Reported by Mike Florio at profootballtalk. It is a two year 3.5 million dollar deal. Say what you want, but the final hole on the roster has been filled.
As for Mare, he has a big leg. He was second last season in touch back percentage at almost 29%. He doesn't have the long distance accuracy of Josh Brown, but his kickoffs are substantially better. Think of it this way, rather than winning the game for you in the last second, he helps win the game all the way through by putting the opposing offenses at a disadvantage. The % of a team scoring a touchdown goes down significantly for every 10 yards they are backed up. Plus, this deal is no guarantee he will make the team, although it seems likely, with a rookie possibly on the practice squad. We'll See....
If the Hawks were going to go into the season today, I would feel comfortable that they would finish at least as good as last year. They still have the draft to improve this team. If they find even a couple of quality contributors, they will contend for the conference championship. END
At least the spot's filled now!
ReplyDeleteLet's get a late round kicker and let Mare groom him all season...Maybe we can find someone equivelant to Brown, without his money-hungry ways.
Overall, a good grab for the Hawks.
Did Elam already sign somewhere?
ReplyDeleteElam is in ATL for about 2.2 per over 4 years
ReplyDeleteIsn't that exactly what the Panthers paid Hackett? Son of a bitch, I'd much rather have him for 2/3.5 than a crappy kicker. Uggh
ReplyDeleteWes... we had replacements for Hackett that the FO was clearly comfortable with. We had NO kicker. They are kind of important, at least in the sense that you have one.
ReplyDeleteI guess for what's out there it'll have to work and hopefully there's another diamond in the rough in the draft.
ReplyDeleteMike, can you run Josh Browns contract numbers for me again.
His signing bonus was four million, so he was handed more than this straight out. I think he signed for 5 yrs 14.2 million.
ReplyDeleteGood signing. I thought differently earlier this week, but taking a good look at it I changed my mind. I think you were skeptical of it as well Michael, but having a K.O. specialist is a huge bonus. Getting the returner to not come past the twenty was near impossible last year. They kept getting to the 35 when it mattered most. I say they will only get an average of the 23 yard line next year. This is great news for the special team. You don't need to be as concerned who is on your ST as a tackler if you have a kick-off guru nailing the 5 yard line every time. This, in my mind, greatly makes up for the losses of Niko K. and Bentley--and turns out cheaper. Herring will be fine, don't forger we have the play-maker Scobey, and the fresh faces from the draft will make our ST above par. Like it or not, our special teams needed a face-lift. Give props to Ruskell for figuring this out.
ReplyDeleteBut our 53 man lineup won't stay like this. Look for a DT (Green?), Morris (Shaun as well, too bad, but I'll move on), and a couple more players to be traded or cut to make room for about 4-5 rookies (including our FG kicker).
I don't think we will have Mare be our FG kicker, what do you think Michael? Is Ruskell looking to revive him as a F.Time starter, or just as a guy to be able to groom the Rookie and do kick-offs?
I'm thinking good thoughts for a late-round rookie kicker this guy can work with.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, Josh Brown's fourteen bazillion dollar contract is going to be cold comfort when he's sitting in his Barcalounger at home while the 'Hawks are playing in the Super Bowl.
Slave to the businessman, my ass.
-S
Wow! Our front office is a freekin' machine!
ReplyDeleteHopefully, Mare will be motivated to earn the respect of his teammates and reinvigorate his career with a championship-caliber team.
I'm even more excited to see Ruskell's moves in the draft now!
Just watch Ruskell NOT take a Kicker in the draft now...who knows what he's thinking!
ReplyDeleteGreat to have him tho!
I guess I'll take a wait and see attitude with Mare. I do like the idea of Mare providing better field position for us since that has been lacking the last couple of years and it's hurt us.
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling really ambivalent about this signing. Now what about a long-snapper?
3.5 million??? I'm underwhelmed.
ReplyDeleteThe excitement is from the fact that our FO is executing moves to solidify our team for this year's run and the future. Mare is just one fairly minor move, yet another need filled. Our team is getting things done.
ReplyDeleteI think the rookie kicker will now be an undrafted free agent. Maybe someone who specializes in accuracy from distance. Remember in Atlanta, they used to have two kickers on the roster, Anderson and Koening. They would bring in Koening for the long attempts, and I think he kicked off to. Who knows?? It appears Ruskell is not adverse to carrying two kickers though.
