One of the positions that the Seahawks most need to upgrade by almost anyone’s reckoning is the interior of the offensive line. Both guard and center play has been considered to be mediocre over the last couple of years. Spencer at center and Wahle and Sims at guard have all been on the hot seat in their respective position battles and during the off-season, those positions were most often mentioned as the ones Seattle needed to fix if they were to come back and become a contender for the NFC West title and the NFC Championship once again.

Today, I want to focus on the guard position. I started out with the intent to produce an article of around 500 words but ended up quintupling that and then some as the topic just seemed to explode off the page in order to adequately explore the position and the problems Seattle has at the position. I think it ended up being sized proportionally to the problem the position represents.

Seattle had one of the best guard/center units in the NFL in 2005 when Steve Hutchison manned the left guard position and Chris Gray was at right guard with Robbie Tobeck at center. Hutch was the young fire breather who brought an attitude and Tobeck and Gray were the experienced veterans who brought stability and savvy to the interior of the offensive line. Then one by one, they disappeared from the Seahawks in short order. Hutch defected to Minnesota then Tobeck and Gray had to retire because of career ending injuries. Seattle’s interior offensive line play has never been the same since.

Ruskell drafted Spencer to replace Tobeck at center then Rob Sims and Mansfield Wrotto to play guard. He also brought in Mike Wahle from the Carolina Panthers last season to add veteran stability at the guard position. Ray Willis was drafted as a tackle but has also been played at the guard position over the last four years. Even Spencer was tried at guard. Sims has not developed as quickly as many though he would after an impressive rookie season. I wrote an article on Sims for Seahawk Addicts on Monday that you can review to see how Sims has fared with the Seahawks so far in his career.

Wrotto had little experience as an offensive lineman having played as a defensive tackle for three years at Georgia Tech until his senior season when he was moved to the offensive line as a tackle. Mike Wahle had mixed reviews from last season making many mental mistakes as well as being injured and finishing the year on injured reserve. Wrotto did get some much needed experience at guard due to injuries on the offensive line last season as did Willis who logged more games in 2008 than in his previous three years combined. It should be noted that the Seahawks have stated that the plan is for Willis to be the successor at right tackle when Walter Jones retirees and Locklear is moved to left tackle. It is presumed that if he plays at guard, it will be an interim assignment and the Seahawks will still need to find a suitable replacement at guard.

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Mike Sando, after consulting with ESPN injury expert Stephania Bell, has compiled an analysis of the NFC West teams and their most severe injuries. His in depth analysis lists Matt Hasselbeck and the Seattle offensive line as the players to be most concerned with on the Seahawks.

Bell details the injuries of Walter Jones, Matt Hasselbeck, Patrick Kerney, and Nate Burleson for the Seahawks giving an analysis of each injury and the prognostication for their recovery. You can read the full article here.

This is a must read for any Seahawk fans concerned with the players who had significant injuries last season and are who concerned for their recovery and ability to continue their careers this season.

Hasta,

BillT 

The Seahawks have announced a defensive end shakeup, waiving Brandon Miller and signing Derek Walker. According to Danny O'Neil, Miller was waived with a non-football injury designation.

Here's the NFL Combine scouting report on Walker:

A durable, consistent performer with the size and strength to compete on a rotational basis in the NFL, Walker started his career at Illinois with a bang, emerging as a redshirt freshman in 2005 to finish with 26 tackles and second on the team with six tackles for loss. Even after three seasons as a starter, Walker remains essentially the same player. While blessed with good size, strength and a nonstop motor, Walker lacks suddenness off the snap and struggles to consistently make plays behind the line of scrimmage. He enjoyed the finest statistical season of his career as a senior and was honorable mention All-Big Ten, but his 33 tackles, seven tackles for loss and six sacks were only slightly better than the numbers he put up in 2005.

Walker was an undrafted free agent, signed with Washington and was waived about a week ago. This should put to rest the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that the Hawks might be interested in Stryker Sulak, the 6th Round pick by the Raiders this year who was unceremoniously waived without remark from the cryptkeeper.

Second-round pick Max Unger agreed to terms with the Seahawks today, signing a contract that will guarantee the former Oregon center $1.95 million, and totaling over $3 million for the next four years.

