Who will be starting on the DL opening day?

[Osprey 1984]

Base Defense

LEO Cliff Avril
NT Brandon Mebane
DT Jesse Williams
5DE Red Bryant

Nickel Defense

Leo Cliff Avril
NT Brandon Mebane
3DT Jordan Hill
5DE Michael Bennett

When Clemmon and Bruce Irvin is back

Leo Chris Clemmons
NT Brandon Mebane
DT Jesse Williams
5DE Red Bryant

Nickel Front

Leo Chris Clemons
NT Brandon Mebane
3DT Michael Bennett
5DE Cliff Avril *
SLB Bruce Irvin *

Interchangeable 5DE/SLB

 

[C.Adl.C.Hox.Fan]

Seems like a solid prediction.

Who will be kept for DL depth?

How about the linebackers?
That Lotulelei dude caught my attention.

 

[Osprey 1984]

I agree

I would like to see him start over Malcolm Smith at SLB. I just don't feel Malcolm has over took ownership of any linebacker position. I am reserving full judgement until I can see him in pads.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

With Clemons and Irvin back and in a all out pass rush situation I see this line up.

Leo Clemons
DT Hill
DT Bennett
5DE Avril
SLB Irvin

Now that would be some pass rushing weapons on the field!

As for Lotulelei, I think the guy has big potential , but I'd have to say that blstoker is his biggest fan. He predicted John Lotulelei will have a better career then Star Lotulelei.

 

[blstoker]

With Clemons and Irvin back and in a all out pass rush situation I see this line up.

Leo Clemons
DT Hill
DT Bennett
5DE Avril
SLB Irvin

Now that would be some pass rushing weapons on the field!

As for Lotulelei, I think the guy has big potential , but I'd have to say that blstoker is his biggest fan. He predicted John Lotulelei will have a better career then Star Lotulelei.

I know, I can fall in love with players at times, but hey, I'm rarely as wrong with who I like as I was with Dan McGwire.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Just having a little fun. I give you two thumbs up for saying what you did. Too many posters are scared of looking foolish to make a bold predication, then after it turns out they would of been right they say I knew it! I hate it when people say its to early to judge this or that...they want to wait until the results are in, humbug on that line of reasoning . The fun is in being bold and going out on a limb.

So like I said...two thumbs up...but I still plan to have a little fun with it!

 

[Kyle]

I really like the talent and depth we have on the D-line this year.

 

[WizardHawk]

Hawks do have a lot of talent, but they changed DC's and have a new system this year so it is hard at this point to know how well they will play as a unit compared to last year. We learned in mini camp that there are significant changes to their schemes. Will they gel as fast as they would have under their old one? Will the new schemes help them from giving up those late game losing drives?

Love the personnel, but the jury will be out until the regular season on the scheme changes.

 

[Kyle]

My opinion is we will be alot more dominate this year because we are finally gonna blitz again!!!

 

[octagondd]

What is the status on Clemons and how many games will Irvin miss? I am concerned about the pass rush at the beginning of the season. I know Avril and Bennet were brought in to help, but can they be a presence? Wasn't one of them hurt as well?

Can the Hawks get a good pass rush on Cam and Kap, while keeping them contained in the pocket? Are they sticking with the same D-Line plan as last season in spite of the coach turnover? I know PC has a lot to say about that, so I am guessing the system will be the same. Just a little concerned about the new players and coach going into to two tough games to start the season.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Here's link that tells you that Clemons may be ready by the season opener and that Irvin will miss 4 games.

Carroll: Chris Clemons could be ready for season opener | ProFootballTalk

I think the question about Clemons really can not be answered as of now. It's a wait and see situation.

Cliff Avril is suffering from plantar fascia, which Red was trying to recover from last year. The good news is the off season should really give him a chance to heal. Rest seems to be the best answer for this problem.

Michael Bennett played last year with a torn rotator cuff and will play with it again this year. Doesn't seem to bad enough to require surgery.

So lots of questions on the DL. Injuries and such are so much a part of the NFL. Ever team has them. Getty lucky will good health can really help.

 

[Screamin12th]

i read an article talking about how such and such teams have drafted well and have extremely deep rosters. In this article it also said they did not understand the Hype on the 49ers roster because of the good luck they have had with injuries and pointed out that they are not as deep or talented as most people think. They just have not had to play back-ups very often.

The Hawks have always had injury issues but the back-ups have came in and there was little if any drop off. Case in point. Trufant going down a few years ago only to be replaced by Thurmond who also went down and then was replaced by Sherman. How many teams could replace a former probowler with someone and then have that persons back up become an all pro? Not many if any. Lane also looked extremely talented in his play last season when he got playing time. Our Defensive backfield is DEEP our DL is DEEP now we just need a little luck at LB. To be honest i think Toomer will shock many of you and Smith just might be something special although he is a little small.

Love the depth on the Hawks roster. I do not think there is a more talented group from top to bottom throughout the NFL.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

This version of the Seahawks has the best talent of any before hand IMO.

