Answers to Your Questions Vol. 7

Howdy All. Well I feel like I am on a roll today. Draft preview....check. Power Rankings.....Check. Obligatory Notre Dame prospect video....huh?(Really I hate ND, but this year for some reason I like their players). So what is left?? Answers to your questions.


I will get right to it. So. Here. We. Go......


Evan... asked what the Vet minimum is and is there a way to find out?

Well this is actually something you will find fascinating. I am not sure where I read this, but I put it in my salary cap notes for future use. The vet minimum is actually 730K this year. However, if you give a player the vet minimum and NO signing bonus, the cap charge is only 438K. It is like an incentive plan to encourage teams to keep vets around. I will go back and see if I can find the source.

Yung Hawk...Asked if Martellus Bennett could slip and what I thought of him?

I originally thought very highly of Bennett, but I have heard several people, including Rob Rang, say that he isn't the kind of player Tim Ruskell usually prefers. He is has a boisterous personality and has a questionable motor. Really, he needs people to light a fire under him, he doesn't really self motivate, or at least that is what is being said. He could slip to the third, but I doubt all the way to the Hawks pick. It is hard to know where the TE's are going to go because a lot are projected in a similar range, so it really is up to the teams.

Lone Star Hawk...asked about Craig Stevens of Cal?

I will only say this. Stevens is probably a fine football player, but he the 8th or so rated TE for a reason. Considering that this is really the one hole the Hawks have to fix, it would make sense for them to get some one higher off their board. Also, where would the team be if it waited to try and get Stevens and then he got taken earlier than expected, there is really nobody who could play right away behind him.

CDALLAN ...asked if it is possible that Leonard Weaver is the best TE on our roster?

I would say no, absolutely not. Weaver is a full back. The team saw him as a fullback when they signed him and have been grooming him for this role. If they thought he had any future at TE they likely would have tried him there by now. If they moved him to TE, it would essentially weaken two positions (FB,TE), so they are much better finding players that they project as good TE's.

Zaxk... Says he tells 10 people a day about the site.

Thank you Zaxk! It is passionate readers like you that have helped it grow so fast. I think that is really cool that you are so pumped about it. I really am enjoying doing it. The more people the better, I say, as long as it stays civil.

Shams... That is a funny term "seahawks widow". She is well aware of how the season goes. She goes to a least a couple of games a year. She also knows I am SOB to be around till about Wednesday if the Hawks lose. She doesn't find it very amusing, but you take the good with the bad right? No one can claim I am not passionate about it!

M|sf|t (is that how you do it?).. asked if we should look at third round Rb's?

To be honest, I think the signings of Jones and Duckett probably tips the Hawks hand that they don't really like a lot of mid to late round backs. I think they may take one at the top if they really like him, or at the very end as a project, but I my guess is they leave the middle round "depth backs" to someone else. My guideline is kind of been, if he is better than Morris right now, consider him, but else just role with Morris, he is cheap and had a career year last season. As far as guys I like in that range... I really like Tashard Choice. He isn't super fast, but he runs hard and he had a really nice catch about 15 yds down field in the Senior Bowl that really opened my eyes to his receiving ability.

Shams...Asked does Larry Tripplett have anything left?

That is the 730K(vet minimum) question. He hasn't gotten much interest has he, which would seem to suggest he doesn't. However, he still only 29. He started all 16 games in each of the last 2 years. Last year he had 18 tackles, 1 sack, 4 tackles for loss, 1 fumble recovery and 1 int. The Hawks like to rotate their DT's to keep them fresh. I think he would work as a rotational guy, but he may want to be a starter. I don't know. His strengths are his athleticism and quickness which suit the Hawks scheme well.

All right bloggies. Thats all for now I hope you are picking up what I am puttin' down! Dig it!