RUMORS: SEA was considering drafting QB early, maybe Mahomes

[UK_Seahawk]

That fact that they didn't acquire any QBs via the draft or free agency would indicate that if they even had any interest, it was about the prospect, as opposed to a desire to find a long-term replacement for Russ.

This is the most sensible thing on this thread. You don't worry about your franchise qb and then​ resign Jake heaps and take a pretty poor udfa.

 

[mikeak]

How good RW was compared to how good he can be is almost irrelevant. The real question is how much an improvement at QB would help the team vs improvement on the offensive and defensive line would help the team.

Considering our system and flaws last year the most improvement to be gained was NOT at the QB position. It would have been dumb to draft a QB in the first theee rounds

 

[Year of The Hawk]

IMHO if true it probably had nothing to do with Russell Wilson. I think they like to take players they think are good (regardless of position) and if they had opportunity to grab a good player who dropped down to where they might get him they would scoop him up. They don't always draft need. Does everyone think Earl and Kam are now looking to be replaced because we drafted some safeties? We could use a backup and if a really good one dropped they would have been stupid not to take him (if they feel he was a good fit),

 

[ivotuk]

Several people mentioned it, but i also think it was a feint. A way to get value out of pick 26.

Plus, if he is available in the 2 or 3 round, he would make a great back up who could later be traded for a high first.

But mostly i think this was JS manipulating the board. Always compete.

How do you think people like Sando get the real inside scoop? By disseminating info that your sources want out there.

Last year our problem wasn't Russell Wilson, it was the defense.

 

[Seahwkgal]

Last year our problem wasn't Russell Wilson, it was the defense.

:2thumbs: Exactly, however I do think that TOP also affected the D. Hopefully we get a running game back this season and I have a gut feeling we will.

 

[Cyrus12]

think of the cap space we would have if we got a new qb and could trade or cut Wilson a couple years from now...

 

[vin.couve12]

I wouldn't have had a problem with it. Wilson is a very good quarterback, but he's just one guy. The QB demigod thing is really, really overplayed anyway. You could even use the 2013 Hawks as an example. The Brady anomaly aside, you don't need an elite QB to get rings and the position and and of itself takes up an inordinate amount of cap space to retain even a decent one.

Hell with it, take the kid gloves off....we might just become a better overall football team like in 2013.

 

[West TX Hawk]

But mostly i think this was JS manipulating the board.

How do you think people like Sando get the real inside scoop? By disseminating info that your sources want out there.

This. Because JS was so secretive to not let on to anyone that we had any intention of considering Pocic for our 2nd pick, isn't it just a little strange that this info about Mahomes was made readily available to the media? This rumor was exactly what PCJS wanted out there.

If they were truly considering a potential Wilson replacement, they would've signed a veteran FA and likely drafted a QB as well. Why would they want to pay Mahomes a 1st round contract to sit the bench for 5 years? Makes no sense. Heaps and "the mad bomber" are pure camp fodder. Wilson is the guy. No story at all.

 

[IrishNW]

I wonder if Wilson just isn't smart enough to grasp what NFL defenses are trying to do. I remember Pete saying he wanted to teach Russell the depths of NFL defensive schemes, what ever happened to that?

 

[vin.couve12]

Nothing is going to happen within the next couple/few years. The problem is that if you see a guy you like, you can give yourself options. That might seem threatening in some points of view, but it is what it is. Wilson might not be here forever and he might have a string of injury ridden years. It's the same with Wagner, Kam, ET, Bennett, Sherm, etc. You can't leave yourself without options.

 

[West TX Hawk]

I wonder if Wilson just isn't smart enough to grasp what NFL defenses are trying to do. I remember Pete saying he wanted to teach Russell the depths of NFL defensive schemes, what ever happened to that?

From an intelligence standpoint, Wilson is among the brightest in the league and his work ethic in studying film is well documented. Often it can take many years to fully master reading NFL defenses. Look for continued improvement next season.

 

[Ad Hawk]

think of the cap space we would have if we got a new qb and could trade or cut Wilson a couple years from now...

Think about how hard it would be to get a QB of RW's caliber in the lower rounds again.

Think about how the Hawks would look with Heap at QB.

Nah, let's not think about it.

I mean, right?

 

[chris98251]

I wonder if Wilson just isn't smart enough to grasp what NFL defenses are trying to do. I remember Pete saying he wanted to teach Russell the depths of NFL defensive schemes, what ever happened to that?

