kearly
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All based on nothing more than hunches-
Doug Baldwin:
I've barely watched TC practices, so small sample size caveat. But in that small sample size, Doug Baldwin looks like a different guy out there- much closer in form to his 2011 self. No. Better.
Even in 2011, Baldwin struck me as a try hard type. He got results, but he didn't make it look easy. In 2012, he regressed. He improved quite a bit in the final games of the season, but it seemed like every time he and Wilson would connect deep or on a touchdown, Baldwin would come within the razor's edge of screwing it up. There wasn't a clutch pass he wouldn't bobble, etc. Course, he held on to every one of them, but still, you don't like seeing that. It was as if he wasn't used to catching footballs.
The Baldwin I've seen glimpses of in practices though, he seems so much smoother and self assured. He wasn't a guy that made routine plays look really difficult, but a player who made impressive plays with polish. Maybe I'm crazy, but he even looked a touch quicker, too.
I don't know if Baldwin gets much production this season, but I'm guessing he'll win the award for the NFL's best #4 WR by the time the season is over, and there will be a strong demand for his services when he's RFA'd next offseason.
James Carpenter:
Carpenter looks trimmer and muscle bound. Reading body language is a good way to look a fool, but what the hell. To me, Carp exudes the look of someone that thinks he belongs now. Before I don't think he did, I think he felt out of place. Carp flashed some dominance in the run game last year, and that was while he was overweight with a bad knee. Like Sweezy, he needs to improve his protection from bad to passable. If he can manage that, he's Mike Iupati 2.0.
It doesn't take a ton of imagination to see the Seahawks 2013 offensive line being the best in the NFL. They were a lot better last season than their reputation.
Christine Michael:
The last time we had a RB like Christine Michael, the Walrus turned him into the Packers all time leading rusher. That won't happen this time.
As high as my expectations are for Michael since before he was even drafted, I just have this feeling he is going to blow us all away. What happens if he is unstoppable in the preseason? Does Seattle give him 80 touches this season (Turbin's rush total last season) or do they open things up to being a true RB committee? If Michael dominates, it could be a gamechanger, similar to Wilson re-writing the future during his epic 2012 exhibition.
Whoever compared Lynch/Michael to Foster/Tate nailed it. Ben Tate nearly had 1000 yards as a #2 back once. I don't know if Michael gets that much, but I don't think I'd complain one bit if he ended the season with 150+ touches. And if he lives up to his ability, he'll probably get them.
Jermaine Kearse
It's kind of interesting the career path that Kearse is on. He's one of the all time leading receivers for the local college team, and yet very few Huskies fans were happy to see the Seahawks pick him up as an undrafted free agent. I'm a Husky fan, and I value drops less than most, and even I was leery. That's how bad his drop problem was at UW.
That said, there were games at UW where Kearse would put up close to 200 yards receiving and make Locker/Price look like a star in the process. In what many believe was Jake Locker's best game (vs. Oregon State in 2011), it was Jermaine Kearse who hauled in four TD passes, a school record.
He was basically UW's version of Djack, similar size and speed, with a knack for getting open and producing, but with hands of stone. Djack is the most productive Seahawks WR of all time that's not named Steve Largent. That fact amazes me. Kearse was a similar case. He has team records and is high on the all time lists for records he doesn't own. And yet, when Djack left the Seahawks, more than a few Seahawks fans said "good riddance." It was basically the same thing for Kearse at UW.
If Kearse hadn't had the drop problem, he had the measurables and production of a 2nd or 3rd round pick. So what if Kearse has actually cured that drop problem? It's really early, but reports about Kearse have been very positive so far. If he beats the drop problem, he wouldn't be the first. Catching the football is coachable. It probably helps that Russell Wilson throws such a catchable football. Jake Locker did not.
For as quick as Tate, Harvin, and Baldwin are, they do not create separation with their routes. Sidney Rice doesn't either, though he doesn't need to as much with his size. Working themselves open was the #1 issue with our WR corps last season. This isn't a problem for Kearse. He runs sharp routes and has a special sense for finding those shifting soft spots that every defense has. He works to get open, and it earned him a truckload of targets at UW, and even got him a surprisingly good number of targets as a fringe roster WR last season.
Baldwin, Rice, and Harvin are all above average injury risks, but the presence of an improving Kearse is one of the reasons I'm not sweating it too much.
