Posted by DHarp75 on August 10, 2010 under PartyHawks Central | 
LB Tyjuan Haglar has started 17 of 37 games; he's a promising athlete who hasn't been able to stay healthy.
If
Tyjuan Hagler can manage to stay healthy, the Seahawks might have found themselves a little steal on Tuesday.
If that sounds like a familiar phrase, it is. The Seahawks have accumulated a plethora of flamout draft picks, injury-plagued veterans and other bodies left for dead by the NFL’s other 31 teams. Hagler is an interesting flier because he spent the past five years on a solid defensive in Indianapolis. In fact, he won a starting job out of training camp on the strong side last year, only to suffer an elbow injury.
The Colts decided they’d had enough of not seeing the former fifth-round pick stay on the field, and didn’t re-sign him this offseason. But with Aaron Curry just returning from a concussion and Leroy Hill’s ever-tenuous status with the team, bringing in some veteran depth was a good idea.
Scrub Watch
–WR Matt Simon was signed. He was released after one game on New Orleans’ practice squad last season.
–WR Marcus Maxwell (undisclosed) was placed on injured waivers .
–CB Chris Richards was released . He had signed in May.
Posted by DHarp75 on August 9, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
Isaiah Stanback's NFL future is handing by a thread - or a torn Achilles - following his latest season-ending injury.
If he wasn’t a local UW product, WR
Isaiah Stanback would most certainly qualify for scrub status on any team. Trying to stick with the Seahawks, the former Huskies quarterback saw his laundry list of injuries since he entered the NFL continue to mount with a torn left Achilles’ tendon that ended his 2010 season.
Stanback’s injury led to the signing on tight end Nick Tow-Arnett and LB Alvin Bowen. Tow-Arnett played for Seahawks quarterback coach Jedd Fisch when he served as offensive coordinator at Minnesota, while Bowen was a fourth-round pick by Buffalo in 2008 who spent last year on Washington’s practice squad.
For all of you smart cookies who noticed that’s two players signed with one gone, FB Ryan Powdrell is headed to injured reserve along with Stanback. Powdrell is one of several former USC players to join Pete Carroll in Seattle. Powdrell, who has had stints with Green Bay, Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, hadn’t been in the league since being released by the Steelers last June.
Posted by DHarp75 on August 6, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
Did Quinn Pitcock get addicted to his own video game character?
LS
Matt Overton and former Oregon State LB
Mike Hass have both been cut loose by the Seahawks before, and they have been again this week. However, with a new coaching staff looking for its own types of players, this well might have been the final go-round for both at the VMac.
Meanwhile, LB Anthony Heygood and DL Quinn Pitcock were signed. In Heygood’s case, he was brought back after being released last week… then promptly ruptured his Achilles’ tendon during stretching exercises.
Pitcock is actually an intriguing story. A star at Ohio State, he played his rookie season in 2007, before deciding to “retire” … as it turns out, due to depression that turned into a video game addiction. Now he’s back and apparently in a much better place in life. If he’s able to rekindle that fire and focus, this could be an excellent steal for a team in need of d-line depth.
Posted by DHarp75 on under PartyHawks Central |
Russell Okung and his agent tested everyone's patience, but he's finally under contract.
The Seahawks have concerns all over the field. But primary among them is protecting QB
Matt Hasselbeck, because if he goes down then the wheels will come off the wagon of a roster that will struggle as it is to be competitive week in and week out.
So there was definitely growing concern when LT Russell Okung missed eight practices as a holdout, even though the five players selected in from of him and the two directly behind him had already signed their rookie deals. In the NFL, it’s more or less a slotting system, so there shouldn’t have been so much haggling at that point.
Most likely, it was poor advice from an agent looking to squeeze out a few more dollars in guaranteed money. But the deal finally got done Friday, with Okung getting nearly $30 million in guaranteed money. Seriously, what they heck were they debating about for the past three days … whether he’d get $29 million or $31 million guaranteed? At the end of the day, he can buy any house he wants in several states and outfit it with a complete staff.
Rant aside, it was important to get Okung under contract before the holdout leaked into a second week and he became in true danger of missing important on-field work and potentially a training camp game.
Welcome to Seattle, Russell. It was a an auspicious debut, so let’s hope you put your head down and get to work.
Posted by DHarp75 on August 2, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
The Seahawks are no longer tied to rumors about Terrell Owens, and while they might still look to pick up a veteran or two cut loose by another team, most of the roster shuffling these days is at the back end of the roster.
But since we’re diehards, we bring it all to you in more depth than even their mother’s care to know. So, here’s Monday’s list of events:
–DB Marcus Udell, an undrafted rookie out of Middle Tennessee, was waived.
–FB Owen Schmitt was activated from the Physically Unable to Perform list. We have a crapload of information on the Seahawks every day, but even we don’t know what his issue was – presumably passing a conditioning test, or extricating a helmet from his forehead.
–OG Gregg Peat, an undrafted rookie out of Oregon State, was claimed off waivers from Indianapolis.
