Off-season news 2024

[flyerhawk]

Amazing how far we've come..

I still can't believe Pete went in last year with Reed and Jones (and a bunch of unproven late round picks) and thought that was enough.

Murphy/Reed/Williams (who are all interchangeable and the NT/3tech and Reed the 1 tech) along with Hankins who can sub in for NT to give some rest is huge.. and who knows where Jones will end up. I think they may move him to EDGE but he has experience at the 3-4 DE position so that's something. It gives Mac another position to rotate if he wants to and Jones can pick it up. I think honestly Jones is gone after this season... he's just not worthwhile to cut. Could be wrong. I was always very meh about that signing.

Yeah. I think that Jones has a decent chance to really turn things around this year. He was played out of position last year as a DT in a 3-4 too much last year. Now we have a lot of interchangeable players that can move along the line.

 

[Screamin12th]

I remember reading something a few years back about teams with new Head Coaches get to start practicing earlier. It was a comment made in a article about training camp and why a team got a extra week early start ... something like that. Is that a thing or was it something that has now been removed or is that only for teams that hire a black coach? ( THE ROONEY RULE )

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I remember reading something a few years back about teams with new Head Coaches get to start practicing earlier. It was a comment made in a article about training camp and why a team got a extra week early start ... something like that. Is that a thing or was it something that has now been removed or is that only for teams that hire a black coach? ( THE ROONEY RULE )

Gotta draft a black kicker or punter, before you get that perk... Now that said, If you hire a female head coach you get a month advance.

And then you are subject to bonuses in general if they are black (+2 weeks) or trans (+4 weeks and an additional 2nd rounder in the following year).

So, if we can MacDonald and find a female trans black head coach, we get 2 months of training camp time in 2025 and a 2nd rounder. MacDonald IMO is as good as gone. Seattle Super Bowl in 2025!

 

[MrS]

Gotta draft a black kicker or punter, before you get that perk... Now that said, If you hire a female head coach you get a month advance.

And then you are subject to bonuses in general if they are black (+2 weeks) or trans (+4 weeks and an additional 2nd rounder in the following year).

So, if we can MacDonald and find a female trans black head coach, we get 2 months of training camp time in 2025 and a 2nd rounder. MacDonald IMO is as good as gone. Seattle Super Bowl in 2025!

absolutely insane i cant believe what goodell has done to the NFL

 

[flyerhawk]

Fun video about Mafe and how he could really excel in the McD defense.

Starting to get excited for football. Less than 3 months away!

 

[Screamin12th]

Gotta draft a black kicker or punter, before you get that perk... Now that said, If you hire a female head coach you get a month advance.

And then you are subject to bonuses in general if they are black (+2 weeks) or trans (+4 weeks and an additional 2nd rounder in the following year).

So, if we can MacDonald and find a female trans black head coach, we get 2 months of training camp time in 2025 and a 2nd rounder. MacDonald IMO is as good as gone. Seattle Super Bowl in 2025!

Guess they did get the extra week. ( We had the extra week with the new staff and everything. )

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Dre'Mont Jones just restructured to save about $7.5M cap space... I like the renegotiation and Seattle did void years for 26/27. Jones' cap hit of $25M in 2025 is a little much, but we can always extend him if he balls out this year at the new EDGE role. His dead cap in 2025 is only $11M so it's not devastating if we move on. And the void years we only get hit with like $2.5M which by 2026/27 is basically insignificant.

Have to think we needed the extra cap for season injuries or maybe to target another ILB if Baker/Dodson are not good to go. Freeing up $7.5M is quite a bit... you could pursue a trade.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Dre'Mont Jones just restructured to save about $7.5M cap space... I like the renegotiation and Seattle did void years for 26/27. Jones' cap hit of $25M in 2025 is a little much, but we can always extend him if he balls out this year at the new EDGE role. His dead cap in 2025 is only $11M so it's not devastating if we move on. And the void years we only get hit with like $2.5M which by 2026/27 is basically insignificant.

Have to think we needed the extra cap for season injuries or maybe to target another ILB if Baker/Dodson are not good to go. Freeing up $7.5M is quite a bit... you could pursue a trade.

Word has it that Jones showed up to mini camp in great shape and worked his butt off. That's a good sign that he really wants to be better than he was last year. Also McDonald moving him over to end fits better and they are also dropping him into OLB roles at times. McDonald is good at disguising and moving guys around to get the most out of everybody. A long way to go as only about 50% of the defense is installed but domn , it will be nice to see some actual scheming instead of just line up opposite your guy and hope to beat him that Pete's system was.