Maybe he is trying to do to much, injured and was making the calls for the line last year as well plus his defense reads and routes etc. He may be smart but asking him to be Peyton Manning might have been a bit more then he was ready for with the line unable to protect him.

 

[bigskydoc]

1 - For a variety of reasons (cough offensive line) Wilson needs a dominant, power running game to be elite. We didn't have that last year, once again for a variety of reasons, and Wilson looked good, but not great. Clearly, this is one thing that the front office gets and is trying to fix. I think they did the right thing by signing Lacy, and continuing the roster churn in the backfield to get things back on track.

2 - The Hawks would be well served by having a solid, developmental QB as a backup. The off-field issues may be the end of Boykin, and I'm, not convinced that he is the type of backup we would like to have. It would be better to have someone we can trade at the end of the rookie contract.

3 - Mahomes would have been a terrible fit here. He needs to work with someone who has a track record of developing QBs, and has a system that fits his skill set. The best teams for him were K.C. and Az. Our system isn't a good fit, and I won't get into the debate over whether we can develop young QBs properly.

I honestly don't understand why the Hawks would leak this. It's not like K.C. needed to be prompted to trade up ahead of AZ. Pretty sure everyone expected that AZ would take him if he was available. It's not like there was a need to push teams toward taking QBs early, that is going to happen every year.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Well, let's stop tender footing around it . . . (COVER YOUR EYES, Anthony!):

WILSON WAS NOT GOOD LAST SEASON.

We all know the "why": Terrible pass protection, no running game, his three significant injuries, Jermaine Kearse falling off the shelf, losing Tyler Lockett, trying to get Graham into the offense more, the limits of our rather vanilla and non-creative offense (in Bevell's defense, you can't begin to get creative when the QB has 2.2 seconds to survive).

The problem is, Wilson started to look shell shocked. Because of those factors, his pocket awareness is not good. He doesn't step up into the pocket (what pocket?), and immediately tries to escape. The problem with the escape artist routine, which worked so well in his first few seasons, is that he came in heavier and slower. As of right now, defenses know how to keep him bottled up. We need our play makers to make them pay for over-defending everything Wilson does. We need a consistent running game that can make defenses think twice.

I am extremely worried about Wilson having David Carr Syndrome. I can't blame him; I blame the coaching staff and the scouts for continually putting out sub par lines. We are wasting the best years of our once in a generation franchise QB. Wilson needs help, from all levels. But as others have pointed out, yeah - he missed a lot of throws last season. His deep ball accuracy, which he used to be great at, was not good. If you watch the All-22, you will see open receivers that Wilson does not see or has no time to get to.

This team cannot afford to have offensive outputs like we did last season. It was embarrassing to watch. 12 points, 3 points, 6 points, 5 points, 13 points scored against the worst defense in the league, 10 points. Those are TOTAL points scored in a game. Abysmal.

Greg, that post surprises me coming from you. You don't break 4,000 passing yards in a season by being not good, especially without a running game. He took a tick downwards, as did most of his stats, but not a significant tick. His completion percentage (64.7%, 2nd best in his career by a hair) is still one that many NFL teams would give their right arms for. Wilson has always underthrown deep passes, every year.

He's also always sought to escape the pocket. You can argue David Carr syndrome if you want, but I think he can just see the field better under those conditions. He's short.

Those games that you cited? Bad, but give credit to elite veteran defensive lines matching up perfectly against a green OL. Also, again, when has Wilson NOT had to win ugly once a month against teams Pete and Darell were obviously caught looking past? Our Super Bowl run had a couple such teams (Tampa). Wilson had a lot of good games, too. In fact, he had more good ones than bad ones. By a margin of 10-5-1, IIRC. That's how you get into the playoffs.

The likeliest interpretation of this rumor is that Pete and John are trying to play four-dimensional chess and ensure early QB runs in next year's draft. I might have wanted to say that they're trying to keep Wilson humble in future contract negotiations, but Wilson's age is too low and Mahomes' draft stock too high (even at #26) to make that practical.

Just my two cents. Yards passing is THE worst metric to use in trying to say he was good. Yards mean nothing ... way too many variables.

If "getting into the playoffs" is your litmus test, great. I personally would like to see us not getting our doors blown off in the Divisional round like we have the last two seasons.

Greg, neither 4,000 passing yards nor playoff qualification are the best metric of a QB, and I know we're not disagreeing that Wilson is special. But those numbers aren't meaningless either. It's pretty awkward to argue that a QB can get there by being "not good" (your words), especially given Wilson's sieve of an offensive line and lack of a consistent running game. Watch the Patriots and Eagles games again and tell me Wilson lost his accuracy and playmaking ability because of his injury. The whole thing is being wildly overstated. He was great even from the pocket in those games. Had the season ended with those games instead of the Cardinals loss, WITH the exact same record, nobody would be criticizing Wilson right now.