–TE Jameson Konz (hip) was placed on injured waivers. He’s likely to end up on injured reserve unless another team surprisingly claims him.
Posted by DHarp75 on August 1, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
Earl Thomas is a millionaire, now it's time to get down to business.
Free safety
Earl Thomas signed a five-year, $21.2 million deal on Saturday and reported to training camp. That puts one-half of the team’s first-round loot under contract, with the Seahawks still talking daily with LT
Russell Okung’s representatives.
Getting both into camp quickly is critical because they’re both expected to start immediately at key positions. Okung will slide into left tackle, which was a turnstile last year. Thomas is a key addition to a secondary that didn’t cover or tackle particularly well in 2009. Thomas was considered a cornerback by some teams scouting him leading up to the draft, and will have to prove he can tackle at the NFL level to not suffer from the same growing pains as another former Longhorn, Michael Huff, has endured in Oakland.
But with Lawyer Milloy, Jordan Babineaux and Kevin Ellison battling for the strong-side job, Thomas is already easily Seattle’s most athletic safety – now he just needs to learn the defense.
Posted by DHarp75 on July 29, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
The Seahawks have been fairly quiet since the end of their offseason program, but quietly made a sound one-year investment in Chester Pitts on Thursday.
Pitts played for Houston from 2002-09, and has vast experience at guard and tackle. And considering the Seahawks’ lack of experience – and proven talent – across their offensive line, Pitts provides more competition at several spots. Max Unger opens training camp as the starting right guard, but he had an uneven rookie season and is also the primary backup to injury-prone center Chris Spencer.
Pitts certainly isn’t a long-term answer at 31 years old. But he does bring much needed depth, and hopefully can be a mentor for Spencer, Unger and some of the team’s other young linemen.
The Hawks also said siyonara to DE Robert Henderson, who was acquired from Detroit for Rob Sims, and LB Anthony Heygood, who finished last season on the practice squad.
Posted by DHarp75 on July 20, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
Kevin Elllison need to bring the pain ... not numb it.
As the one really “dead” time in the NFL schedule winds to a close, we’re now in single digits until rookies report July 29 so it’s time to update on three items of interest:
Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN on Monday that the Seahawks will not sign WR Terrell Owens. That’s too bad for anyone looking forward to seeing T.O. and T.J. run down the field simultaneously flailing their arms in the air, looking exasperated when the ball goes to John Carlson for three yards and then both barking at Matt Hasselbeck as soon as they get back to the huddle.
Leroy Hill has been suspended for the first game of the season. With it only being a one-game suspension, look for the Seahawks to give Hill a third life with the team. He’s expected to be in more of a traditional linebacker role this year with Aaron Curry rushing the passer more often.
Kevin Ellison pleaded not guilty to drug possession charges and has an October court date after being caught with 100 Vicodin in his car without a prescription. Let’s hope he’s more focused on delivering the pain come this season rather than trying to numb it, because the Hawks desperately need a fierce secondary presence.
Posted by DHarp75 on July 4, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
RB Quinton Ganther's grip on a roster spot is slipping following a DUI.
The last thing coaches tell their players before cutting them loose for several weeks between the offseason program and the start of training camp is to be careful and stay out of trouble. That message apparently didn’t stick with
Quinton Ganther, whose quest to make the opening day roster took a signifcant hit with a
DUI arrest near Sacramento on Saturday.
On a team that already leads the league in offseason transactions, it’s a bad idea to get arrested in the wee hours of the morning when you’re clinging onto the fourth spot on the depth chart. Ganther, signed from Washington in Match, is competing for a roster spot behind Justin Forsett, Julius Jones and Leon Washington. One thing Ganther has for him is being a straight-ahead runner who could be strong in short-yardage, which is the role LenDale White was slated for before he was released.
“We are aware of the situation, and in the process of gathering information,” the Seahawks said in a statement.
When that information is gathered, Ganther could be looking for a new job before training camp rolls around.
Posted by DHarp75 on July 1, 2010 under PartyHawks Central |
Kevin Elllison will be in the secondary mix afterall.
We were a little dismayed when
Kevin Ellison was waived after apparently failing a physical. As it turns out, the Seahawks only let Ellison go so he could clear waivers and then sign a new contract.
Don’t worry about the contract finagling, the loopholes in the labor agreement are ridiculous. The important point is Ellison is back to compete for the starting strong safety job, which might have been the biggest hole on the team. The Seahawks had been looking at ageless Lawyer Milloy, rookie Kam Chancellor and maybe even ‘tweener defensive back Jordan Babineaux battling for the job. And none would have been a suitable option.
Ellison was a sixth-round pick who started nine games for the Chargers after playing for Pete Carroll at USC. But he was a mid-round talent who dropped due to injury concerns. The Chargers then dropped him because he was arrested for having 100 pills of Vicodin in his car during a traffic stop. If he can handle the pain on his own, Ellison can deliver some pain for Seahawks opponents. He’s not the fastest defensive back in the world, but he is a hard hitter who can bring some much-needed intimidation to a defense that was steamrolled last season.
