Dream Scenario for the 2016 Offseason

[Willyeye]

I don't think they'll spend half of their draft picks on offensive lineman.

It's clear they like some of the guys on the team some of last years picks who are waiting in the wings. I don't want Sweezy back, I hope they let him walk. I think we'll draft 2-3 players along the OL and another 2 defensive linemen. A linebacker or two, a secondary player and probably either a TE or WR or both.

If they spend at least 2 of their O-Line picks between #56 and #98, I'd be in heaven. I guess I don't really care if they pick at least 3 O-Linemen total, rather than 4. I just don't want picks like Poole or Sokoli this year. No more projects! I think Glowinski was probably a good pick. If they used all 3 O-Line picks on traditional linemen with 3 or 4 years experience at their position in college, I'd be ecstatic. I want guys like Clark, Garnett, Ifedi, Coleman, Martin, Kelly, Spriggs, Glasgow, Beavers, Dahl, Tretola...if they can land 3 of these guys, they should be able to integrate them into the line with the guys we have and make an average O-Line out of it. Wilson doesn't have to have the #1 O-Line in the NFL, but it sucks for him to have the #32 line! With a little luck, this kind of line could become a Top 10 line for a few years and cost the Seahawks very little in cap space. Guys like Okung at $10 million is ridiculous.

I think there are question marks with every one of the names you mentioned. I would be surprised if any rookie will come out and be prepared to be day one starters AND be instant upgrades over Okung and Sweezy. Sure-things go in the first 5-10 picks. That isn't to say that the guys you mentioned are busts, I like some of the names on your list, but to think that just drafting names off that list is going to fix the O-Line is relying on more than just a little luck. I don't think Seattle should avoid OL, but we need to be realistic that anyone they grab is going to be a little bit of a project.

I think not retaining one of Mebane or Rubin would be a mistake as well. You do not patch the interior DL in the draft. I've watched a lot of DL prospects this year, and there are some I like, but DL line is historically one of the hardest positions to get instant impact out of. I don't even think there will be a Frank Clark caliber DL prospect at #26. So even if Seattle doubled up on DL, the probability of having a steep drop off in interior production is very high. I think Seattle needs to stick to the plan and continue to add bargain bin DL FA's, though I expect the market won't necessarily favor us this year.

This plan seems incredibly reliant on having the best draft in franchise history, in a class that I think is weaker than previous years. Particularly at the positions Seattle needs to upgrade. Can it work? Sure. But it does feel a bit like a dream.

I think people get too accustomed to having the same starters every week regardless of whether they are being productive every game. I realize it's a small sample size, but look how well Glowinski played in Week 17. It's impossible to improve things without taking some risks at some point. I think Okung has more bad games than good. I still think Okung and Sweezy should be allowed to walk. I think they can do better with a few draft picks and maybe a couple of cheap FA signings for depth. And I'm not talking about picks like Britt or Poole who were both drafted way higher than they needed to. Britt would very likely have been available in the 5th and Poole in the 7th. Is there a huge dropoff when Bailey plays. Even Nowak might not be so bad...he had to face some really good defenses in his games. If Okung and Sweezy walk, they still have Gilliam, Britt, Lewis, Bailey, Glowinski, Nowak, Jeanpierre, Sokoli and Poole. Add to that another 5 or 6 O-Line guys from the draft and FA, and they have 15 guys competing for 5 spots. I guess I just think Okung and Sweezy are overrated in the eyes of a lot of Seahawk fans.

I kind of agree with you on the D-Line, and I think they'd be wise to keep Rubin at the right price. I think Mebane is gone. Either way, some smart draft picks and 1 or 2 inexpensive FA's should be able to easily replace the aging Mebane.

 

[Willyeye]

With Lynch's retirement, we've got $24.5 million in cap space (assuming $150mil cap), which is enough for 2 mid-level contracts ($4-5 mil apy) and paying our draft class (overthecap says we'll need $6mil http://overthecap.com/draft/). That leaves us with $8.5 million in space for vet minimums/ low price FAs/ injury replacements. I've fine with letting Mebane walk (32 and counting and wants a longer deal), but I really think we should make a push to keep Rubin. Pete said he's the best 3-tech we've had in the JSPC era and his hustle pops off the screen (catching guys 15 yards down the field). Guy never gets moved. I think we'll draft some complementary pieces (hopefully a pass rushing DT), but we really need to keep one of our rocks in the middle. The second contract is TBD. I'd love to keep Lane but he may have a richer market elsewhere. Maybe the injury prone/doesn't play outside much will keep the number in range, but I doubt it. Glow can step right in for Sweezy. Richardson and Smith for Kearse (maybe at 2-3 mil apy but even then I'd think). Draft Okung's replacement/ someone to compete with Bailey.

