Yet another majestic day in Kirkland with temps in high 70s and low 80s with a slight cooling breeze.

After an extended morning practice in pads, the players wore shorts and shells for the afternoon practice. Despite going more than two hours this morning, there was still a pretty good energy level.

After individual work, the Hawks worked on special teams. Free agent kicker Kurt Smith showed decent leg on a few kick-offs, though the wind was at his back. Josh Brown also boomed a few kicks. I think he's underrated in terms of kick offs, he had 12 touchbacks (about middle of the road in the NFL) last season and averaged 64.9 yards per kick-off.

Back returning kicks were Josh Wilson, Marquis Weeks, Nate Burleson and Ben Obomanu. We all know how tough Burleson was last year. Wilson was good for Maryland as well, returning 31 kicks for 847 yards (27.4 yard avg) and he even returned one 100 yards for a touchdown.

DJ Hackett did not participate in afternoon practice, being still with his wife. It allowed NAte Burleson to have another solid practice, catching several passes including a beautiful 40-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck during 7-on-7. The route was perfect, the separation from the DB and Matt's pass couldn't have been any better.

Tight end notes: Leonard Stephens caught a pair of long passes in traffic going down the hash marks. He's got surprising athleticism and sneaky speed. Will Heller had a few catches this morning on some shorter routes.

One matter of concern is depth at safety. Babineaux is already out, and now so is Patrick Ghee, the rookie free agent from Wake Forest, hurt his hamstring this morning and didn't practice this afternoon but was out limping around the field.

Another guy that's looked solid is Marcus Trufant. I know being an 11th pick that Tru is expected by some to be more than solid, but there's more to be a corner than interceptions.

And with that I'm running out of stuff to post from practice. I have to sneak out of Kirkland in 5 p.m. traffic and write in T-Town.

Camp was fun and I'm pushing to come back more and do some more for the blog and the paper. And I will keep up the linkage post if you guys want.

Welcome to day two of the links. I am going to be simultaneously putting up links and then add to them as I go so you don't have to wait to long. Also if you guys have links that you find that are interesting, send me an e-mail with the link and I will post them and credit you. Make sure they are "safe for work" as well.

First of all Dave's excellent column on Brian Russell, who is rapidly becoming my favorite player to watch. He might be the headiest player I've ever seen and is never in bad position -- a far cry from last year. I wrote about Matt Hasselbeck and his rediscovered swagger. I also had a small story on the reaction to the death of Bill Walsh.

As always Dave was on KJR with just Elise last night for his "Dinner with Dave" segment.

As for around the NFC West ...

Obviously, there were plenty of tributes to the passing of Bill Walsh. Here's his obit from the SF Chronicle. Columnist Ray Ratto believes Walsh was an icon.

But that wasn't the only news out of San Fransico. Running back Frank Gore, who carved up the Seahawks and the rest of the NFL last year broke his hand in non-contact drills.

Over in St. Louis, cornerback Fakhir Brown says he didn't fail a drug test, he missed it, leading to his suspension. Meanwhile, Isaac Bruce, another pain in the Seahawks' neck is trying to stay speedy.
Here's a list of what the Rams rookies are making.

Let's head south to Flagstaff, Arizona where the Cardinals are working out. Here's a story on linebacker Karlos Danby and his new lease on life with the Cards. Like the Hawks, the Cardinals donned full gear for a workout. The defensive secondary will go as far as Antrel Rolle and Eric Green will take it. Arizona is still without top pick Levi Brown but negotiations have started up again. Meanwhile Coach Ken Whisenhunt is trying make the pace of practice quicker. Edgerrin James is thinking about Emmitt Smith and his records. Here's a story on Adrian Wilson, who is one bad dude, obsessed with staying at the top of his game.

Elsewhere ...

Here's a story on Hawks CEO Tod Leiweke. I believe someone mentioned Pete Kendall on the blog, here's an update on him from the NY Times. Will Chris Simms be ready for the Hawks and Qwest field come opening day? The guys over at coldhardfootballfacts.com take a page from Sando and look at refs.

The Hawks just got off the field following a fairly intense 2 hour and 20 minute practice. It was the first practice in pads and the team put them to use, going live (up to the tackle) in a number of drills. Coach Holmgren liked the intensity of the team, although he wasn't thrilled with offensive execution at times. It seemed for much of the day, the defense was playing better than the offense. A lot of times that tends to make Holmgren cranky.

