Great article on Lockett

[netskier]

Makes sense to me. I can barely wait.

 

[rideaducati]

Graham lined up in line or four feet further out than TEs usually line up most of the time. That was to avoid traffic more than anything because he wasn't asked to block very often. He was at or outside the numbers on 22% of plays, so it wasn't like he was out wide all the time. I'm sure lining Graham up outside was to pull a defender away from their run game and this strategy will be used by the Seahawks at times too, but I don't expect Graham to be out wide except on third downs and goal line situations.

 

[Seafan]

Graham is not a receiver. He's a TE. And while he might flex out occasionally, he's not going to play receiver as a regular position. I think Darrell and Pete have learned from Harvin that you don't alter your philosophy and identity to cater to one player. Graham will play mostly in line, and occasionally flex out to the slot or flanker, like we have occasionally done with Wilson and even Lynch.

Graham is a receiver. He's the best receiver on the team. He will flex out but he will be in the slot most of the time. Every time he's on the field he will be a receiver. He will either be split or in the slot. He will always be a receiver.

 

[Ad Hawk]

Graham is not a receiver. He's a TE. And while he might flex out occasionally, he's not going to play receiver as a regular position. I think Darrell and Pete have learned from Harvin that you don't alter your philosophy and identity to cater to one player. Graham will play mostly in line, and occasionally flex out to the slot or flanker, like we have occasionally done with Wilson and even Lynch.

Graham is a receiver. He's the best receiver on the team. He will flex out but he will be in the slot most of the time. Every time he's on the field he will be a receiver. He will either be split or in the slot. He will always be a receiver.

So... wait a sec... what are you saying here?

 

[McGruff]

Graham is not a receiver. He's a TE. And while he might flex out occasionally, he's not going to play receiver as a regular position. I think Darrell and Pete have learned from Harvin that you don't alter your philosophy and identity to cater to one player. Graham will play mostly in line, and occasionally flex out to the slot or flanker, like we have occasionally done with Wilson and even Lynch.

Graham is a receiver. He's the best receiver on the team. He will flex out but he will be in the slot most of the time. Every time he's on the field he will be a receiver. He will either be split or in the slot. He will always be a receiver.

I guess we'll have to wait and see. I expect Graham will play slot and receiver, but I don't expect the Seahawks to change what they do so much that they won't play him as a TE most of the time.

 

[Ozzy]

Just because the Saints flexed him out wide 68% of the time don't expect the Seahawks to do the same. Two completely different offenses. I think Graham will stay in line or slightly off more than most probably expect. It lends itself well to the read option and the running game. he will definitely move around a lot but I expect a little of both.

I think Lockett on day one is the most talented receiver on the team. He probably doesn't start on day one but similar to Richardson last year he works himself into a starter role at some point mostly on the outside although him and Doug will probably move around a bunch too. Can't wait to see the offense this year, should be a fun one.

 

[McGruff]

Now I know we aren't throwing the ball around 40-45 times game, but I see Lockett and Richardson becoming our Duper and Clayton. Back in the 70's big CB's were all the rage, and the Dolphins countered with two little quick rats who tied big CB's in knots on the field. I think we are doing something similar.

 

[Ozzy]

I think your assessment is spot on.

 

[bigskydoc]

If we don't alter our game plan, then it was a wasted trade. With the Richardson, Lockett, and Graham additions, I think we are seeing the evolution of the Hawks offense as Russell Wilson matures into a NFL vet QB. The foundation for a post-Lynch Seahawks attack has been laid, and it is more akin to a high volume passing attack than the Lynch power fest that has been our identity. No, I don't expect that a Carroll team will ever abandon that power run foundation completely, but I do think we are looking at a transition to a more balanced attack in the next couple of years as we phase Lynch into retirement. The plan to start that transition last year blew up in our face spectacularly and we had to do a retooling mid-season. If you are paying Wilson top QB money, you will want to get top QB production out of him in the passing game, and now the pieces are in place to let him demonstrate his skills in this arena. If I were the Hawks, I would like to see what he does this year before I sign the big contract.

Back to the topic at hand, I think that we will see a lot of Graham off the line in situations that aren't clear cut running or passing downs. That opens up a lot of options. I would like to see some read-option runs going away from where Graham is split out, followed by the kill shot fake RO bait away from his side of the field, pass back across the field to him. He will have more time in tight than he did in NO, but he probably will do less blocking than we are used to seeing from our TE. I also expect that he will run some more interesting routes from the line than the typical chip and go that we are accustomed to from our TEs. I think there will be a subtle change in game plan to cater to his strengths. This is very different from Harvin where the alterations we had to make to accommodate him were not complementary to the prevailing game plan. The way we used Harvin actually allowed additional defenders to pinch in, super stack the box, and shut down the running and RO game. Whatever the issues were with Harvin (fear of injury, can't learn routes, whatever) that forced us to use him for gadget RB plays they won't be an issue for Graham. The situations are completely different and you really can't legitimately say that altering a game plan for Jimmy is somehow doomed to fail because altering the game plan for Percy was a failure.

-bsd

 

[Sports Hernia]

I keep reminding myself to temper my enthusiasm about this kid. WR's take time to grow in the NFL (usually) but I think he'll have an impact as a PR/KR right away.

But, after watching a fair amount of his game tape...damn! Did you see some of the moves he put on DB's while running at full speed? Wow.

Yeah, I think he's going to be a playmaker right out of the box.

 

[Anonymous]

Just how he points for his blockers is cool.