To free up some space, we could also show Mike Bennett a little love and lower his cap number a $mil or two this year and push his bigger numbers into future, ever-expanding salary caps. Next year is when the 2013 draft class hits the end of their rookie deals and our biggest "priorities" will be Luke Willson and Hill and I wouldn't lose sleep over letting them walk. Haush$ and Baldwin will be the only real UFA priorities and with another $10 mil in cap room, I can imagine those deals could easily be done.

Not sure where you're getting your cap space numbers....According to http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/cap/ we have 29 Mil in cap and that's with Lynch still counting against our cap. With Lynch's retirement, we clear another 6.5 million in cap and we're sitting at about 35.5 million in cap. I'm of the consideration that we're most likely not going to sign Okung. Not at 8 million a year, not even on a 1 year contract. Their are younger guys with less injury problems that would be good fits in free agency, Mitchell Schwartz and Bradley Sowell look the most appealing to me and they would both cost less than Okung combined.

We're most likely going to resign Mebane and Rubin for about the same amount it would take to sign Okung. I see us resigning Lane for 4-5 Mil. a year, especially after the Williams experiment blew up in our faces last year. Lane's a fit, he's young, it'll be incentive laden, but we're keeping him opposite of Sherman. After restructuring Bennett, Kam, possibly Baldwin, resigning our guys minus Okung and Irvin... We're probably looking at having around 12 million in cap, 6 mil of that going to a free agent O-Line combination like Schwartz and Sowell to compete at OT. Maybe an under the radar downfield jump ball WR at a bargain like Marlon Brown or Marvin Jones gets signed.

Bottom Line... We might lose Okung and Irvin, higher priced UFAs, but we're probably going to keep most of our team intact, look for bargains in free agency that round out our team, so we're not heading into the draft in desperate need at a position.

If you go to Overthecap.com, we have $18 million before Lynch, so at that estimate, we have $24.5 million. You then have to sign RFA's, ERFA's, at least a few UFA's, draftees, space for IR, etc. There really isn't a lot of space to spend on expensive UFA's like Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane and Rubin. There's a good chance that they'll have to let all 5 of them leave whether they really want to lose them or not.

I do like your idea of signing some decent FA's at lower salaries. These types of signing will probably be most likely to occur. I wouldn't mind keeping ALL of our FA's this year, but there are around 32 of them...this will be a much tougher offseason than most fans realize.

 

[Willyeye]

Don't we HAVE to resign either Mebane or Rubin?

We can't go into training camp with our two most dependable and effective DT's gone, hoping to replace that sort of depth in FA and the draft.

Resign one, get one in FA and draft one or two.

I just don't see where the space will come from. I think this offseason will be by far the toughest yet when it comes to the cap. They simply don't have much space to work with. I guess they could get lucky and have some of these UFA's sign for cheap, but I don't see that happening. If they could get 2 OL FA's for the price of one Okung, or 2 DL FA's for the price of one Mebane, I think the FO will go that route. And of course they should draft for the trenches...our biggest weaknesses in a lackluster 2015. We'll see.

 

[Basis4day]

Don't we HAVE to resign either Mebane or Rubin?

We can't go into training camp with our two most dependable and effective DT's gone, hoping to replace that sort of depth in FA and the draft.

Resign one, get one in FA and draft one or two.

I just don't see where the space will come from. I think this offseason will be by far the toughest yet when it comes to the cap. They simply don't have much space to work with. I guess they could get lucky and have some of these UFA's sign for cheap, but I don't see that happening. If they could get 2 OL FA's for the price of one Okung, or 2 DL FA's for the price of one Mebane, I think the FO will go that route. And of course they should draft for the trenches...our biggest weaknesses in a lackluster 2015. We'll see.

But if Mebane and Rubin are in decline as you suggest, then how are you certain one of them will be too expensive to retain?