Kearse is a dirt cheap player on one of the NFL's most expensive WR corps. I really hope Seattle keeps Golden Tate, if they don't I'd find it upsetting. But I've accepted that he might be gone. Doug Baldwin might not be a long term fixture either. Kearse has two more dirt cheap years followed by a RFA year. He also seems like the kind of player that would never get paid a ton of money even with big production. So I could definitely see Kearse being here a very long time, if he can conquer his drop issues. And based on the JS interview today, it sounds like Kearse is very much a part of the team's long term plans at this point.
I grimaced a bit when I heard that Kearse signed here. Since then I've been on the fence with him. But after seeing him late last season and hearing the reports from TC, **** it, I'm on the bandwagon. The hands are the only thing holding him back, and there is hope that he's made progress there.
O'Brian Schofield
There is just something to this guy. He looks undersized, and his speed seems just good but not blistering. He's a try hard type. Ruskellian. However, this guy has the "it factor" when it comes to the leadership and intangibles. He's a spark plug, his intensity reminds me of early career Shawn Merriman. Seattle has a lot of athletic players on defense, but most of them are low key. Percy Harvin and Breno Giacomini play with the intensity dial set to 11. We didn't really have that guy on defense. Now we do.
Just a hunch, but I think O'Brian Schofield has the inside track to make the 53, and I even think he'll get some play time at the expense of some big names. This guy isn't going to rack up 10 sacks or anything crazy, but while this defense is loaded with badasses, it hasn't really had a rocket fueled wild man. Schofield kind of seems like the missing piece that you didn't know you needed.
Alvin Bailey
Bailey probably won't start this season, but I think Paul McQuistan should be mighty nervous right now. McQ might not crack the 53 at this rate. Carp will probably take his starting job, and Bailey (who played guard in college) is showing much better athleticism in drills than a lot of people expected. Bailey is very much looking the part of an athletic flex tackle, and he's got some nastiness in him, too. Again, I've seen very little, but Bailey looks legit. I'm excited to see how his preseason unfolds.
Others that I expect to either step up or be very good, but wouldn't consider a surprise: Michael Bennett, Walter Thurmond, JR Sweezy, Antoine Winfield
Intriguing players whom I'll be monitoring closely: Jaye Howard, Winston Guy, Allen Bradford, Craig Wilkins, John Lotulelei, Stephen Williams, Byron Maxwell, Tharold Simon, Luke Willson, Spencer Ware, Michael Bowie, Ty Powell.
Doug Baldwin:
I've barely watched TC practices, so small sample size caveat. But in that small sample size, Doug Baldwin looks like a different guy out there- much closer in form to his 2011 self. No. Better.
Even in 2011, Baldwin struck me as a try hard type. He got results, but he didn't make it look easy. In 2012, he regressed. He improved quite a bit in the final games of the season, but it seemed like every time he and Wilson would connect deep or on a touchdown, Baldwin would come within the razor's edge of screwing it up. There wasn't a clutch pass he wouldn't bobble, etc. Course, he held on to every one of them, but still, you don't like seeing that. It was as if he wasn't used to catching footballs.
The Baldwin I've seen glimpses of in practices though, he seems so much smoother and self assured. He wasn't a guy that made routine plays look really difficult, but a player who made impressive plays with polish. Maybe I'm crazy, but he even looked a touch quicker, too.
I don't know if Baldwin gets much production this season, but I'm guessing he'll win the award for the NFL's best #4 WR by the time the season is over, and there will be a strong demand for his services when he's RFA'd next offseason.
James Carpenter:
Carpenter looks trimmer and muscle bound. Reading body language is a good way to look a fool, but what the hell. To me, Carp exudes the look of someone that thinks he belongs now. Before I don't think he did, I think he felt out of place. Carp flashed some dominance in the run game last year, and that was while he was overweight with a bad knee. Like Sweezy, he needs to improve his protection from bad to passable. If he can manage that, he's Mike Iupati 2.0.
It doesn't take a ton of imagination to see the Seahawks 2013 offensive line being the best in the NFL. They were a lot better last season than their reputation.
Christine Michael:
The last time we had a RB like Christine Michael, the Walrus turned him into the Packers all time leading rusher. That won't happen this time.
As high as my expectations are for Michael since before he was even drafted, I just have this feeling he is going to blow us all away. What happens if he is unstoppable in the preseason? Does Seattle give him 80 touches this season (Turbin's rush total last season) or do they open things up to being a true RB committee? If Michael dominates, it could be a gamechanger, similar to Wilson re-writing the future during his epic 2012 exhibition.