 

[flyerhawk]

Word has it that Jones showed up to mini camp in great shape and worked his butt off. That's a good sign that he really wants to be better than he was last year. Also McDonald moving him over to end fits better and they are also dropping him into OLB roles at times. McDonald is good at disguising and moving guys around to get the most out of everybody. A long way to go as only about 50% of the defense is installed but domn , it will be nice to see some actual scheming instead of just line up opposite your guy and hope to beat him that Pete's system was.

Seeing how he will run the defense is easily the biggest thing I'm looking forward to seeing.

 

[Anointed One]

Word has it that Jones showed up to mini camp in great shape and worked his butt off. That's a good sign that he really wants to be better than he was last year. Also McDonald moving him over to end fits better and they are also dropping him into OLB roles at times. McDonald is good at disguising and moving guys around to get the most out of everybody. A long way to go as only about 50% of the defense is installed but domn , it will be nice to see some actual scheming instead of just line up opposite your guy and hope to beat him that Pete's system was.

Too me, it's a sign that a new regime has lit a fire under the players... Seems like there is more accountability and player's taking ownership of their roles/positions on the team... Should be fun to watch...

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Word has it that Jones showed up to mini camp in great shape and worked his butt off. That's a good sign that he really wants to be better than he was last year. Also McDonald moving him over to end fits better and they are also dropping him into OLB roles at times. McDonald is good at disguising and moving guys around to get the most out of everybody. A long way to go as only about 50% of the defense is installed but domn , it will be nice to see some actual scheming instead of just line up opposite your guy and hope to beat him that Pete's system was.

I heard he wasn't on the practice squad much because he was transitioning...

Jokes aside, transitioning to more of a 3-4 EDGE role which Seattle experimented a bit with last season, although nothing was going to help in Pete's out-dated D.

It will be really interesting to see how MacDonald is going to handle rotating all 3 levels of defense. Last year he just rotated the safeties. Now he can rotate Reed (1/3 tech and NT), Williams (3tech/5tech/NT - reportedly Mike has him working on SIX different positions), and Murphy (3tech/NT), Dodson/Baker (if they are healthy) do SAM/WILL, Jones if it works can do 5tech/EDGE, and then Jenkins/Love/Witherspoon... Jenkins can do SS/FS, Love can do FS/SS/Nickel, Witherspoon IMO can do anything. I would not be surprised if he plays some SS this year.

Most things that come out of camp is "Looks amazing" "Everyone gets the new concept" blah blah blah... so I'll be optimistic but you gotta see it in a real game first. That said, in theory if everyone does pick that up (and they should, outside of Jones nobody is learning a different position... they already all know it), that is going to be a NIGHTMARE for defenses.

C and guards are going to struggle with who is doing NT and what guard is on what DL based on the tech they're playing, tackles have to deal with the pain of 3-4 in general on what EDGE is coming vs. dropping. The run game and OL will struggle with which one is MIKE vs. WILL. Knight also has the makeup to be all 3 (including SAM) - it's just whether or not he can play at an NFL level... 4th rounder. And then the QB in general is going to really have a pain identifying who is nickel/SS/FS.. something every good QB has to identify before they snap the ball... DB1/2 will be kind of set... but now what if Spoon goes outside and Bryant comes in at nickel or moves to SS and now you've got Love moving up... it just gets weird.

And if we try to make Woolen make 'plays' on the running game again I'm going to be annoyed. Stick him in coverage and ask him to do that... You know who else sucks at run defense but the NFL LOVES him? Sauce "THE GRAB" Gardner. I've never seen something more infuriating than CMAC running outside the tackle with a lead blocker and the announcer saying, "Woolen has to make that play." WTF!? Why was he asked to do that anyway? There's hardly any DB in NFL history that makes that play... And then senile Carroll benches him and we still get torched lol...

 

[flyerhawk]

How serious are these Baker/Dodson injuries?

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

How serious are these Baker/Dodson injuries?

Both still 'expected' to return by training camp.

Baker had the season ending wrist surgery so that's a bit expected but now he has a lower body injury too which may be the knee issue he dealt with in Miami. Dodson has an undisclosed injury (new) which is worrisome. That's an update from last week. If the season started today we're probably marching out Knight and Rhattigan which is frightening.. maybe Knight will ball out and be the next KJ Wright, but that's a lot to ask for a rookie 4th rounder (who could've gone in the 5th). Mike may have to hold off his linebacker scheme if the case.