Current estimates on overthecap have us at approx 18 million in cap space. Which players would you advocate us retaining?
Because the cap is only tight if we re-sign people.

 

[pehawk]

I'm all for letting Lane walk. I'm comfortable with Tye, Simon, Shead, cheap FA.

 

[kearly]

Rubin will probably be back, and for more money than some might expect. Pete unequivocally called Rubin the best 3-tech he's had yet in Seattle on a radio appearance last month.

The rest? Let the chips fall where they may.

If Cameron Wake becomes available I'd expect him to end up in Seattle... or Arizona. Let's hope it's the former.

 

[jdemps]

I'm all for letting Lane walk. I'm comfortable with Tye, Simon, Shead, draft pick.

FTFY.

 

[jdemps]

Actually, as a former Griz, I wouldn't mind seeing Trumaine Johnson in a hawks uniform, if the price is right. He's got the height and length. Going to be too expensive, especially after picking up 7 picks last year. Guy can dream.

 

[Willyeye]

With Lynch's retirement, we've got $24.5 million in cap space (assuming $150mil cap), which is enough for 2 mid-level contracts ($4-5 mil apy) and paying our draft class (overthecap says we'll need $6mil http://overthecap.com/draft/). That leaves us with $8.5 million in space for vet minimums/ low price FAs/ injury replacements. I've fine with letting Mebane walk (32 and counting and wants a longer deal), but I really think we should make a push to keep Rubin. Pete said he's the best 3-tech we've had in the JSPC era and his hustle pops off the screen (catching guys 15 yards down the field). Guy never gets moved. I think we'll draft some complementary pieces (hopefully a pass rushing DT), but we really need to keep one of our rocks in the middle. The second contract is TBD. I'd love to keep Lane but he may have a richer market elsewhere. Maybe the injury prone/doesn't play outside much will keep the number in range, but I doubt it. Glow can step right in for Sweezy. Richardson and Smith for Kearse (maybe at 2-3 mil apy but even then I'd think). Draft Okung's replacement/ someone to compete with Bailey.

To free up some space, we could also show Mike Bennett a little love and lower his cap number a $mil or two this year and push his bigger numbers into future, ever-expanding salary caps. Next year is when the 2013 draft class hits the end of their rookie deals and our biggest "priorities" will be Luke Willson and Hill and I wouldn't lose sleep over letting them walk. Haush$ and Baldwin will be the only real UFA priorities and with another $10 mil in cap room, I can imagine those deals could easily be done.

Not sure where you're getting your cap space numbers....According to http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/seattle-seahawks/cap/ we have 29 Mil in cap and that's with Lynch still counting against our cap. With Lynch's retirement, we clear another 6.5 million in cap and we're sitting at about 35.5 million in cap. I'm of the consideration that we're most likely not going to sign Okung. Not at 8 million a year, not even on a 1 year contract. Their are younger guys with less injury problems that would be good fits in free agency, Mitchell Schwartz and Bradley Sowell look the most appealing to me and they would both cost less than Okung combined.

We're most likely going to resign Mebane and Rubin for about the same amount it would take to sign Okung. I see us resigning Lane for 4-5 Mil. a year, especially after the Williams experiment blew up in our faces last year. Lane's a fit, he's young, it'll be incentive laden, but we're keeping him opposite of Sherman. After restructuring Bennett, Kam, possibly Baldwin, resigning our guys minus Okung and Irvin... We're probably looking at having around 12 million in cap, 6 mil of that going to a free agent O-Line combination like Schwartz and Sowell to compete at OT. Maybe an under the radar downfield jump ball WR at a bargain like Marlon Brown or Marvin Jones gets signed.

Bottom Line... We might lose Okung and Irvin, higher priced UFAs, but we're probably going to keep most of our team intact, look for bargains in free agency that round out our team, so we're not heading into the draft in desperate need at a position.

At this point, Spotrac is using some different numbers than Overthecap. Spotrac is estimating the cap at $154 million for 2016. I think most estimates are $150 million, but it could end up higher. On Spotrac, they only have 38 players figured against the cap. The final number for the cap will be 51, so there will be at least another 13 players added at Spotrac. Not sure where the other differences are, but I think Overthecap keeps updating more frequently. Overthecap was also more accurate last year.

