| 26 August 2009
The Seahawks are struggling depth-wise on the exterior line, and the top three guys in the depth chart were all lost last year to injury. Walter Jones is out and, hopefully, will be back, but its time to look at him and plan for the future. Is Locklear really the answer? We know Willis is not viewed as a left tackle by anyone on the team, but Locklear has the athleticism and strength (we've been told) to succeed as an NFL LT. It is time for him to step up, but what is the contingency plan? If either he or Willis goes down now, we've got Kyle Williams starting again. Williams played admirably last year, but not well, as the Seahawks had to flank him with another blocker on every down as he couldn't handle the blindside by himself.
Mark Tauscher is the best short-term fix out there, though potentially a multiple year guy if he can stay healthy. Tauscher is coming off a season-ending ACL injury, but has reportedly been cleared to play, though his prospects for playing before October are probably less realistic. Mike McCarthy has said that Packers might still sign him back, which could be why he's not being tossed around in Hawk Talks -- he is from Wisconsin and has lived his whole life there, so Green Bay likely holds a special spot for him. He spent the last 9 years starting in Green Bay in a zone blocking system, and in 13 games last year gave up only two sacks. He has seven career holding penalties in 122 games, and only 24 false starts. He is disciplined and smart, and knows how to keep his QB clean.
Tauscher is a free agent largely because the Packers are in the midst of a bit of a youth movement and decided not to resign him. In 2008, he was named the Packers' Walter Payton Man of the Year and their Ed Block Courage Award winner. He is well-liked by teammates, a very hard worker (he was a 7th round pick who ended up starting half of his rookie season).
Is Tauscher the answer at tackle? Hard to say, but one would hope we're at least talking to him, right? Levi Jones has the youth and is the more natural left tackle, but Tauscher has more of those Ruskell qualities that we've come to expect.
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