I see your able to post in various threads now. Can you start a thread?

 

[seahawksfan234]

Cliff Avril is suffering from plantar fascia, which Red was trying to recover from last year. The good news is the off season should really give him a chance to heal. Rest seems to be the best answer for this problem.

Another piece of good news is that Cliff Avril is about 100lbs lighter and a much more conditioned athlete than Red Bryant.

I think you will see a lot of rotation with this defensive line seeing as how versatile some of these guys are. You could see Michael Bennett at end, or inside. Avril was mentioned as possibly playing linebacker on some downs, not to mention I imagine the Seahawks will probably rotate a lot of guys in and out of the position vacated by Alan Branch.

It would be difficult to say the "starting lineup at defensive line" considering the fact that I think we will see so many substitutions and movements throughout the game.

 

[seahawksfan234]

This version of the Seahawks has the best talent of any before hand IMO.

I see your able to post in various threads now. Can you start a thread?

I have to agree.

On paper I feel like this team is by far superior to any other team the Seahawks have sported before. Does that mean I'm crowning them a 13+ win team? No. But I feel like this team has much more talent than the 2005 team did.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Well we are in agreement. On paper...the Seahawks looked loaded, now that have to put it together on the field!

 

[dude82]

Another piece of good news is that Cliff Avril is about 100lbs lighter and a much more conditioned athlete than Red Bryant.

I think you will see a lot of rotation with this defensive line seeing as how versatile some of these guys are. You could see Michael Bennett at end, or inside. Avril was mentioned as possibly playing linebacker on some downs, not to mention I imagine the Seahawks will probably rotate a lot of guys in and out of the position vacated by Alan Branch.

It would be difficult to say the "starting lineup at defensive line" considering the fact that I think we will see so many substitutions and movements throughout the game.

I think that the recovery of Clemons will dictate how much rotating they do and how many variations and packages they can put in initially. After Avril and Bennett were added (along with a few other guys on the DL) and we knew anything about a potential return date for Clemons or a suspension for Irvin, there was a lot of excitement for all the different things the Hawks would be able to do defensively, particularly on the defensive line. When news of the suspension came down, that excitement waned. It waned even more when we learned that Avril had plantar fasciitis (although with plenty of time to recover between then and the preseason, it wasn't a huge concern). Bennett's injury was less concerning, at least to me, because he played with it last year and the Hawks signed him even though they knew he had it and planned on playing through it again this year.

Now, with Clemons' prognosis better than expected at this point and the prospect of having a health(ier?)y Avril available to play in week 1, some of that excitement is coming back. Hopefully they're able to fit that stuff in while they have Irvin, so that they can be at full strength on the d-line come October and really start to put that stuff to good use with their full complement of players. If they can survive September and win games not being at full strength with the pass rush, it's going to be exciting when they finally are.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I think that the recovery of Clemons will dictate how much rotating they do and how many variations and packages they can put in initially. After Avril and Bennett were added (along with a few other guys on the DL) and we knew anything about a potential return date for Clemons or a suspension for Irvin, there was a lot of excitement for all the different things the Hawks would be able to do defensively, particularly on the defensive line. When news of the suspension came down, that excitement waned. It waned even more when we learned that Avril had plantar fasciitis (although with plenty of time to recover between then and the preseason, it wasn't a huge concern). Bennett's injury was less concerning, at least to me, because he played with it last year and the Hawks signed him even though they knew he had it and planned on playing through it again this year.

Now, with Clemons' prognosis better than expected at this point and the prospect of having a health(ier?)y Avril available to play in week 1, some of that excitement is coming back. Hopefully they're able to fit that stuff in while they have Irvin, so that they can be at full strength on the d-line come October and really start to put that stuff to good use with their full complement of players. If they can survive September and win games not being at full strength with the pass rush, it's going to be exciting when they finally are.

Personally I felt like Bruce Irvin's suspension was the least of the issues. I'm not calling him a bust, he has incredible athletic ability but he is still very raw and IMO not a huge loss at this point. He's a huge liability against the run and still needs a lot of work on his pass rushing. The 8 sacks he had were misleading IMO, a good sign but a tad misleading.

 

[dude82]

Personally I felt like Bruce Irvin's suspension was the least of the issues. I'm not calling him a bust, he has incredible athletic ability but he is still very raw and IMO not a huge loss at this point. He's a huge liability against the run and still needs a lot of work on his pass rushing. The 8 sacks he had were misleading IMO, a good sign but a tad misleading.

It's an issue in the sense that, when all the talk about moving players on the d-line around and using different packages was discussed, he was one of the players that figured to do the most moving around. There was talk that they'd have him doing everything from lining up where he lined up last year to lining up in Clemons' spot (this was when Clemons' prognosis was still a complete unknown) to lining up at linebacker to literally moving around. Not having him out there for the first four games prevents any of that from happening and I think a lot of people were excited at the possibilities it presented. Now we just have to hope that he doesn't come back rusty and that they can still do at least some of that stuff when he gets back.