Hawks Training Camp Thread: August 3-20

[Bulltalk]

Can you tell that I'm getting a little ahead of myself here? With the new coaching staff, the implementation of new offensive and defensive schemes, this will be an interesting summer for the Hawks in camp. How long will it be before players start dropping like flies to injuries? And where is Marcus Tubbs these days anyway?

[Bulltalk]

The Seahawks have begun their final mini-camp before the regular training camp begins later this summer. A few things I've heard/seen about it:

1) Curry seems like such a beast. They are working him out at a few positions, including DE. He said he's just devouring the playbook.

2) The team is impressed by Deon Butler's speed in person, and his ability to catch anything in sight.

3) The team likes what they've seen so far from 7th round pick Courtney Greene, S out of Rutgers. They signed him to some kind of a deal yesterday.

4) Hasselbeck appears to be close to 100% in the physical health department. So much depends upon him this year.

Anyway...just a few tidbits.

[Ex-hippie]

How about an Offensive Line Challenge for this board. You have to put together a starting offensive line for opening day, plus key backups, with the pieces you're given.

The pieces, in alphabetical order:

Walter Jones
Sean Locklear
Rob Sims
Chris Spencer
Max Unger
Steve Vallos
Mike Wahle
Kyle Williams
Ray Willis
Mansfield Wrotto

Let's start with an ideal of Jones (LT), Wahle (RG), Spencer (C), Willis (RG), Locklear (RT). A veteran unit that has played together. Unger, Sims and maybe Wrotto can be the key backups.

So, where it gets interesting is what happens when the injuries kick in. Let's say Wahle is out. Just sub in Unger and hope he's ready? Maybe move Unger to center and slide Spencer to LG?

Then, what about Jones, if he's hurt? Locklear slides to LT. Does that make Willis slide out to LT, with Sims filling in? Or does Unger's versatility come in handy and allow him to move to either RG or RT?

Lots of moving parts here... could go a lot of different ways.

[Bulltalk]

I've got to think about that for awhile. Sims, Spencer, and Wahle have all been disappointments to varying degrees. Jones a stud, but getting old. Willis a pleasant surprise. Locklear better than I thought he'd be.

[Sweezo]

The lack of news about the Seahawks is killing me. It's nice to not be a team that's, say, waiting for Brett Favre to make a decision...but it's also extremely boring. Can't wait for camp to start!

[Bulltalk]

The lack of news about the Seahawks is killing me. It's nice to not be a team that's, say, waiting for Brett Favre to make a decision...but it's also extremely boring. Can't wait for camp to start!

Here you go:

Schmitt pleads guilty in Washington

Seattle Seahawks fullback Owen Schmitt has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving Wednesday, his attorney said, according to The Seattle Times.

Schmitt was sentenced to 365 days in jail, with 364 of those days suspended and the one remaining day in jail converted to 24 hours of community service, according to the report. He must also pay fees and court costs and serve two years of probation.

Schmitt was arrested in the Seattle suburb of Black Diamond on June 25 and charged with DUI after his car was seen weaving on the road and he failed a field sobriety test. According to police reports his blood alcohol content was measured above the state legal limit of 0.08.

Following his arrest, Schmitt issued a statement apologizing "to the team, the NFL, the fans and my family and friends for my actions and poor judgment."

[Bulltalk]

Mostly fluff, but getting the football bug.

Seattle Seahawks

• Location: Team practice facility, Renton, Wash.
• Camp dates: Aug. 3-20

• What Mike Sando says: The Seahawks are holding training camp at their new waterfront facility for the first time. The setting is beautiful, with Lake Washington in the background. But space limitations will force fans to make special arrangements. Fans planning on attending practices, which begin Aug. 3, must register at seahawks.com. Open practices will be staged at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium Aug. 7 and 18.

• What to do besides training camp: While you're in the area, it might be fun to take a dip in Lake Washington, which touches Renton directly on its southeast side. In your time away from the Hawks practice, you can also take a ride over to Seattle to take an elevator ride up the Space Needle, which has long been the city's most recognizable tourist attraction. The Henry Art Gallery, opened in 1927, Seattle Aquarium, Woodland Park Zoo, Pacific Science Center and Experience Music Project are other popular destinations.