The defensive star of the day had to be linebacker Julian Peterson, who intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble in one session. Also, safeties Deon Grant and Brian Russell spent much of the day breaking up passes. Russell had two nice breakups in a short period ... one coming on a deep ball thrown by Seneca Wallace. "Don't test me, Sen," Russell shouted to him.

Backup tight end Will Heller had a couple nice receptions, as did rookie Courtney Taylor, who was probably out of bounds on one diving catch, but it nonetheless showed nice hustle and very good concentration.

Rookies Brandon Mebane and Baraka Atkins continued to apply good pressure on pass-rush drills ... especially Mebane. It's a theme we've repeated here, but the guy is making an impression.

During the running back vs. linebacker blocking drills, Peterson was umblockable. Once, veteran Mack Strong positively clobbered Niko Koutovides.

Receiver D.J. Hackett ran off the field to head toward the hospital because his wife had gone into labor.

A few quick observations. It seems to me that back Shaun Alexander is doing a better job of catching the ball. Nate Burleson struggled last year as you know, but looks to be doing much better thus far. The secondary appears to be making more plays on the ball and making interceptions rather than batting it down.

The Hawks will probably go back to shorts for the afternoon practice. Often, after long morning practices, the afternoons are lighter with more time spent on teaching and doing walk-throughs.

We presume the Seahawks will put on the pads for the first time in training camp this morning after having gone four practices in shorts and shells.

Don’t assume that means that they’ll necessarily engage in a great deal more contact. In most cases, the NFL of 2007 is no longer a place where there’s a lot of full-contact hitting drills and live scrimmages for hours. The old days of the “Oklahoma” drills and “bull in the ring” are long gone. These guys are too valuable now to risk injury at the hands of a free agent rookie linebacker looking to make a name for himself with a big hit in a July practice.

There is an intensity change, though. The pass-blocking session gets far more interesting. The young defensive guys who have looked great in shorts because of their effort tend to be brought back to the pack a little as the veteran offensive linemen now have more surface area to grab.

Another good session is when fullbacks and running backs take on blitzing linebackers. As is the case with one-on-one pass blocking for linemen, defenders have a great advantage in these drills because there’s no “trash pile” of others to help get in their way. Former Hawk linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski was just brutal for backs to have to try to block in these drills. RBs coach Stump Mitchell gets pretty animated during these sessions, and sometimes looks like he’s ready to take on a blitzer himself.

As far as team sessions go, action may be live up to the point of tackling, or live to first contact. On almost every play, coaches are screaming at players to “stay up.” The biggest threat of injury is when a blocker or defender gets knocked down and somebody gets pushed over the top of them. When somebody hits the ground, he usually gets chewed out.

Usually, the team session that most closely resembles game action is when they go to Red Zone offense and defense. The action is obviously compressed into a smaller area and the contact intensifies. That’s when the players get loudest and tend to cheer more for their units.

I’ve heard theories from fans that maybe some of the missed tackles the Seahawks had last year were caused by the lack of contact in practices. I don’t buy the theory. There was no noticeable change last year to the practices from when the team was 13-3 the year before. They still made plenty of big hits during the season. Tackling is a matter of discipline and effort, getting to the ball, wrapping up the ball carrier. I think that a player with shoulders sore from contact in practice will be a worse tackler in the game than someone who isn’t as bruised up. Too many guys just hit backs and expect them to fall over without being wrapped up. Frank Gore and Larry Johnson don't just fall over unless you've got their legs.

I think players tend to get a little grumpier once the pads come on. It's extra weight to carry around and they do tend to get banged up a little more. Plus, there may be a little testosterone factor at play, too. They're being asked to spend the day pushing each other around, after all.

Head Coach Mike Holmgren
(On Bill Walsh...) “For me personally, he gave me my chance to coach in the NFL. He took a chance on me. I was four years removed from high school and that usually doesn’t work that way. He was hard on me and I was mad at him a fair amount as an assistant coach. Looking back on it now, he was my mentor and then later in the years he became my friend. I said this and I meant it, I always thought; when I was an assistant coach for him and he was working and having us do stuff that he looked at the game differently as a coach, he just looked at how to put everything together and how to do it differently. The minority intern program is in place because of Bill. He had a heart for minority coaches and he wanted to make sure they had a chance. Ty Willingham was our first minority coach in San Francisco years ago, the first year the program was in place. A lot of us worked for him and had a chance to go on and continue to coach in the league. We took a lot of what he did with us. I am glad I had a chance to visit with him recently.”