 

[hawkfan68]

If it's an only one of either Mebane or Rubin signing thing...then Mebane. Mebane is the better player and he's not that much older than Rubin. Rubin was cheap last year. He played like he was cheap. The bigger issue is Jordan Hill. This guy can never seem to stay healthy. I wish they would have stuck with Jaye Howard or Clinton McDonald instead of Hill.

 

[Basis4day]

If it's an only one of either Mebane or Rubin signing thing...then Mebane. Mebane is the better player and he's not that much older than Rubin. Rubin was cheap last year. He played like he was cheap. The bigger issue is Jordan Hill. This guy can never seem to stay healthy. I wish they would have stuck with Jaye Howard or Clinton McDonald instead of Hill.

Howard didn't show us anything while he was on the team (Wish he did, but can't fault the FO for not retaining him).

We simply got outbid on McDonald. At the time we were looking to re-sign Bennett, Thomas and Sherman. He had a good year in 2014, but so did Hill. He was put on IR last season and missed 10 games.

 

[Willyeye]

Don't we HAVE to resign either Mebane or Rubin?

We can't go into training camp with our two most dependable and effective DT's gone, hoping to replace that sort of depth in FA and the draft.

Resign one, get one in FA and draft one or two.

I just don't see where the space will come from. I think this offseason will be by far the toughest yet when it comes to the cap. They simply don't have much space to work with. I guess they could get lucky and have some of these UFA's sign for cheap, but I don't see that happening. If they could get 2 OL FA's for the price of one Okung, or 2 DL FA's for the price of one Mebane, I think the FO will go that route. And of course they should draft for the trenches...our biggest weaknesses in a lackluster 2015. We'll see.

But if Mebane and Rubin are in decline as you suggest, then how are you certain one of them will be too expensive to retain?

Current estimates on overthecap have us at approx 18 million in cap space. Which players would you advocate us retaining?
Because the cap is only tight if we re-sign people.

Actually, the cap is $24.5 million when you add in savings from the retirement of Lynch. The situation is more dire than you can imagine, especially if what you want is to re-sign some of our Free Agents.

There are currently 31 (THIRTY-ONE) FA's on the Seahawks...this includes UFA's, RFA's and ERFA's. That leaves only 22 players from last season that are definitely playing for the Seahawks this year. Of those 22, some would be the kicker and long snapper...some are special teams guys. A lot of the inexpensive UFA's, RFA's and ERFA's will be re-signed for depth. We have 17 Unrestricted Free Agents this year (7 of them "starters": Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane, Rubin, Lane and Kearse) that will be UFA's unless they are re-signed by the Hawks in the next month. Graham will likely begin the season on the IR. This means that we don't even have close to enough starters left to field a complete offense and defense. We will also need to set aside $7 million to sign new draftees. There will probably be around $10-15 million left for FA's including our own (31 of them). Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane, Rubin, Lane and Kearse...how do we re-sign them even with $15 million? Who do you think is necessary to re-sign of those 7 starters? What happens to guys like Tarvaris Jackson, Fred Jackson, Derrick Coleman, Dobbs, Tukuafu, Mike Morgan, Patrick Lewis, Jeanpierre, Bailey, Michael, Shead, Burley, Helfet, Pinkins, Seisay, Kevin Williams and Jon Ryan...these are all FA's this year. If we were to use up all of the cap space to sign Okung, Irvin, Mebane, Sweezy, Rubin Land and Kearse, not only would we be short of cap space, but we'd have only 29 players of our 53-man roster, and probably not have enough to sign our draftees. Some of these 7 players will not be signed this year. It's literally impossible to keep them all.

 

[SoCalSeahawk]

For you guys that review All 22, do you think Britt can play an acceptable RT? I have wondered if Gilliam to LT has been the plan all along and Pete/Tom wanted max reps this year so they put him at RT even though they thought Britt still had a future there. If Gilliam and Britt are the bookends and Glowinski is the future RG, then we are looking for LG and C in the off season. With Sokoli still a year away (?), the C might be a short term fix by remaining status quo or possibly via free agency. A big nasty LG will be a draft priority in round 2 or 3 regardless, IMO. Maybe a DT in round 1 or just BPA.

You can't coach Big Nasty! I think we need an infusion both sides of the line.

 

[Basis4day]

Don't we HAVE to resign either Mebane or Rubin?