ReplyDeleteMy only fear about Mare is kicking in the cold. As my wife is a Dol-fan I've seen every recent appearance by Miami playing here. I do remember Mare kicking okay. He doesn't like the cold though. After Marino won his last playoff game against us I remember seeing Mare running like a little girl to the team bus because he was cold...remember, this was at the Kingdome and just walking 100 feet to the bus was too hard for him. Anyway, he is just temporary until TR gets a college kicker that proves himself.
ReplyDeleteThey would bring in Koening for the long attempts, and I think he kicked off too. As the only NFL player from my alma mater-- WWU in Bellingham, WA-- Koening is known to me. He also started the season doing the punting!
ReplyDeletemisfit yeah, he's a minor move, but 3.5 million is a little north of minor for a contract, isn't it? the guy had a crap year last year, injuries or no. I guess we were in a bidding war with Denver?
The team may be just as good (or better) but the schedule is definitely much more difficult.
ReplyDeleteThis can easily change (like the improvement yesterday by adding Lewis) but our special teams on paper are not as special as last year; especially coverage. We may need a kicker to prevent a team from running kicks back on us.
bk
well it seems pretty clear to me that we have now gone from one of the leagues' best kickers to one of the worst
ReplyDeleteshams - WWU alum here too.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I'm pretty proud of Koening myself. Homegrown!
Hey BK, lighten up a bit. Lets enjoy a successful offseason and worry about the schedule when it comes! Who cares about the schedule? think of it this way...if we are winning, for once they won't be able to say it is because of our soft schedule. Plus, we have had a lot of success against the east divisions in recent years! Try some optimism.....you know, like believing the Cougs can win this game :-)
ReplyDeletetake a look at career stats. Brown is a 80% FGP and Mare is at 79.7%. His problem is accuracy over 50 yards, but Brown hit just less than 60% of those. Admitedly Mare is dismal outside the 50, but knowing that you just don't try. At 40-49 yards he's better than Brown(73% vs 67%) and 30-39 yards they are close (Brown 86% and Mare 84%). These are after the horrible year he just had playing with a bad hip. Given that Brown rarely got a touchback and Mare commonly does, this doesn't look bad to me. I especially don't see why some are making him out to be a bum when the numbers are so close...
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree with you, and I kind of just don't care as we're talking about a kicker. But I must say, those stats are quite skewed since he was a stud early on and not so much later on. His percentages in 2006 and 2007 are 72.2% and 58.8%, respectively.
ReplyDeleteBK
ReplyDeleteSchedule means exactly S*it right now....remember the supposed great teams on our schedule last yr? The Ravens, bears, niners, and Eagles were all supposed to be beasts on our schedule yet NONE were even playoff teams. Schedule talk is pointless until you know how good teams actually are!
RM8
Mare won't be a Seahawk week 1 guaranteed... He will only help make our rookie kicker better during training camp.
ReplyDelete-k
As for the last comment. I have a hard time believing Mare WON'T be on the team in week 1 thru 16. He is a great asset to the K.O.'s and if he finds his FG accuracy again, who knows?
ReplyDeleteBut the FG's will likely go to a rookie, i'd say, Mare has had surgery, and that should affect his consistency at hitting exactly the same everytime. That should only affect FG's and not K.O.'s, as last season proved.
One more thing, maybe we should look up some videos of Mare last year and see how the ball was put by the Long Snapper and the holder. It might have been kind of slow, adding too much pressure on Mare, or the LS might have been inaccurate, and lastly, the holder could've not been the best.
Obviously being injured must be considered, since he HAD to play last year with a bad hip. Have you ever tried to even WALK on a bad hip? So give him some breathing room.
Ruskell doesnt throw out 3.5 mil to cut him b4 september, come on...
ReplyDeleteRM8
Mare is 35. 35. He has done nothing but get worse since his pro bowl season in 99' I do like long kick offs but I like a high FG percentage better. We'll do better with a rookie. Look at Folk, Crosby and Gostkowski we'll be more than fine with a young kicker. We'll be more than fine with a rookie kicker. Like I said no Mare week 1.
ReplyDeleteIn Ruskell I trust
-k
Solid deal. The Hawks will be good next year, Olindo Mare isn't gonna make any difference in the W/L column, just as Brown won't make a difference in the Rams W/L column.
