 teams - CBSSports
ALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Riding the momentum of a strong combine and an MVP performance in the Senior Bowl, quarterback E.J. Manuel celebrated his 23rd birthday by throwing in front of NFL scouts and assistant coaches on Tuesday at Florida State's annual Pro Day.

2013 NFL Draft: Marrone won't let needs, heart steer Bills' QB decision - CBSSports
The Buffalo Bills have two quarterbacks under contract, and no one strongly believes Tarvaris Jackson or Aaron Corp will be taking the first snap of the Doug Marrone era in Week 1 come September.