He has ALWAYS underthrown some balls. He's ALWAYS had a few off games. Really - what happened to him in 2016 that hasn't happened in previous years? I'll tell you what - confirmation bias. People have been expecting him to implode on an annual basis because of his offensive line, and as soon as he gets injured (ironically, NOT by the offensive line), people go into I-told-you-so mode. That's what we're seeing.

If there's any other factor going on, Wilson's step back in 2016 took the form of more bad games, not an across-the-board decline. That suggests to me that the NFL has figured Wilson out and some teams are doing a good job of executing "The Plan", as far as they're going to. If ten wins, 63% completion ratio, and 21-11 TD/INT is his absolute floor because of all that, I'd say we're in pretty good shape. Most teams would kill for that. From there, we reload both lines, get Rawls and Earl healthy, shut Sherman up, and it's really not hard to see ourselves back in the big game.

 

[seahawkfreak]

Last year our problem wasn't Russell Wilson, it was the defense.

:2thumbs: Exactly, however I do think that TOP also affected the D. Hopefully we get a running game back this season and I have a gut feeling we will.

This is a false fact that I see posted many times in the forums. Not that I condemn the idea in general, it is just a common misconception. The time of possession from season 2012 through 2016, 5 seasons worth, was nominal. Defense was not our problem last year. The rankings do not show it. Scoring touchdowns in the redzone was our absolute most harmful stat last year.

Average Time of Possession (excluding OT)

2012: 31:24
2013: 29:57
2014: 31:26
2015: 31:03
2016: 29:16

[urltargetblank]https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot?date=2016-12-17[/urltargetblank]

 

[IrishNW]

They might just think Mahomes is really good. I'd imagine the board would have had to fall in the worst way possible for him to have been the pick at #26 though.

That fact that they didn't acquire any QBs via the draft or free agency would indicate that if they even had any interest, it was about the prospect, as opposed to a desire to find a long-term replacement for Russ.

I think this probably the most accurate conclusion

 

[Hawks46]

Schneider comes from the GB school of drafting. GB always drafts a QB in the mid rounds (or had until recently), and develops them. When they play well in the preseason it creates a lot of stir, and they typically flip said back up for better or more picks.

I think this is all Seattle is doing. Plus, they need a backup QB.

 

[Fade]

Russell Wilson had a 100+ passer rating when not targeting Kearse.

When targeting Kearse it was at 38 the last time I checked in early Dec. I don't remember what it finished at.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Tumbarello16/status/808420475781181440[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MyersNFL/status/808379519602028544[/tweet]

Take Kearse out of the equation, and Rusell has a typical year passer rating wise, Kearse was awful though, and it ruined Russell's passer rating.

Russell played pretty amazing given the circumstances. The worst O-Line in the sport, No running game, injured in the 1st game of the season, etc. Most QB's would have been placed on IR playing behind that O-Line, Russell gutted it out, he is a champion.

 

[keasley45]

Maybe them considering a qb in the first round is more about them acknowledging what their system or approach to building a Superbowl contending team might be doing to their QB... or has already done to him. Wilson showed last year that he is mortal and and that the he might be getting a little 'punch drunk', gun shy, happy footed... whatever you want to call it, as a result of having to play in their system, behind an o-line that by design, is always to a degree, a work in progress. It's how they've functioned. And as a result, we've reaped the highest reward, but are also beginning to see the toll it takes on the qb position. Not saying they are so blind as to think they can just grab lightning in a bottle every few years and plug in the next RW when the need arises. It.just might be less an indictment of Wilson and maybe more just them realizing that if he has to take the beating he did last year, that his judgement (or any qb's judgement they decide to throw back their) and awareness might decline as prematurely as his body. The qb, regardless of whether or not you believe you need a Tom Brady at the position or Trent Dilfer, is still a critical piece to any team wanting to contend for a title. The hawks front office knows that, but they also don't go about valuing the position the way other teams do. It's not plug and play, but its also not one they devote every off-season trying to protect. So by virtue of that approach, they might feel it necessary to find insurance at the position more frequently than other teams that have 'their guy'. Hey, if you arent going to ever spend a ton making sure your star qb is going to have as long a career as possible, make sure you have a replacement ready when he breaks and make sure that replacement has a skill set that will allow him to flourish regardless of the o line in front of him.