Whoever compared Lynch/Michael to Foster/Tate nailed it. Ben Tate nearly had 1000 yards as a #2 back once. I don't know if Michael gets that much, but I don't think I'd complain one bit if he ended the season with 150+ touches. And if he lives up to his ability, he'll probably get them.
Jermaine Kearse
It's kind of interesting the career path that Kearse is on. He's one of the all time leading receivers for the local college team, and yet very few Huskies fans were happy to see the Seahawks pick him up as an undrafted free agent. I'm a Husky fan, and I value drops less than most, and even I was leery. That's how bad his drop problem was at UW.
That said, there were games at UW where Kearse would put up close to 200 yards receiving and make Locker/Price look like a star in the process. In what many believe was Jake Locker's best game (vs. Oregon State in 2011), it was Jermaine Kearse who hauled in four TD passes, a school record.
He was basically UW's version of Djack, similar size and speed, with a knack for getting open and producing, but with hands of stone. Djack is the most productive Seahawks WR of all time that's not named Steve Largent. That fact amazes me. Kearse was a similar case. He has team records and is high on the all time lists for records he doesn't own. And yet, when Djack left the Seahawks, more than a few Seahawks fans said "good riddance." It was basically the same thing for Kearse at UW.
If Kearse hadn't had the drop problem, he had the measurables and production of a 2nd or 3rd round pick. So what if Kearse has actually cured that drop problem? It's really early, but reports about Kearse have been very positive so far. If he beats the drop problem, he wouldn't be the first. Catching the football is coachable. It probably helps that Russell Wilson throws such a catchable football. Jake Locker did not.
For as quick as Tate, Harvin, and Baldwin are, they do not create separation with their routes. Sidney Rice doesn't either, though he doesn't need to as much with his size. Working themselves open was the #1 issue with our WR corps last season. This isn't a problem for Kearse. He runs sharp routes and has a special sense for finding those shifting soft spots that every defense has. He works to get open, and it earned him a truckload of targets at UW, and even got him a surprisingly good number of targets as a fringe roster WR last season.
Baldwin, Rice, and Harvin are all above average injury risks, but the presence of an improving Kearse is one of the reasons I'm not sweating it too much.
Kearse is a dirt cheap player on one of the NFL's most expensive WR corps. I really hope Seattle keeps Golden Tate, if they don't I'd find it upsetting. But I've accepted that he might be gone. Doug Baldwin might not be a long term fixture either. Kearse has two more dirt cheap years followed by a RFA year. He also seems like the kind of player that would never get paid a ton of money even with big production. So I could definitely see Kearse being here a very long time, if he can conquer his drop issues. And based on the JS interview today, it sounds like Kearse is very much a part of the team's long term plans at this point.
I grimaced a bit when I heard that Kearse signed here. Since then I've been on the fence with him. But after seeing him late last season and hearing the reports from TC, **** it, I'm on the bandwagon. The hands are the only thing holding him back, and there is hope that he's made progress there.
O'Brian Schofield
There is just something to this guy. He looks undersized, and his speed seems just good but not blistering. He's a try hard type. Ruskellian. However, this guy has the "it factor" when it comes to the leadership and intangibles. He's a spark plug, his intensity reminds me of early career Shawn Merriman. Seattle has a lot of athletic players on defense, but most of them are low key. Percy Harvin and Breno Giacomini play with the intensity dial set to 11. We didn't really have that guy on defense. Now we do.
Just a hunch, but I think O'Brian Schofield has the inside track to make the 53, and I even think he'll get some play time at the expense of some big names. This guy isn't going to rack up 10 sacks or anything crazy, but while this defense is loaded with badasses, it hasn't really had a rocket fueled wild man. Schofield kind of seems like the missing piece that you didn't know you needed.
Alvin Bailey
Bailey probably won't start this season, but I think Paul McQuistan should be mighty nervous right now. McQ might not crack the 53 at this rate. Carp will probably take his starting job, and Bailey (who played guard in college) is showing much better athleticism in drills than a lot of people expected. Bailey is very much looking the part of an athletic flex tackle, and he's got some nastiness in him, too. Again, I've seen very little, but Bailey looks legit. I'm excited to see how his preseason unfolds.
Others that I expect to either step up or be very good, but wouldn't consider a surprise: Michael Bennett, Walter Thurmond, JR Sweezy, Antoine Winfield
Intriguing players whom I'll be monitoring closely: Jaye Howard, Winston Guy, Allen Bradford, Craig Wilkins, John Lotulelei, Stephen Williams, Byron Maxwell, Tharold Simon, Luke Willson, Spencer Ware, Michael Bowie, Ty Powell.