[Bulltalk]

Impact of Housh and New Coaches

By Tristan H. Cockcroft
ESPN.com

For the first time in 10 seasons, the Seahawks will have someone new calling the shots. Mike Holmgren, the team's coach from 1999-2008 and the fourth longest-tenured coach in the game at the end of last year, retired following the season, leaving the reins in the hand of an experienced fella, Jim Mora, the former Falcons coach. Mora brought on board as offensive coordinator the man who held that role during his Atlanta days, Greg Knapp, and he's got a new defensive coordinator, Casey Bradley, who brings with him valuable experience from his Tampa Bay days.

Those are important moves from one respect: Mora and Knapp were renowned for their success running a zone-blocking scheme in Atlanta, and they intend to bring that scheme to Seattle this season. From 2004-2006, the coaches led the Falcons to a league-leading rushing yardage total in each year, with a two-headed attack of Warrick Dunn and T.J. Duckett that appears scarily similar to the personnel currently on this roster (Duckett is also a Seahawk).

Beyond those coaching changes, though, things don't seem all that different in Seattle this season. But it might not seem that way; with the number of injuries Seahawks players suffered in 2008, the lineup that takes the field in Week 1 of this season might look different than the one we saw for much of last year.

For instance, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck missed nine games with back problems; the team's wide receiver corps was so bruised and battered that not one player at the position recorded a catch and appeared in more than 13 games; tackle Walter Jones, a key offensive line cog, was lost to season-ending knee surgery in early December; and defenders Leroy Hill and Lofa Tatupu battled various bumps and bruises in what were largely disappointing seasons.

Hasselbeck, Jones, Hill and Tatupu are all expected to be healthy in time for the season, leaving wide receiver the one spot at which change is evident. There, T.J. Houshmandzadeh comes over from Cincinnati, where he caught 90-plus passes in each of the past three seasons, to provide Hasselbeck with a much-needed weapon. But if Houshmandzadeh presents the Seahawks with stability and consistency, he may be the only one to do so -- those are concerns with most every other aspect of this roster.

What to look for in camp

Key position battles: Beyond Houshmandzadeh, there's not a lot that fits the description of "trustworthy" at wide receiver. Both Nate Burleson and Deion Branch, the top two competitors for the No. 2 receiver role, are coming off injury-plagued seasons. Burleson made a lone appearance, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in the regular-season opener, while Branch missed the first four games while recovering from knee surgery, four more with a heel issue and is recovering from another knee operation following the season. Their health might ultimately determine which one steps up to start across from Houshmandzadeh, and if neither is up to the task, rookie Deon Butler might get a larger role in the offense. John Carlson's owners might prefer the latter; the tight end would stand to see a boost in targets if the team has the kind of injury issues at wide receiver that it did last season. As is he had 80 targets in 2008, 10th-most in the league at his position.
Seattle Seahawks

T.J. Houshmandzadeh helps address what was an injury-riddled receiver corps from a year ago, but will either Deion Branch or Nate Burleson be healthy enough to warrant your attention behind him?

How the Seahawks dole out carries will also bear watching during the preseason, as there are rumblings that Justin Forsett, currently No. 3 on the depth chart, might get more looks than you'd expect. Chances are he might serve in little more than a Jerious Norwood-type role from Mora's Atlanta days, and in his one season under Mora, Norwood finished a distant third on the roster with 633 rushing yards. Still, that's a substantial total on a team like this; that'd actually have represented the second-most on the 2008 Seahawks, only 65 behind leader Julius Jones.

Fitting in: Houshmandzadeh should fit right in, consistent as he has been. If there are any doubts with him statistically speaking, it's that Mora's Seahawks might be a more run-based team than Holmgren's squads of the past, perhaps hurting the receiver in the touchdown department, or that Hasselbeck is a significant health risk without an elite backup if he goes down for extended time again. Still, to the latter point, if Houshmandzadeh was capable of 92 receptions for 904 yards in Cincinnati despite having Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing to him for 12 games in 2008, how much worse could he be in the event Seneca Wallace winds up Seattle's starter? Sure, those are disappointing numbers -- more so in non-PPR formats -- but they demonstrate that Houshmandzadeh is the kind of receiver who largely makes his quarterback look better, not the other way around.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Seahawks made a few very important moves to upgrade their problems of a year ago, adding defensive tackles Colin Cole and Cory Redding as well as cornerback Ken Lucas. The former moves target improving the team's No. 18 ranking defending the run, while the latter aims to improve the team's No. 29 ranking in interceptions (they had just nine). Of course, those moves came at the expense of trading linebacker Julian Peterson to the Lions; it means first-round pick (No. 4 overall) Aaron Curry will be asked not only to step in immediately as a starter, but to also be at least as productive as Peterson had been.