(On Walsh’s philosophy...) “I always said that he was an artist and all the rest of us were blacksmiths pounding the anvil, while he was painting the picture. There is always more than one way to win games but that was how he chose to do it.”


Special Projects/Defense Coach Ray Rhodes
“He was very instrumental in my career from day one as a football player. He gave me my opportunity in coaching. I had the chance to play for him for a year and after that year he gave me my opportunity to coach in this league. From day one he molded my career and helped me out tremendously. When you talk about the things he would do for his coaches, not only did he show you the on-the-field part of the game but off-the-field part of the game as far as scouting, dealing with player contracts, just all aspects of football he was willing to share with all of his coaches. For a young coach like myself I can’t say enough things about him. He pushed you, he pushed you to be the best person you could be, the best coach you could be. He always had people setting their goals and their standards high in every phase of what they did in football. He pushed me to the point to where, just like he pushed his players, in reference to be the best player you could be. You want to be the best defensive back coach in the league and you have to strive for that with hard work. You want to have the best group, you want to be known as the best guy coaching that position. He pushed each one of his coaches to the ultimate limit and he stayed on you about it. He was a mentor to me. I can’t say enough good things he did for me and my family.”


Assistant Head Coach/Secondary Coach Jim Mora
“He not only had a great influence on the game but he had a great influence on many people in this league, myself being one of them. He will be truly missed by everybody.”


Special Teams Coach Bruce DeHaven
“I had the opportunity to work with Coach Walsh for three years while I was in San Francisco when he was our general manager. It was a real honor for me to be associated with him. One of the really fine gentleman in the game. You know how innovative he was for the game but I found him to be a wonderful human being, very caring and just a real gentleman. He will be sorely missed by a lot of people.”

University of Washington football coach Tyrone Willingham
“The world lost a great man in Bill Walsh. He had a tremendous impact on me, both personally and professionally. Coaches throughout all levels of football have lost an innovator and teacher who had a truly significant impact on the game. Very few people will be able to say they were able to change the course of history. Bill’s development in the minority coaching program at the collegiate and professional levels literally changed the face of football. His sphere of influence was significantly greater than any coach of his time. He will truly be missed.”

Linebacker Julian Peterson
(On Walsh believing in him as a rookie...) “He meant a lot to me. He drafted me back in 2000 and he told me I was going to be the key to the defense. From right then and there when he said that I just took that as motivation that he thought a lot about me. For him saying that and entrusting that much in to me, I just took it and ran with it and always had the mentality to stay on top of my game. I bought a chain with a key on it just to remind me I’m the key of the defense and to continue to work hard and be focused. I had one of the greatest coaches of all time saying I was going to be the key, that was big to me. Most coaches won’t say that to a rookie. He showed that faith in me and I went out there and showed my talents. He said I knew you were going to pan out the way you are. That meant a lot to me.”

(On Walsh’s eye for talent...) “I know he was a big inspiration to Jeff Garcia. A lot of people didn’t believe in Jeff Garcia and he brought him in the mix and said he was going to be a good West Coast quarterback. Look at Garcia now, a couple of Pro Bowls and you saw what he did last year. He knows talent and knows how to evaluate talent and get the best out of his players.”

Defensive Line Coach Dwaine “Pee Wee” Board
“I was with Bill Walsh for a long time, and to think that a lot of us had played for him and worked under him we knew that he cared for the people that worked under him. He changed a lot of lives for a lot of people. He gave a lot of people opportunities to succeed and he stood behind the people that worked under him, you could count on that. He’s going to be missed. Over the years, I usually talked to him about once a month and he always had a last word of advice. He was like a dad to me. It’s a shame he had leukemia and I wish there was a cure for it. Not only for Bill Walsh, but for a lot of people.”

Defensive Coordinator John Marshall
“Great, great football coach and football mind. Much, much better human being. He has helped so many young players, so many people in general in his professional lifetime. The world is a better place because of Bill Walsh being in it. I’ve coached against him and I’ve coached with him and he has helped me in my professional life and I couldn’t think more of him. I admire the man and I admire what he stood for and I admire what he did.”

Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator Gil Haskell
“He was an extremely fine coach, very detailed. He had a great eye for talent. You look at his teams and they always talked about offense but Ronnie Lott and those kids on defense were great players. I have nothing but respect for him. Later when I started working with Mike Holmgren, I got to know him and I even respected him more because he was very loyal to the guys that he coached. Quite a man, quite a man. He had a great life and was very successful.”