:mrgreen:

 

[Lords of Scythia]

Taking the top off the defense will depend on Lockett's ability to get through contact coming off the line without having his route disrupted. This is the issue with these skinny-ass recievers. Richardson was supposed to take the top off, but he'd alway get knocked off his route by the db.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

Graham is not a receiver. He's a TE. And while he might flex out occasionally, he's not going to play receiver as a regular position. I think Darrell and Pete have learned from Harvin that you don't alter your philosophy and identity to cater to one player. Graham will play mostly in line, and occasionally flex out to the slot or flanker, like we have occasionally done with Wilson and even Lynch.

Graham played quite a bit as a receiver at NO. He actually filed a lawsuit over his franchise tag $ because he wanted to be paid as a rec, which is quite a bit more. Him linining up at rec will give us deadly options next season. GO HAWKS!

 

[Lords of Scythia]

Agreed. So we have a difference in predictions here, which will add a little something to observing the games this year. Will the Hawks use Graham as they have previous tight ends, or will they break with that tradition, and deploy him in new ways. I predict the latter.

I think they should deploy him as far away from Marshawn as possible, in order to pull defenders as far away from Marshawn as possible. Make defenders choose between Graham and Marshawn.

Perhaps I am wrong, but doesn't this suggest deploying Graham out wide since we run Marshawn up the middle? Why would we want to line up Jimmy, with his TWO defenders, close to Marshawn? Jimmy playing inline can only block ONE defender at a time, but he can pull TWO defenders away from Marshawn at the same time.

Graham, hopefully, will compliment Lynch--giving the ball to one of them will open up the other--the defenses will be all like: Pick your poison. Who ya gonna double? It'll open up the other receivers and Wilson's scrambling yardage. God, if this works it could be INCREDIBLE.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

If we don't alter our game plan, then it was a wasted trade. With the Richardson, Lockett, and Graham additions, I think we are seeing the evolution of the Hawks offense as Russell Wilson matures into a NFL vet QB. The foundation for a post-Lynch Seahawks attack has been laid, and it is more akin to a high volume passing attack than the Lynch power fest that has been our identity. No, I don't expect that a Carroll team will ever abandon that power run foundation completely, but I do think we are looking at a transition to a more balanced attack in the next couple of years as we phase Lynch into retirement. The plan to start that transition last year blew up in our face spectacularly and we had to do a retooling mid-season. If you are paying Wilson top QB money, you will want to get top QB production out of him in the passing game, and now the pieces are in place to let him demonstrate his skills in this arena. If I were the Hawks, I would like to see what he does this year before I sign the big contract.

Back to the topic at hand, I think that we will see a lot of Graham off the line in situations that aren't clear cut running or passing downs. That opens up a lot of options. I would like to see some read-option runs going away from where Graham is split out, followed by the kill shot fake RO bait away from his side of the field, pass back across the field to him. He will have more time in tight than he did in NO, but he probably will do less blocking than we are used to seeing from our TE. I also expect that he will run some more interesting routes from the line than the typical chip and go that we are accustomed to from our TEs. I think there will be a subtle change in game plan to cater to his strengths. This is very different from Harvin where the alterations we had to make to accommodate him were not complementary to the prevailing game plan. The way we used Harvin actually allowed additional defenders to pinch in, super stack the box, and shut down the running and RO game. Whatever the issues were with Harvin (fear of injury, can't learn routes, whatever) that forced us to use him for gadget RB plays they won't be an issue for Graham. The situations are completely different and you really can't legitimately say that altering a game plan for Jimmy is somehow doomed to fail because altering the game plan for Percy was a failure.

-bsd

3 o-line rookies in the draft supports your thesis. "Super stack" sounds damn good to me right now, but maybe that's because I got a Fender super-strat last month.

 

[FPD]

I keep reminding myself to temper my enthusiasm about this kid. WR's take time to grow in the NFL (usually) but I think he'll have an impact as a PR/KR right away.

But, after watching a fair amount of his game tape...damn! Did you see some of the moves he put on DB's while running at full speed? Wow.

You took the words right out of my mouth Matt. I have my reservations about the kid due to his small stature, but man his game tape looks good!

 

[McGruff]

Graham is not a receiver. He's a TE. And while he might flex out occasionally, he's not going to play receiver as a regular position. I think Darrell and Pete have learned from Harvin that you don't alter your philosophy and identity to cater to one player. Graham will play mostly in line, and occasionally flex out to the slot or flanker, like we have occasionally done with Wilson and even Lynch.

Graham played quite a bit as a receiver at NO. He actually filed a lawsuit over his franchise tag $ because he wanted to be paid as a rec, which is quite a bit more. Him linining up at rec will give us deadly options next season. GO HAWKS!

People keep saying this, but first all, it's not entirely true. The vast majority of those WR snaps were 5 yards or les off the line. Not even slot.

Second of all, how New Orleans used him is irrelevant. How Seattle uses him is what matters. And I am guessing that as long as Cable, Bennett and Pete are here, we can expect our TE'S to be in line e more often than not.

 

[netskier]

Interesting. I am guessing, really hoping, that they change.

Logic suggests that JG will attract at least two defenders, so it makes sense to deploy JG as far as possible away from where Marshawn is likely to run, I.e., to deploy JG as far away from the box in order to open up the running game for Marshawn.

Clearly JG can only block one box defender, but he can remove TWO box defenders. Which is better? Arithmetic suggests the answer. Two is better than one.

Can logic overcome tradition and the Bevell effect? Realistically, probably not, but it is more fun to hope for the best.

As I wrote this, my gut tells me that you are right, and that my mind is wrong. Damn.

 

[Atradees]

If we don't alter our game plan, then it was a wasted trade.

Yes, we will cater our offense some to Graham. We will play to his strengths.

 

[Tech Worlds]

If we try to use Jimmy like we do all our other tight ends we are stupid.