I have a funny feeling the restructure of Jones ($7.5M) is to potentially bring in another inside linebacker. Maybe you go snag Zach Cunningham? I think he's done WILL/MIKE in Houston before... that's about the only candidate I can think of that'd be a short term replacement.

Is it time to panic with both Baker/Dodson out? I mean.. we're mid-June... I think you kind of have to... because there's really nothing behind them... Seattle needs another vet if we're running two ILBs... It's a major concern at the moment. I guess the positive is we kick off with Denver and New England... those are easier games on paper. But then we go into major powerhouse offenses (exception Giants) for like a straight 2 months lol. Dodson/Baker should have zero issue picking up Mike's D since they've done it before (MIKE/WILL), but if they're rusty that's not good either.

And I know it's not your question, but just an update on OL: Bradford has been out for everything which IMO means Haynes should start. Haynes was the best pure RG in the draft... so I have zero clue why we'd start Bradford anyway. That's less of a concern.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Seeing how he will run the defense is easily the biggest thing I'm looking forward to seeing.

I honestly think both sides of the ball will be improved barring significant injuries, of course. My only real question mark or concern is seeing how our young coaching staff can handle the in game decision making. Let's see how McDonald does with clock management, challenges, knowing when to go for it on 4th, etc. I think the toughest thing for these coaches to learn on the fly is how to make the right moves on Sunday in the heat of the moment. No way to know how they will do until they are in the fire.

 

[flyerhawk]

I honestly think both sides of the ball will be improved barring significant injuries, of course. My only real question mark or concern is seeing how our young coaching staff can handle the in game decision making. Let's see how McDonald does with clock management, challenges, knowing when to go for it on 4th, etc. I think the toughest thing for these coaches to learn on the fly is how to make the right moves on Sunday in the heat of the moment. No way to know how they will do until they are in the fire.

Not sure how important challenges and going for it on 4th down really is. Sure, they have an impact but you could almost flip a coin in those situations and be more or less par with the league.

Clock management does matter but so much of that is A) getting the play in early and B) having a QB that process it quickly and get the ball hiked quickly.

And, truth be told, no one will really care about any of these things if the team is winning.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I honestly think both sides of the ball will be improved barring significant injuries, of course. My only real question mark or concern is seeing how our young coaching staff can handle the in game decision making. Let's see how McDonald does with clock management, challenges, knowing when to go for it on 4th, etc. I think the toughest thing for these coaches to learn on the fly is how to make the right moves on Sunday in the heat of the moment. No way to know how they will do until they are in the fire.

When you're the 3rd worst 3rd down conversion % allowed, the worst TOP allowed, and a bottom 5 defense in general.. who the fuck cares about challenges (which always seem 50/50... hell Andy Reid is basically 50/50) and clock management?

We brought in Mac to fix one of the worst and obviously biggest declining schemes in the league (and the D had talent, they were top 15, almost top 10 in PFF grades)... the offense? I mean, throwing 50% of completions behind the line to JSN and jamming Walker up the middle non-stop says it all...

Seattle had a coaching issue... and frankly it couldn't get much worse...

My biggest concern at the moment is Baker/Dodson at ILB... I think that needs to be addressed asap as we're already approaching late June and those guys are still not on the field.

 

[Screamin12th]

When you're the 3rd worst 3rd down conversion % allowed, the worst TOP allowed, and a bottom 5 defense in general.. who the fuck cares about challenges (which always seem 50/50... hell Andy Reid is basically 50/50) and clock management?

We brought in Mac to fix one of the worst and obviously biggest declining schemes in the league (and the D had talent, they were top 15, almost top 10 in PFF grades)... the offense? I mean, throwing 50% of completions behind the line to JSN and jamming Walker up the middle non-stop says it all...

Seattle had a coaching issue... and frankly it couldn't get much worse...

My biggest concern at the moment is Baker/Dodson at ILB... I think that needs to be addressed asap as we're already approaching late June and those guys are still not on the field.