ReplyDeleteMare is a good pick up. The one thing that I don't see anyone covering for us in the draft or else where is our long snapper situation. I wonder if we are going to pick one up in the draft as well.
ReplyDelete35 is freaking young for a kicker!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'd think part of this is so that in the draft they don't have to draft a kicker early. Also, if you don't have a kicker on the roster, every team KNOWS that you plan to draft one; I would think this move would make it easier to draft a kicker because the teams will be less on edge about it.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing, there really aren't any better FA kickers out there, so worst case scenario is that we have a kicker, where as of yesterday we didn't.
-Griffin
I dont mind a rookie kicker in the mix also (at this point prob undrafted as well) but you dont throw out 3 and a half million to cut a player b4 the season starts....more likely they carry both than cut mare and WASTE cash!
ReplyDeleteRM8
Well, I don't think we have to be worried about our fans getting burned when Mare leaves and they just bought a Mare jersey.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't do much for me. I would have waited until after the draft to see what is out there.
ReplyDeleteone thing's for sure, one of our first ten guys will need to make the tackle on kickoff returns.
ReplyDeleteLast I checked, we don't do well on the East Coast.
ReplyDeleteAt Tampa Bay, At Miami (sucked in '07), At New York, At Buffalo. I think this team will be fine, but I don't care who you are... if you travel thousands of miles more in a season, it takes more out of you... (and now will come the Giants played in London in '07 comments... away games for them also included short trips to DC, Phil, Buf... and even a pre-season game in Balt & NE... aside from London, most of their games were minimal travel compared to something like the Hawks going to Florida).
I'm pretty sure if we played 16 games against New England next year that our record wouldn't be great. I doubt we'd do well in the 8 games at New England.
If we could play 16 games against San Francisco, I'm pretty sure we'd have home field advantage.
You're right though, who really knows how good those teams may be in '08 so it really doesn't matter. What does matter is all of the fatigue that goes with the extra travel and playing 10:00 a.m. games. I hate mornings!
Note - I believe Seattle to Miami (and Tampa) is shorter than New York to London.
We are going to go 12-4 and are going to host both play-off games. We're going to beat Green Bay easily in the divisional round and then we're going to squeek past the Cowboys to play in Super Bowl XLII. That game we play in Tampa will be the second time we won a game in that stadium for the 08-09 season. Will probably beat Indianapolis 38-35.
bk
There you go BK!!! Thats what I am talking bout'! Too bad they won't let me book my hotel room in Tampa yet:-(
ReplyDeleteIts good to be a Seahawks fan these days when we are talking about kickers and long snappers!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGo Hawks.....In Ruskell we trust!!!
I am pumped for the draft!!
Truehawk
i am glad we filled the position. i got my concerns like everyone else. hope for the best expect.....
ReplyDeleteBK
ReplyDeleteIll def. agree the Hawks have looked lethargic in 10 o'clock games in the last 6-8 yrs. I'm just of the John Clayton school of thought..."judging a schedule by previous years teams is foolish and usually evens out by seasons end".
Couldnt agree more that if we can overcome some brutal mileage we could have a great season. (wow that sounded as generalized as mike kahn's answers to questions)
So....
Ill say we get wins over the the cards, niners, and lambs (twice), the skins, jets and GB(H games), TB, and MIA.
Possible losses to NE, Philly, and @ Dallas.
Ill say toss ups w/ the Eli's(in NY) and Buffalo (in canada).
When all said and done maybe 11-5 or 12-6 w a 1 or 2 seed and a home playoff game (or 3).
I have friends in Tampa and have already reserved the guest bedroom for the weekend.....Gotta believe right!
ROLL HAWKS!
RM8
I was at SB XL a few years ago but this time I'm going to go to the NFC Championship game if it's in Seattle instead.
ReplyDeleteThe Super Bowl XL and XLII was very laid back when we were there. I want to be with psycho 'Hawk fans. Being from MN, I can't do both as much as I'd like to.
bk
*I meant 12-4
ReplyDeleteI have heard its all corporate sponsors and fairweather fans at the SB making it a pretty lame atmosphere.
Ive been to every home playoff game in last 4 yrs (except NFC Champ.) and had a diff. seat each game, and every time my voice is gone by start of 2nd qtr. Such a great atmosphere for home playoff games and I'd be giddy for an NFC Champ. game in Seattle this season!
RM8