Despite quotes recently by both Tim Ruskell and Mike Holmgren regarding Shaun Alexander being important to the team next year, the Hawks are putting feelers out into the cheap veteran running back market. Recently they were tied by Seahawks.net to TJ Duckett. UH! Now they were said to be interested in Aaron Stecker as well. To see whats going on.....
THis is from Seahawks.net....
Seahawks Checking Out a DVD? -- Free agent running back T.J. Duckett was reported to have visited the Seahawks recently. The six-year veteran has played for the Falcons, Redskins and Lions. The 6'0", 254-pound back never found a good fit with Detroit in 2007, but he was part of the vaunted "DVD" backfield with Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn in Atlanta from 2002 through 2005. Duckett could help the Seahawks in short-yardage situations.
Now this from the New Orleans Times Picayune....
"Stecker said Seattle also showed interest, but he preferred to stay put."
What does this mean? Well it hard to imagine another veteran RB coming in to play 3rd string to Alexander and Morris. My guess is that the plan is to draft a RB. They probably want to cut Alexander and gain the 4 million in cap room, but are not willing to do so with out a contingency plan. Also, they probably don't want to hand a rookie the job from day 1. It would make more sense to have veterans bring him along until he was ready for a full time role. Stecker to me makes a lot more sense than Duckett, because he fits what the Hawks do. He is effective in the passing game. He pass protects and can catch the ball. That said, he is only a glorified 3rd down back, so if the go this route, Ruskell better be willing to all his chips in the middle come April and get the back he thinks will be the best for the Seattle Seahawks.
If the Hawks were going to stay put with shaun and mo all of this talk would not be happening. To me this is great, get the city church guy off the team and bring in some desire. Draft, FA, who cares.
ReplyDeleteMichael - who would be the 3 best backs in the draft THAT would fit our SYSTEM (not the 3 best backs), and what round are they projected?
ReplyDeleteOregonHawk
thank God we are looking to change our backfield !! Yeah, thanks Shaun for one amazing year but I am tired of watching him fall down before he even gets touched. If all of you remember, he was doing this before his great year ( which happened to be his contract year ) and he is doing it again after he signed that mega deal. I just want someone who is going to run hard and try to break a tackle or two!!
ReplyDeleteMorris tries, he just doesn't have the size to do so consistently.
Jeff
If we are lookin at free agent RB's i like derrick ward from the giants...he runs hard between the tackles...not afraid of contact..downside...he may be injury prone...broken leg last season
ReplyDelete(re-posted from where I posted it earlier) :)
ReplyDeleteAfter listening to some of the elite of (shameless plug deleted), management has decided to offer SA a
99 year extension, for something like 29 million a year with a 200 million
dollar signing bonus.
When asked Ruskell said that he felt SA could come back to at least 20% of
2005 and that his contribution to that ancient history merited reward.
They are not going to cut Alexander this year at all. I think they are looking for the 2009 addition of a new RB and they are looking at the future. Alexander may have a good year this year but he will retire within the next two so they need his replacement.
ReplyDeleteStecker is 32, and I think Duckett is going to be 28 before the season, so I think I would argue that they are looking to sign someone for the future. These guys could be out of the league in a year or two
ReplyDeleteidaho,i wouldnt count on that. SA has had to very unprodutive years with a huge cap hit. i am sure that ruskell can come up with better ways to spend 4 mil. also wouldnt suprise me one bit if we traded up or down in the draft.
ReplyDeleteThe title of this blog post "definitely" needs a little tweak.
ReplyDeletewhat stimpqb1 said confirms the anti-christain bias of the majority of shuan haters here and on most fan blogs. could you please explain to me what his being the city "church" boy has to do with his running effectiveness? he was a church boy as league mvp in 05 as well. hey, man, if you wanna say he's stinkin' as a running back, ok, but his christianity should be left out of it. just shows how insecure folks in the wrong camp in life are made to feel threatened by the truth. this blog will get me the old "just talk football" rebuke, but i did'nt broach the subject. just responding. this is a great blog, and the best going right now, by the way. good job!
ReplyDeleteGreat talking point here. It's obvious that we're looking at the RB situation. It's not like they'd have Morris, Alexander and Duckett. Chances are we're going to explore a running back in the draft, so those numbers dont add up.
ReplyDeleteThose who are sentimental to the 2005 Shaun will say 'he wont be cut, he can still do the business' but those of us who are a bit more realistic see a guy whose best days are behind him, has lost a yard or two in the legs and is starting to pick up injuries.
We needed to revamp our O Line AND the RB situation this off season. We won't win jack without a running game to compliment Matt Hass.
That means a new starting running back who can take the load, and some supporting guys.
I love what Chris Johnson would bring to this team as a change of pace back and also catching out of the backfield. He'll be a steal if Jo Stewart is off the board.
I wouldn't mind bringing in one of these veterans, but I think that its clear that he won't be a long-term fix and we will draft someone this year.
ReplyDeleteStill, while Shaun was completely worthless last year and pretty much the year prior as well, I think he does have some potential to put some numbers up this year. Our improved O-line will help the running game a lot, I think. I would be happy to see a two-headed back system with a focus on the pass like we had towards the end of last year. If the line increases our running game by about 25% we should be pretty hard to stop, assuming our young wide-outs are performing.
The point the Shaun lovers gloss over is the fact that he is running for something under 800 yards a season, last year with (count it) ONE touch down. It doesnt matter if we lure Jim Brown or OJ Simpson out of retirement, behind our line they would crack that number and probably for significantly less money.