Seattle OFFENSE had the worst ToP, 23rd in 3rd downs converted. 23rd in total first downs. 25th in Rushing first downs, 31st in rushing attempts. The Hawks offense got the 8th most first downs by penalty in the NFL and STILL it didn't help them on offense and had they not got all those gift First downs by penalty they would have been in the 30 range LMFAO! I love how everyone likes to blame the defense but the offense put the defense in SO MANY BAD situations and was one of the biggest reasons the defense was on the field so much, there wasn't much they could do when teams were getting 70+ plays per game because the offense couldn't stay on the field. Think about how many times the defense would get a stop only for the offense to go 4 or 5 plays and out.

Yes the defense wasn't great and also the offense did ZERO to help the Defense. The Defense was 32nd in the NFL for plays per game ( the most in the NFL ) the offense was also 32nd in that same ranking ( lowest # of Plays per game ). The Hawks Defense was actually OK when you break it down to "POINTS PER PLAY".

 

[Screamin12th]

Seattles Defense gave up less points per play than many of the teams that made the playoffs FYI. Matter of fact the Rams gave up more points per play than The Seahawks on defense. For Points per play the defense was middle of the pack, Not Dead last.

I only bring this up because with the "talent" level we have on offense there is ZERO REASON this offense should struggle as mightily as they do.

 

[flyerhawk]

Seattle OFFENSE had the worst ToP, 23rd in 3rd downs converted. 23rd in total first downs. 25th in Rushing first downs, 31st in rushing attempts. The Hawks offense got the 8th most first downs by penalty in the NFL and STILL it didn't help them on offense and had they not got all those gift First downs by penalty they would have been in the 30 range LMFAO! I love how everyone likes to blame the defense but the offense put the defense in SO MANY BAD situations and was one of the biggest reasons the defense was on the field so much, there wasn't much they could do when teams were getting 70+ plays per game because the offense couldn't stay on the field. Think about how many times the defense would get a stop only for the offense to go 4 or 5 plays and out.

Yes the defense wasn't great and also the offense did ZERO to help the Defense. The Defense was 32nd in the NFL for plays per game ( the most in the NFL ) the offense was also 32nd in that same ranking ( lowest # of Plays per game ). The Hawks Defense was actually OK when you break it down to "POINTS PER PLAY".

The defense was one of the worst defenses in football last year. Easily bottom 5 and arguably the worst run defense in football.

IMO the biggest indictment of late era Pete Carroll was he kept trying to run an offense that relied on having a strong defense. People forget that those great Seahawk teams routinely had games were the offense would do nothing for the first half. But because the defense so good, they could just grind down defenses.

The offense was wildly inconsistent, largely based on the health of the offensive line. But too often they were playing from behind and simply didn't have enough offensive drives. Pete's style isn't really designed to play from behind.

IIRC, the defense had the fewest 3 and outs in the NFL last year.

The Seahawks offenses was about average last year, which is pretty bad given the talent on that side of the ball. The Seahawk defense was straight up bad, which is why changes needed to happen.

 

[flyerhawk]

Seattles Defense gave up less points per play than many of the teams that made the playoffs FYI. Matter of fact the Rams gave up more points per play than The Seahawks on defense. For Points per play the defense was middle of the pack, Not Dead last.

I only bring this up because with the "talent" level we have on offense there is ZERO REASON this offense should struggle so mightily as they do.

Points per play doesn't seem like a super useful stat. The Seahawks had the most defensive snaps in the NFL, and the fewest offensive snaps.

Seattle’s defense was 31st in rate of three-and-outs forced, 32nd in time of possession, 31st in rate of punts forced, and 22nd in rate of turnovers per drive. In other words, the Seahawks defense did almost nothing to get themselves off the field as soon as possible.

Seahawks can’t stay on the field on offense, can’t get off the field on defense

This can’t keep happening.

www.fieldgulls.com

The Seahawks offense is not entirely blameless; they were 20th in three-and-out rate (per FTNFantasy) and were one of the worst teams in the NFL on 3rd down. However, they also committed just 17 turnovers and scored at least a field goal on 38% of their drives, which was 11th in the league. Seattle was not an offensive juggernaut, but this unit was not so inept that it was actively hurting the defense. The offense also had one of the fastest paces in terms of seconds between plays, so the Seahawks were not voluntarily slowing the game down and limiting possessions. Opposing offenses, however, were very happy to slow things down.

So they scored on nearly 40% of their drives. Not elite but not terrible.


And to my point about the early Russ teams..

In the first two Russell Wilson seasons the Seahawks were similarly near the bottom in offensive snaps played, but they also had among the fewest defensive snaps. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to figure out that this was exactly how Seattle wanted to play. That ain’t the case anymore.