We can't go into training camp with our two most dependable and effective DT's gone, hoping to replace that sort of depth in FA and the draft.

Resign one, get one in FA and draft one or two.

I just don't see where the space will come from. I think this offseason will be by far the toughest yet when it comes to the cap. They simply don't have much space to work with. I guess they could get lucky and have some of these UFA's sign for cheap, but I don't see that happening. If they could get 2 OL FA's for the price of one Okung, or 2 DL FA's for the price of one Mebane, I think the FO will go that route. And of course they should draft for the trenches...our biggest weaknesses in a lackluster 2015. We'll see.

But if Mebane and Rubin are in decline as you suggest, then how are you certain one of them will be too expensive to retain?

Current estimates on overthecap have us at approx 18 million in cap space. Which players would you advocate us retaining?
Because the cap is only tight if we re-sign people.

Actually, the cap is $24.5 million when you add in savings from the retirement of Lynch. The situation is more dire than you can imagine, especially if what you want is to re-sign some of our Free Agents.

There are currently 31 (THIRTY-ONE) FA's on the Seahawks...this includes UFA's, RFA's and ERFA's. That leaves only 22 players from last season that are definitely playing for the Seahawks this year. Of those 22, some would be the kicker and long snapper...some are special teams guys. A lot of the inexpensive UFA's, RFA's and ERFA's will be re-signed for depth. We have 17 Unrestricted Free Agents this year (7 of them "starters": Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane, Rubin, Lane and Kearse) that will be UFA's unless they are re-signed by the Hawks in the next month. Graham will likely begin the season on the IR. This means that we don't even have close to enough starters left to field a complete offense and defense. We will also need to set aside $7 million to sign new draftees. There will probably be around $10-15 million left for FA's including our own (31 of them). Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane, Rubin, Lane and Kearse...how do we re-sign them even with $15 million? Who do you think is necessary to re-sign of those 7 starters? What happens to guys like Tarvaris Jackson, Fred Jackson, Derrick Coleman, Dobbs, Tukuafu, Mike Morgan, Patrick Lewis, Jeanpierre, Bailey, Michael, Shead, Burley, Helfet, Pinkins, Seisay, Kevin Williams and Jon Ryan...these are all FA's this year. If we were to use up all of the cap space to sign Okung, Irvin, Mebane, Sweezy, Rubin Land and Kearse, not only would we be short of cap space, but we'd have only 29 players of our 53-man roster, and probably not have enough to sign our draftees. Some of these 7 players will not be signed this year. It's literally impossible to keep them all.

Simple. You don't retain everyone. But your estimate on cap space appears to assume that every player counts against the cap in 2016 without taking into account prorated signing bonuses or restructuring of existing contracts. Also, many of the FA are ERFA or RFA, which gives us flexibility.

But my question to you is, who do you propose we retain? Not everyone will walk and all i really see is that you took all the players with the highest assumed cap number in 2016 and let them walk.

So if you want Okung, Sweezy, Irvin, Mebane and Rubin to walk, who are you proposing we retain?

 

[Willyeye]

I just don't see where the space will come from. I think this offseason will be by far the toughest yet when it comes to the cap. They simply don't have much space to work with. I guess they could get lucky and have some of these UFA's sign for cheap, but I don't see that happening. If they could get 2 OL FA's for the price of one Okung, or 2 DL FA's for the price of one Mebane, I think the FO will go that route. And of course they should draft for the trenches...our biggest weaknesses in a lackluster 2015. We'll see.

But if Mebane and Rubin are in decline as you suggest, then how are you certain one of them will be too expensive to retain?

Current estimates on overthecap have us at approx 18 million in cap space. Which players would you advocate us retaining?
Because the cap is only tight if we re-sign people.

Actually, the cap is $24.5 million when you add in savings from the retirement of Lynch. The situation is more dire than you can imagine, especially if what you want is to re-sign some of our Free Agents.