On the line: Here's another spot at which a battle might occur, as the Seahawks' second-round pick, Max Unger, should press for a starting role at either center or left guard, the latter only more likely accounting for the health questions of Mike Wahle. He's coming off shoulder surgery, and Walter Jones, as mentioned above, battled injuries himself in 2008. Though Seattle's switch to a zone-blocking system should mask some of the line's deficiencies, this team badly needs healthy years from both Jones, who is getting up there in years, and Wahle, or it'll need Unger to step in and make an immediate impact, which is a tall task. With full health from their starters, the Seahawks might be a line on the rise, but the fact remains that this isn't the same group Mora had in his days in Atlanta. The line has been smarting since the loss of Steve Hutchinson following the 2005 season and only last year seemed to be getting back to a level of respectability.

The bottom line

Mora's arrival brings some hope to a team that seemed to lose all signs of it in 2008, but don't mistake this for the squads he had at his disposal in his days in Atlanta. Despite comparisons to the 2004-2006 Falcons rushing days helping encourage owners of Julius Jones, now the de facto starting running back, the fact remains that Jones isn't as productive and is more injury-prone than Warrick Dunn, T.J. Duckett is four years older than he was the day he left Atlanta and Justin Forsett, quite frankly, is no Jerious Norwood. Hasselbeck, too, is about the polar opposite of Michael Vick, whose scrambling ability was one of the primary reasons behind the Falcons' high annual rankings, so that takes another dimension out of the equation. The team's switch to a more run-based offense does mean that Jones shouldn't be forgotten in your fantasy planning, but by no means will he be an elite choice, either.

Not that many Seahawks qualify as "elite" choices -- even the newly added Houshmandzadeh. There's a reason that no Seahawks player placed higher than 44th in our preseason rankings (Houshmandzadeh placed there), meaning 26 of the other 31 NFL teams had a player higher on our list: It's that this roster lacks much in the way of upside. Only one other Seahawk even cracked the top 100: Jones, at exactly No. 100.

Key Additions

WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh
CB Ken Lucas
LB Leroy Hill
C Bryan Pittman
FB Justin Griffith
HC Jim Mora
DT Cory Redding
DT Colin Cole

Key Losses

WR Bobby Engram
DT Rocky Bernard
RB Maurice Morris
FB Leonard Weaver
HC Mike Holmgren
LB Julian Peterson

Probable Lineup

QB1 Matt Hasselbeck
RB1 Julius Jones
RB2 T.J. Duckett
WR1 T.J. Houshmandzadeh
WR2 Nate Burleson
WR3 Deion Branch
TE1 John Carlson
K Olindo Mare

Preseason Schedule

@SD Aug. 15, 10:00 p.m.
DEN Aug. 22, 10:30 p.m.
@KC Aug. 29, 8:00 p.m.
OAK Sept. 3, 10:00 p.m.

All times ET

[Bulltalk]

Camp preview courtesy of ESPN:

Seattle Seahawks

Training camp site: Seahawks headquarters (Renton, Wash.)

Campfires: The Seahawks weren't going to pretend that first-round choice Aaron Curry would have to prove himself in camp to earn a starting job. They put the fourth overall choice in the lineup from the beginning. No suspense there.

Most positions in Seattle appear settled. The situation at receiver should produce intrigue with Nate Burleson, Deion Branch and rookie burner Deon Butler fighting to get on the field with T.J. Houshmandzadeh and tight end John Carlson. Injuries will probably help sort out the situation. Burleson is returning from ACL surgery. Branch is entering his first full season since undergoing his own ACL procedure.

Don't be surprised if rookie second-round choice Max Unger pushes for playing time somewhere in the interior of the offensive line. He projects as the long-term starter at center if Chris Spencer plays out his contract and leaves following this season. If Spencer holds the job, Unger figures to find his way onto the field in one of the guard spots, perhaps this year.

Camp will be a downer if ... quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's back injury flares up at any point along the way. Hasselbeck and the Seahawks say the quarterback has long since overcome the problems that helped limit him to seven starts last season. They didn't know the extent of the problem a year ago when they assured fans that Hasselbeck would be fine for the regular season. The issue is under control now, they say, but the very nature of back injuries should raise at least some concern heading into a pivotal season for the organization.

Camp will be a success if ... Hasselbeck, left tackle Walter Jones and defensive end Patrick Kerney put to rest concerns about their long-term health. Beyond the obvious injury storylines, this camp becomes a success for Seattle if Curry validates coach Jim Mora's opinion that the linebacker's pass-rushing abilities are indeed far stronger than anticipated on draft day.