The deal comes at an ideal time, as Unger will be able to report with the rest of the rookies tomorrow. This leaves only Aaron Curry left to sign, which is not a concern at this point because most first-round picks have yet to sign a deal.

Now let's see Unger get in there and compete for a starting role. Inspiring news for an already-impressive draft class!

It's no secret that the Seahawks were in need of some help defensively last year. During the offseason, we've been able to look back and reassess the causes of the problems last year: poor defensive line play, crappy schemes, short cornerbacks, Brian Russell, et cetera. Tim Ruskell clearly saw eye to eye on some of these concerns -- he went out and bolstered the defensive line with Cory Redding and Colin Cole, changed the scheme (okay, that was Mora, but still), and went out and signed Ken Lucas to a one-year deal.

Lucas has been named the starter at the Right Cornerback position and, in all likelihood, he will be the starter in Week One. However, Josh Wilson has made it clear that this disappointed him and he is looking to have a big role on this team. Don't be surprised if, in 2008 as in 2007, Wilson proves himself a competitor for the starting spot by mid-season.

Last year, Josh Wilson came out and took the starting job away from Kelly Jennings somewhat surprisingly. A lot of people have snarked that Jennings always stunk so this didn't mean much, but that's not true. In 2007, Jennings made a clear step up and had a very good season. In 2008, he lost his groove and Wilson was all too willing to step up and start. Further, he markedly improved throughout the year. Wilson has the speed required to succeed at this level, fluid hips, and a killer instinct when the ball comes his way. Yes, he gave up a lot of yards to Larry Fitzgerald and some of the bigger receivers, but so did practically every other cornerback in the league. His size hurts him, we get it, but the majority of starting CBs in the NFL are between 5'9" and 6'0". I don't think those three inches are as make or break as many others do.

Still, the battle for the RCB position will be a quiet one. It won't necessarily be won out on the field so much as on the practice field, it won't be dueling banjos like the RB situation last year (Jones starts, no Morris starts, wait Jones is starting, oh look Morris...). If Wilson can come out and be a) technically sound, b) effective at blitzing, and c) a ballhawk, look for him to threaten by mid-season for this job. This all starts in the Pre-season. The way I see it, Wilson's effectiveness as the nickel corner is going to alter our game plans. If he is competing as hard as he did last year, they are going to want him on the field. We need a fast, hard, aggressive defense and Wilson, though small, can provide that.

Beyond that though, Lucas was signed to a one-year contract. Will he be re-signed? Will we fill that role in the draft or free agency next year? Or will Wilson prove definitively this year that he deserves to be the starter for years to come? It all starts in training camp, and that all starts THIS. WEEK.

As we enter training camp, several players look to earn their spot on the Seahawks roster.  Some are looking to improve their stock, while others look to just hold onto their roster spot. Put Chris Spencer in the latter category as he enters a contract year with the Seattle Seahawks.  Spencer came to the Seahawks via the 2005 Draft and has not lived up to the expectations since taking over for Robby Tobeck after the 2006 season. (Click Read More to continue...)

I’ve been writing articles on the offensive guard position (coming out in the next couple of days) and profiling some of the offensive linemen recently and I got to thinking about what my perceptions were of the Seahawks strengths and weaknesses going into training camp this weekend. I decided to present a short and sweet list of those areas of strength and the ones that need work in my opinion and then let you Addicts debate the issue. I want to see if you agree with me or have other ideas of where they need improvement and where they’re in good shape.

I broke down the team like this (in no particular order):

Offensive line, defensive line, quarterbacks, defensive backs, running backs, linebackers, special teams, and receivers (including the tight end).

For the purposes of this exercise, I assumed that all of our question marks like Hasselbeck, Kerney, Jones, Burleson, and the injured offensive linemen all come back healthy with no lingering problems.

Here’s my list from the strongest unit to the weakest that needs the most work:

1) Linebackers.

Most will agree that we have a linebacker unit that is expected to be one of the top squads in the NFL this season. Tatupu’s healthy, Hill’s got his contract and is back playing the position where he caused all the damage in 2005 and Curry was the consensus top athlete available in the draft who has shown that he’s the complete package. What more is there to say.

2) Quarterbacks.

Hasselbeck and Wallace form one of the best starting and backup combinations in the NFC and surely are one of the great strengths of this team. It was hard to not put them on top of my list but I felt that the linebackers just edged them out.