There are currently 31 (THIRTY-ONE) FA's on the Seahawks...this includes UFA's, RFA's and ERFA's. That leaves only 22 players from last season that are definitely playing for the Seahawks this year. Of those 22, some would be the kicker and long snapper...some are special teams guys. A lot of the inexpensive UFA's, RFA's and ERFA's will be re-signed for depth. We have 17 Unrestricted Free Agents this year (7 of them "starters": Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane, Rubin, Lane and Kearse) that will be UFA's unless they are re-signed by the Hawks in the next month. Graham will likely begin the season on the IR. This means that we don't even have close to enough starters left to field a complete offense and defense. We will also need to set aside $7 million to sign new draftees. There will probably be around $10-15 million left for FA's including our own (31 of them). Irvin, Okung, Sweezy, Mebane, Rubin, Lane and Kearse...how do we re-sign them even with $15 million? Who do you think is necessary to re-sign of those 7 starters? What happens to guys like Tarvaris Jackson, Fred Jackson, Derrick Coleman, Dobbs, Tukuafu, Mike Morgan, Patrick Lewis, Jeanpierre, Bailey, Michael, Shead, Burley, Helfet, Pinkins, Seisay, Kevin Williams and Jon Ryan...these are all FA's this year. If we were to use up all of the cap space to sign Okung, Irvin, Mebane, Sweezy, Rubin Land and Kearse, not only would we be short of cap space, but we'd have only 29 players of our 53-man roster, and probably not have enough to sign our draftees. Some of these 7 players will not be signed this year. It's literally impossible to keep them all.

Simple. You don't retain everyone. But your estimate on cap space appears to assume that every player counts against the cap in 2016 without taking into account prorated signing bonuses or restructuring of existing contracts. Also, many of the FA are ERFA or RFA, which gives us flexibility.

But my question to you is, who do you propose we retain? Not everyone will walk and all i really see is that you took all the players with the highest assumed cap number in 2016 and let them walk.

So if you want Okung, Sweezy, Irvin, Mebane and Rubin to walk, who are you proposing we retain?

I'm not sure how many restructures they will want to do, just to kick the can down the road for another year. There are 17 UFA's, and 14 RFA's/ERFA's. 31 total FA's. That's a lot of free agents in one year. One other issue comes to mind: in the last few seasons, how many times did the Seahawks wait until the last minute to re-sign a player for another year or longer? I could be forgetting someone, but it seems to me the people that they wanted to keep they extended a year before their contracts expired. There were a few times they signed guys back after they were unable to find a new home, but the Hawks were definitely at risk of losing those players.

Don't get me wrong here...it's not that I want them to walk...it's simply that we most likely won't have enough space to sign any of them, and the reason that I mention these particular guys is because they will be the most expensive UFA's. I don't think they'll have the cap space to sign any of these 5 players. I think all 5 will want to get paid a lot more than Seattle can pay them. It is also about value. Do I think Okung is worth $10 million APY to the Seahawks? No. I don't think his performance in 2016 will justify that kind of cap hit...I think Okung will become the next Byron Maxwell, just hopefully not on our team. Also, if they give Okung $10 million, that will take 5-7 other guys off the table. We still need at least 53 guys.

 

[Hawks46]

I don't think they'll spend half of their draft picks on offensive lineman.

It's clear they like some of the guys on the team some of last years picks who are waiting in the wings. I don't want Sweezy back, I hope they let him walk. I think we'll draft 2-3 players along the OL and another 2 defensive linemen. A linebacker or two, a secondary player and probably either a TE or WR or both.

If they spend at least 2 of their O-Line picks between #56 and #98, I'd be in heaven. I guess I don't really care if they pick at least 3 O-Linemen total, rather than 4. I just don't want picks like Poole or Sokoli this year. No more projects! I think Glowinski was probably a good pick. If they used all 3 O-Line picks on traditional linemen with 3 or 4 years experience at their position in college, I'd be ecstatic. I want guys like Clark, Garnett, Ifedi, Coleman, Martin, Kelly, Spriggs, Glasgow, Beavers, Dahl, Tretola...if they can land 3 of these guys, they should be able to integrate them into the line with the guys we have and make an average O-Line out of it. Wilson doesn't have to have the #1 O-Line in the NFL, but it sucks for him to have the #32 line! With a little luck, this kind of line could become a Top 10 line for a few years and cost the Seahawks very little in cap space. Guys like Okung at $10 million is ridiculous.

They aren't going to spend a lot of high draft capital on Offensive Linemen. Pete and John do have drafting tendencies, but it just took people a while to catch on. You have to listen to what they say, then watch what they do.