Seattle badly needs to restore its pass rush to better compete against the Cardinals' passing game in a broader effort to overtake Arizona in the division. Kerney is the key, but the Seahawks are also counting on pressure from other sources: Brandon Mebane, Cory Redding, Lawrence Jackson, Darryl Tapp and possibly Leroy Hill. Significant pass-rush help from Curry would offset Julian Peterson's departure while making it easier for the Seahawks to justify having drafted a linebacker fourth overall.

Learning curve: By all accounts, the two years Mora spent in the background watching Mike Holmgren operate should leave him better prepared to handle his second head-coaching job. The way Holmgren handled everything from players to the media differed quite a bit from the more freewheeling approach Mora displayed with the Falcons.

Lessons learned? Yes, but it will be interesting to see how the Seahawks' leadership -- operating without Holmgren for the first time since 1998 -- will respond under pressure if things go wrong early.

[Ex-hippie]

Why is it that, every year from 2006 to 2009, all analyses of the Seahawks' offensive line have to mention that Steve Hutchinson isn't there anymore? Will people get over that? Steve Largent isn't there at WR and Cortez Kennedy isn't there at DT either, but you never read about how those units "just haven't been the same" since those players left. Why can't people just comment on the players who *are* there?

Do other teams go through this? Do 49ers fans read about their receiving corps and see commentators talk about how things just aren't the same since Terrell Owens left?

[Bulltalk]

Why is it that, every year from 2006 to 2009, all analyses of the Seahawks' offensive line have to mention that Steve Hutchinson isn't there anymore? Will people get over that? Steve Largent isn't there at WR and Cortez Kennedy isn't there at DT either, but you never read about how those units "just haven't been the same" since those players left. Why can't people just comment on the players who *are* there?

Do other teams go through this? Do 49ers fans read about their receiving corps and see commentators talk about how things just aren't the same since Terrell Owens left?

It ranks right up there with the Bucks trading Kareem to the Lakers, and the Red Sox trading Ruth to the Yankees.

For Christ's sake, he's a left guard on top of it.

[Danny Darko]

video preview of the 'Hawks upcoming season.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4294552

[TTown]

I'm glad Deon Butler signed.

Talks with Curry are supposed to be sped up today.

[Danny Darko]

^^ hope so, we don't want a hold out and he really doesn't seem the type

[TTown]

Unger signs. As an Oregon fan, I think Unger was an all-time great in Eugene. One of those guys that can walk into a situation, play any of the OL spots, and do it better than the guy he's replacing. I'm thrilled Seattle took him.

[Danny Darko]

Starting cornerback Marcus Trufant, one of the key members of the Seattle Seahawks starting defense, was placed on the physically unable to perform list as camp opened Friday.

Trufant had not participated in the Seahawks' recent off-season minicamps due to a sore hamstring, so this move is believed related to that.

Being on the PUP list at this point is not critical as if a player begins camp with that designation, he can be moved to the active roster at any time.

However, if a player begins the regular season on the PUP list he must sit out the season's first six games.

We'll learn more when Jim Mora is available to the media after today's practice, which goes from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlesports/archives/175186.asp

hmmm hammy doesn't sound that bad hopefully

[Danny Darko]

Unger signs. As an Oregon fan, I think Unger was an all-time great in Eugene. One of those guys that can walk into a situation, play any of the OL spots, and do it better than the guy he's replacing. I'm thrilled Seattle took him.

I hope you're right because we basically just made him our starting guard after dumping Wahle... I was hoping we'd have a healthy Wahle and ditch Spencer, but now you have to hope Spence is healthy and Unger Mauls cats at the guard spot.

[Bulltalk]

Praise the Lord! Football season begins.

[Bulltalk]

I've been hearing some good things about some players, and some not as good things about other players so far.

The Good I've Heard

--Justin Forsett
--Cory Redding
--Max Unger
--Nate Burleson
--Rob Sims
--Ken Lucas


The Not So Good I've Heard

--Leroy Hill (bit overweight and unfocused)
--Kelly Jennings (may be fighting for a roster spot)
--Walter Jones (still slowed by injuries)
--TJ Housh... (not bad, just hasn't clicked in yet)

[Bulltalk]

Okay. There's really no good reason to drag out the Aaron Curry contract negotiations any further here now that Tyson has signed just above him in the draft. It will be a disappointment if this contract isn't a done deal by Monday's practice.