ReplyDeleteMy personal opinion has absolutely zero to do with his (Alexander) beliefs, or mine, other than that he is a super crappy deal for what we are paying him, whether he loves his mommy and Jesus too or not.
Shaun of the Lawn needs to be Gaun...
anon, your kneejerk anti-christian observation regarding SA is offbase. inside every hater of limp-wristed floppy SA is a lover of stiff-arm hard-running Leonard Weaver. FYI: Weaver is extremely Christian. his stiff arm is nicknamed "The Baptism." in college he was nicknamed "The Bishop" for spending so much time with musical ministry. calling out SA as "church guy" is less about his beliefs and more about his obvious traits, like calling someone 4-eyes or tubby.
ReplyDeletehe hasnt been much of a receiver but i expected duckett in a hawks uniform last year. i hope it happens.
also: april 26-27 (draft), june 1 (cap limit), sept 1 (final 53-man roster)... there is plenty of time to cut SA, no need for the FO to show their hand too early.
The 4 million in free cap room I do not think is correct. I have heard john clayton say multiple times that cutting him would not free up very much cap room.
ReplyDeleteShaun will be with the team this year. NOT because he has anything left to offer the team but for pure economic reasons.
ReplyDeleteCutting him outright will cost the team 125,000 in cap space that they don't have. And then they have to find a way to pay the replacement.
If they designate him a post June 1 cut, and they only have one of those left since one of two was used on Ashworth, then they save around 4 million in cap space this year, but that also means 4+ million in dead cap space next year when the team has to re-sign Lofa, Hill, Trufant (if he plays for the Franchise tender this year).
If the team cuts him next season they get some production for their money this year and take 0 cap hit next season as his base pay in 2009 is more than what the cap hit would be.
Shaun will be here this year, but hopefully as an expensive cheerleader.
Just to put the whole religious debate to bed...
ReplyDeleteShaun Alexander's religion shouldn't come into play AT ALL. It is not a factor that is in any way relevant to this topic. "stimpqb1" is an idiot for bringing it up.
I'm not an Alexander fan. Cutting him would be stupid because it wouldn't free up much room this year from everything I've read (it would start to benefit us NEXT year). Regardless of any of our opinions on his PLAY, his religion should be left out of it. It is irrelevant and the original poster obviously had his own agenda. Let's shut up about religion on both sides of the aisle and talk Seahawks before this blog degenerates into TNT.
THE END.
Mike, it might be prudent to nip this kind of stuff in the bud. I'm not asking for big brother, but stimpqb1 is a thread hijacker and this kind of stuff will ruin your blog. Politics and religion should be confined to political and religious blogs. I think this sort of off-topic BS is why a lot of people left TNT.
the dead money next year is exactly the same as the cost would be cutting him next year. The only thing a june 1st cut does is allow the signing bonus accelerations to catch up the next year. If we cut Shaun as a 6/1 cut or next year, no matter what he will count 4.2 against next years cap. Sorry to disappoint.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but I am not going to sensor comments. Stimpqb1 called 37 a city church boy. I have heard him called a lot worse. It was the second poster, who was anonymous by the may, who made assumptions that Shaun was being bashed for being a Christian. It is obviously a touchy subject, but hardly a thread jacker. If you don't want a political or religious debate, don't respond to comments like that. It will have to be a lot worse (racism, hate speech, saying offensive things about religions) before I step in. That said, I would STRONGLY URGE everyone to keep the discussion to football and players football performance.
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteThe point is cutting Shaun this year, even as a post June 1 cut, creates dead cap space this year AND next year.
If he stays on the team this year there is no dead cap space this year, only supposed dead weight.
Even if Shaun becomes a part time back and shares the backfield with another RB at least the team gets something for their money. Cutting him is just throwing good money after bad.
I just got home from church and did not know that I would cause such a problem. The point that I was trying to make and maybe some of you got it, is that we need to get nastier on offense and get an attitude. Being someone who goes to church people need not be so defensive and maybe look into a comment for more depth than just face value.
ReplyDeleteLet me go with a different analogy, 3 years ago you bought a slightly used Hummer, which appeared to be in decent condition and you signed a 6 year note on it, now gas prices have gone up by 125% and the car has developed some ugly idiocynracies..
ReplyDeletelike it
burns 8x as much gas as it used to, and cannot go faster than 40mph anymore due to a failing transmission, it also burns oil.
Your options are to continue paying out the butt for the payments AND pay the extra for fuel and oil, additionally having to deal with the very expensive transmission repair.
As an alternative you can:
a) peddle your Hummer for what you can get and:
1) Buy your neighbors 5yo Toyota (Dunn, Drucett and others) which will not cost much, nor use much gas
2) Buy a new model when they finally arrive (the draft)
b) Keep paying $4/gal for too much gas, making huge payments and cover the cost of a new tranny or at very least sweat bullets that the old one is gonna crap out at any instant.
--
Let's Win One for the Skipper!©
so let me get this straight anonymous. to avoid dead cap apace we keep a guy who is dead weight and could cause a lot of problems in the locker room. i know i personally wouldnt want to play with a guy who on any given sunday lays down to take a nap more than he runs. i have no use for a guy that just is going thru the motions to collect a check.
ReplyDeletei say cut him gain the much needed cap for this year. next year we will have the cap space to pay 4+ mil.