First off, they have a tendency to shore up at least one area of need with FA so they don't go into the draft pigeon holed into drafting for need. The cheapest area to do this with the most efficiency is the offensive line. I also think they go away from their usual strategy of going after guys 26 or younger. I think they add a couple of late 20's veterans to the line before the draft.

Secondly, Schneider has said that with the prevalence of the spread in college, the offensive line is becoming a position that needs a year or two to season in the NFL and isn't a position you can count on to come in and produce at a high level right away. This is also a reason why people on this board are pulling their hair out and screaming "cutt Britt now!" and I'm betting Pete and John aren't even worried about the guy. The short of it is that you can't just throw a bunch of draft picks at the OL and expect it to be instantly better. You're going to have a 1st half of 2012 or first half of 2015 type of learning curve if you add three or four new starters via the draft.

The OP is advocating that we let Okung walk, let Sweezy walk, draft a Center, and I'm guessing let Glowsinski and Britt compete for a spot. Throwing a bunch of high round draft picks at the OL isn't a panacea.

If we want our defense to go back to a elite level, we need interior pass rush. Now, can Clark provide that ? Adding edge rush can push Bennett inside more often, but we need a dominant 3T DT at some point. Also, KPL isn't going to be the answer to letting Irvin walk. People will be surprised at how bad our run defense to that side will become, and KPL isn't the player in coverage that Irvin is either.

 

[bigskydoc]

Actually, as a former Griz, I wouldn't mind seeing Trumaine Johnson in a hawks uniform, if the price is right. He's got the height and length. Going to be too expensive, especially after picking up 7 picks last year. Guy can dream.

He's going to get paid. No way we can afford him.

-bsd

 

[Scottemojo]

No way Rubin and Bane both go. Not with us giving up 83.7 yards a game on the ground, 3rd in the league, and .3 yards, 1 measly foot, out of first vs the run.
We do need a bigger 3rd down middle guy, but that is the role Hill is supposed to play. While I like the idea of Bane on some third downs, he can't play 3 downs and finish the game with any gas, so for him to be in on 3rd he would have to go out on some first and second downs.

I think much of our available cap will be spent on our line. Okung might be gone, in fact Okung might want to be gone, but if his injury and surgery scare people away, the self represented Okung might return to Seattle and no income tax for a season. He would have to be a relative bargain. I feel like there is about a 25 percent chance it breaks this way.
My gut tells me we get a vet center in free agency. Our line is Gilliam, Glow at LG, vet center, Sweezy (sorry haters, but they love Sweezy in the front office), and Britt back to RT. Sokoli is the wild card, but to me counting on him before 2017, or ever, is pie in the sky.

I don't have a dream scenario for 2016. The future needs youth at DT, but investing in rookies higher in the draft at DT has not been Pete's way, signing vets on short terms has been more the thing, especially the 2 down guys. Pass rushers and long corners are still understocked commodities in the NFL, I would expect that Lane leaves for good money and Pete and John would gladly accept another hole in the offensive line if they could get or retain a pass rusher for the right money.

The fly in the ointment is Chancellor and Bennett. Neither will be happy on their current deals. Bennett in particular is going to see Von Miller get PAID. Bennett is a 3 down beast who played through injury, and like it or not, deserves a bump in pay. redoing his deal with some easily attained performance incentives, some based on per game availability, makes sense.
Quietly shopping Chancellor also makes sense. I don't like it, but it makes sense. Of course, Chancellor not being pouty for the remainder of his contract also makes sense.

As always, depth is the biggest issue.

 

[RichNhansom]

I miss the days of Zach Miller and Mike Rob. Their blocking ability masked a ton of problems on the O-line and IMO filling that void plus maybe a veteran RB who excels at blocking like Forte for 3rd downs would go a very long way in providing flexibility to make changes on the line.

Let Okung walk. I'll gladly take the comp pick and development time for someone who has the ability of availability so the line has a chance to gel and become cohesive.

I think a proven FA veteran center would go a very long way also in helping the line develop.

 

[kearly]

JS is pretty much always in bargain shopping mode. I think they will let the market determine where they spend their money, rather than feeling they have a gun to their head to sign specific players. Whether they spend on OL or not will be decided by the market.

I think they also really want a pass rusher, but Pete hinted that it would be in the draft. I sure hope not, this draft is not that great for pass rushers, and Seattle's success at pass rusher so far has been almost entirely with veterans (Brock, Clemons, Avril, Bennett).