3) Receivers.

Hasselbeck probably has the best receivers this season that he’s ever had to throw to. Houshmandzadeh is probably the best he’s ever had as a primary target and Branch and Burleson should be able to take the pressure off so opposing teams can’t afford to double anyone. Butler should be making waves before the season is over giving the Seahawks the best 4 wideouts Hasselbeck has yet been teamed with. John Carlson looks ready to set all of the tight end records before he's through. In fact, I think he almost owns all of them now. This could be the best group of receivers in Seahawk history.

  To see the rest of the list, press Read more below.

The rollercoaster of the NFL continues. Draft picks sign, Vick reinstated, Favre stays retired, and now the NFL has lost one of the recent greats. Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson has died after a six-month battle with melanoma. He was 68.

Johnson was probably the greatest blitz "architect" that the league has known, and was instrumental in the Eagles consistently being one of the top teams in the league this past decade. Few disguised their blitzes as well or used them as effectively, and playing against that defense was often a nightmare.

Johnson also has a history with the Seahawks, serving as the team's Linebackers coach in 1998 before moving to the Andy Reid's Eagles squad. In his one year here, under HC Dennis Erickson, Johnson helped us register 10 defensive touchdowns with 8 interceptions returned for a touchdown, second all time in NFL history. Needless to say, we haven't come close since.

Anyway you cut it, this is a huge loss to the NFL and to the strategy of attacking defenses. .

The abysmal performance of last year’s secondary doesn’t rest on any lone person’s shoulders, but a few players took the brunt of the blame.

In some cases, critics just want a scapegoat. After all, the Seahawks finished dead last in pass defense last year, which was both unsettling and unexpected given the same unit’s performance in 2007. But in other cases, things like film and statistics don’t lie.

At the forefront of the criticism in the 2008 secondary was CB Kelly Jennings, the Seahawks’ first-round pick out of Miami in 2006. Standing at 5-11 and weighing in at 180 pounds, Jennings took (and still takes) a lot of flak for being undersized and overmatched in most situations. While that may be true, Jennings was outplayed all over the board by teammate Josh Wilson in 2008, and Wilson stands two inches shorter. Granted, Wilson makes up for the height with a little extra bulk (he has 12 pounds on Jennings), but Jennings isn’t holding up to his first-round selection status.

The cornerback position was also an obvious concern through the offseason, because Ruskell and the coaching staff elected to bring back free agent CB and former Seahawk Ken Lucas. The fact that Lucas is back in the mix, on top of Wilson’s increasing stock and Marcus Trufant all but a lock to remain the opposite-side starter, makes things look grim for Kelly Jennings.

It’s hard to imagine Jennings beating out any of those guys for a job in camp. I could see him competing with Kevin Hobbs or Marquis Floyd for a spot further down the depth chart, but even those two have shown some rising stock in the recent past – long enough to stay on the active roster, at least. Hobbs has a lot to compete for now as well, because he played in 14 games last year and therefore is no longer eligible for the practice squad. Floyd, meanwhile, could remain on the practice squad.

Jennings’ main problem last year was being out-muscled at the line of scrimmage by bigger receivers. His speed is where it should be, but his instincts have lacked under pressure. I can remember two separate instances last year where Jennings’ man was thrown to, and he didn’t even turn around. When you’re an NFL cornerback and you have your back to the ball when your man is making the catch, something is terribly amiss.

Moreover, Jennings doesn’t have much tackling power. He had 42 tackles in 2008, whereas Trufant had 64 and Wilson had 69. Wilson also became the star of the secondary last season when he forced three fumbles and grabbed four interceptions. Jennings racked up zero in both those categories.

In short, Jennings has everything riding on this training camp. He needs to be in pristine physical condition and play up to the caliber of his first-round selection, because the Seahawks have already upgraded at his position. Ken Lucas may have been released by Carolina, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a better fit for the West Coast Defense.

At this point, the team would most likely get along fine without Jennings – it’s up to him to prove otherwise.

Kevin Seifert at ESPN reports.

Coach Brad Childress confirmed the news to the Star Tribune, leaving the Vikings in an unexpected and awkward spot with training camp set to open Wednesday. The Vikings are now left to choose between Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels as their 2009 starter.

Sound off below, folks!