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| Beware of the Turk. |
There are three positions that I will be watching closely Friday night:
1) Safety. Last year the team carried 4. Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor are locks as the starters. That leaves 5th round draft pick Mark Legree battling for a spot with Atari Bigby, Jeron Johnson and Josh Pickard. I haven't seen Legree on the field much, so I would guess he is offerred a spot on the practice squad. Bigby offers game experience which the others do not. It is a very young group overall which helps Bigby's chances.
2) Wide Receiver. They kept 6 last year. Rice, Williams, and Obomano are the first three on the field. 4th rounder Kris Durham has a spot too. That leaves 2 spots and a host of guys. My guess is Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin. Burner Ricardo Lockette to the practice squad. Deon Butler on the PUP. I don't see how Husky Isaiah Stanback makes the 53.
3) Defensive Line. There is a logjam here with 15 players and only 9 roster spots likely. Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, Alan Branch, Brandon Mebane, Raheem Brock are on the team. That leaves 4 spots up for grabs. These 5 have the inside track: Junior Siavii, Jimmy Wilkerson, Ryan Sims, Pep Levingston and Clinton McDonald. I don't think Dexter Davis of Jameson Konz are going to make it. Pierre Allen to the practice squad. Colin Cole on the PUP.
I am not sure if the Seahawks have one of the best front offices in the league or this team is going though a major rebuild. Come to think of it, it's not about the "or" it's about the "and." This is a great rookie class and many will have an immediate impact because this is a roster overhaul.
It looks like the 1st and 3rd round picks will be day-one starters and most (if not all) of the remaning 4th-7th rounders are having an impact in practice and are likely to make the team. KJ Wright, Richard Sherman, Mark Legree and Malcolm Smith all seem to be playing well and could see the field this Fall. This was a draft that was pretty well ripped by the national media (especially Tent Dilfer) which leads me to think that John Schneider and team have a strong eye for talent and the Seahawks mission is to get younger and give these kids a real shot. They will make mistakes but it will be fun to watch their development.
In terms of the undrafted rookies that were signed as free agents, it seems like three of them may make the team. Three. That is unheard of in recent memory. I think there are 4 with a legitimate shot of making the 53. Josh Portis is the leader in the clubhouse. He is the 3rd quarterback and I don't think he would clear waivers to make it to the practice squad. Former Boise State Safety Jeron Johnson is probably next likely. Pierre Allen and Doug Baldwin are having fantastic camps by all accounts, but both play very crowded positions.
The only undrafted players I can remember in recent memory that made the opening day roster were CJ Wallace and David Hawthorne.
Even most of the Free Agents they signed from other teams are young. This is a nice change from signing overpriced players whose best years were behind them.
- Sidney Rice, 24
- Zach Miller, 25
- Alan Branch, 26
The willingness to potentially keep a slew of drafted and undrafted rookies leads me to believe that this is a major rebuild as PC and JS are building a team in their image. This looks to be a great rookie class and it needs to be. It is big and agressive. The Tim Ruskell teams were undersized and based on finesse, which when all the parts worked in unison made for some pretty entertaining football. The only problem was that since 2006, a lack of talent at some positions caused many others to be exposed.
