Coffee & Cigarettes: Seahawks links for Friday

Thank goodness it's TGIF.

Making the Leap, No. 24: Rams WR Chris Givens - NFL.com
Tavon Austin might get the headlines, but the best bet to be the No. 1 receiver for the St. Louis Rams this year is Chris Givens. Around The League is driving the bandwagon!

Kitna: Size held Wilson back in QB rankings - 710sports.com
Former Seahawk Jon Kitna said Russell Wilson's No. 12 ranking on Ron Jaworski's NFL quarterbacks list stems from his small stature. - Blog 710 ESPN Seattle at 710sports.com

Countdown to Training Camp: 15 questions in 15 days — Who will win the backup quarterback job? | Seahawks Blog | Seattle Times
We’ll continue our countdown to training camp with a question that got a lot more intriguing in June — who will win the backup quarterback job? That spot appeared pretty set after the Seahawks signed Brady Quinn in April and then cut Josh Portis in May after he was arrested on suspicion of DUI. But [...]

Seattle Seahawks, what's the game? - 12th Man Rising - A Seattle Seahawks Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.
While relaxing on the Inter coastal Waterways of Hubert, North Carolina with family over Independence Day, I had a thought. It may have been induced by t

Seattle's hyped 2013 season - Seattle Seahawks blog, Russell Wilson, Training camp
NWSB Editor and Insider Chris Anderson talks about the hype surrounding Seattle's 2013 NFL season and whether or not it is merited. We are officially less than one month away from the Seattle Seahawks' first preseason game of the season against the San Diego Chargers. Set to kick off on Thursday, August 8 at 7 pm, many national media members and sports fans will shrug this off just like they do every preseason game. What will Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett add to Bruce Irvin & Chris Clemons on the D?

Seattle Seahawks Blog - Hawk Blogger: Seahawks Snap-Weighted Age
Danny Tuccitto, of FootballOutsiders.com, did a fantastic bit of research earlier this year that calculated the the most meaningful measure of roster age by factoring in the amount of snaps each player played.

49ers Camp Preview: Offensive Line
San Francisco’s respected group of offensive linemen comes into focus next in our “49ers Camp Preview” series.

49ers Camp Preview: Quarterbacks
San Francisco’s quarterbacks come into focus next in our “49ers Camp Preview” series.

Bernie: Outlook for Rams is brighter : Sports
Believe it or not, Rams rookies will report to training camp in 10 days. The offseason flew by faster than Tavon Austin.

No players selected in 2013 NFL Supplemental Draft - NFL.com
The 2013 NFL Supplemental Draft came and went Thursday with none of the six players eligible being selected, including UNLV defensive end James Boyd.

Ranking the NFL's thinnest backfields - NFL.com
David Wilson was electric as a rookie with the New York Giants, but he remains unproven with little depth behind him. Gregg Rosenthal ranks the teams with the thinnest backfields.

Ranking the training camp QB battles, from most interesting to ‘Jacksonville Jaguars’ | Shutdown Corner - Yahoo! Sports
From the blog Shutdown Corner: There are many training camp position battles that will have a much bigger effect on the outcome of the 2013 NFL season than who plays quarterback for the Oakland Raiders or Jacksonville Jaguars. Whoever wins the battle to be Seattle's … Continue reading →

Read-Option Slows Down NFL's Best Pass-Rushers | Fanspeak Washington Redskins Blog
Everyone has had their say on the read-option this offseason, but one of the more overlooked aspects is the effect it has on a pass-rusher. Mike and Kyle Shanahan have both emphasized just how much the read-option slows down pass-rushers and helps protect Robert Griffin III in the pocket. Read-option fakes lead to some of the Redskins biggest plays last year Pass-rushers are forced to wait through the mesh point of the read-option fake before they can get after the quarterback, giving Griffin that little bit extra time to go through his progressions. Here's an example of DeMarcus Ware, one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL.

Fred Smoot, whom no one likes, says no one likes Emmitt Smith | ProFootballTalk
When it comes to the modern NFL, Fred Smoot falls into roughly the same category as Marcus Vick. Sure, Smoot had a much more prolific pro football career than Mike Vick’s younger brother. Then again, anyone who ever actually suited up for an NFL game had a much more prolific pro football career than Marcus Vick.

Agent's Take: Matt Ryan and other unfinished NFL business - CBSSports.com
With training camps inching closer, former agent Joel Corry looks at the contract situations of Matt Ryan, first-round picks, Ryan Clady and other players who have unfinished business.

How to Improve the NFL Network’s Top 100
For three straight years, NFL Network has produced a list of the Top 100 Players of 20xx. Many people have criticized the results, and this summary from Bill Barnwell hits on some of the main issues. But my issue isn’t

56-Day NFL Warning: The Dez Bryant We Wanted Is the Dez Bryant We've Gotten - The Triangle Blog - Grantland
A welcome trait of the fantasy football calendar is that the most wonderful time of the year happens to overlap with that same stretch of the actual calendar. For the past two years, that’s meant my normal designation as an out-of-towner has evaporated during our league’s playoffs, and last season, it meant getting to watch with my title-game opponent in a criminally underrated sports bar/pizza place in our hometown outside Chicago.