Sorry for the delay, just wrapped up a quick sidebar on Bill Walsh for tomorrow's paper. Dave is hard at work on his column so I'll offer up a quick blog before getting to my story and game box.

As expected Tubbs, Pork Chop and Mike Green missed the afternoon practice. Green's absence is scheduled. He's only going one practice a day while he's recovering from Lisfranc surgery.

Much better practice in terms of intensity and execution out of the offense. Passes were much crisper, no interceptions from the QBs (yes, even Greene, but he didn't get many reps) and solid catches from the receivers -- Hackett in particular.

Other happenings

•Nate Burleson had a handful of catches during "skele" and team. Nobody will ever accuse Nate of having the hands or grace of Steve Largent, but he's a good athlete that can, and needs to be a viable threat, if thrown to.

•I thought Brandon Mebane looked good during one-on-one's versus the offensive line. He's just a squatty load, kind of like a small automobile. Of course, I still defer to Dave on all things in the trenches.

•Josh Brown made 4-of-5 field goals through the skinnier, modified goal posts (think Arena League width). His best kick was from 45 yards, which split what appears to be the 10 foot space.

•Matt Hassselbeck and Shaun Alexander addressed the media for the first time today. Both were in pretty good spirits and pronounced themselves healthy and ready to go.

I'm going to use a separate post for the Bill Walsh comments from Mike Holmgren and other coaches, including Ty Willingham (thanks to Don Ruiz) who was part of the Minority Coaches Program Walsh started.

Sorry, I haven't been helping with the blogging from camp. There were some computer issues that dated back to an incident of total computer meltdown after covering a Mariners game. But I do plan to add a few things to Dave's already stellar contributions.

First and foremost, I thought some links about how our divisional opponents are progressing at camp. I know ESPN does this with Buster Olney's blog for baseball but anyway here's some news so you don't have to scour the web to much while your faking it at work.

We'll start with the 49ers where expectations are pretty high for the Niners. It seems are old friend D-Jack had was stripped from behind in a workout.

But the big news will be the passing of Bill Walsh, whose contributions to the NFL should never be underestimated.

Over in St. Louis, the Rams are hoping to bust out from mediocrity this season. Mammoth offensive tackle Orlando Pace has slimmed down some.

Meanwhile, over in scenic Flagstaff (yes, I've been there before). The Arizona Cardinals have high expectations yet again. Much of it falls directly on the shoulders of quarterback Matt Leinart and a potent offense that's still adding new things. Heck even the fickle Arizona fans are excited. At least one person believes the Cards will be a better coached team.

And for those of your already making Super Bowl plans for Glendale, you may want to make reservations for the Playboy Party. I know I want to meet Hef, and his women.

As for our old friend Jerramy Stevens, he is supposed to be a player to watch in Tampa.

Okay, another one in the books. Trufant came back after a short break (getting poked in eye). So, there was nothing to it. The interesting part while he was of the field was how they lined up with him out. Jennings moved over to the left corner and Josh Wilson came it on the right side.

All you Leonard Weaver fans out there take note that he's looking more and more like a real nice fit as a third-down back. Nice hands, good elusiveness in the open field. However, one play was interesting in seeing what COULD be. On one pass play when downfield receivers were covered, Hasselbeck flipped a swing pass to Shaun Alexander. Alexander pulled it in in stride and raced up the sideline. If he could be counted on to do that, it would give him so many more touches out in the open and would surely help to open up defenses for his rushing attempts.

From one-on-one pass blocking drills (okay, it's my favorite part of practice): Ray Willis is looking better at guard ... just my opinion. Why? He still looks too rangy to waste at guard when he's a natural tackle, but it looks as if he's developed a technique that might help offset the leverage advantages short and stout DTs would have against him. He's got a terrific punch that allows him to get his hands on guys almost before they're coming out of their stances. Typically, if a guard or tackle can get his hands on a defender, the battle is won. Willis doesn't "catch" rushers, he extends on them. It's a very nice technique.

On one play, rookie Brandon Mebane DISCARDED fellow rookie Steve Vallos. Mebane tossed him aside. I still contend this kid is a sleeper stud.

Babineaux's health situation was clarified today. It is just a bone bruise, as scans came back negative for fractures. Still, Holmgren says he's expected to miss three or four weeks. Also, Pork Chop Womack suffered a "tweaked" hamstring, which complicates his return from the double-knee arthroscopy he had in June

Chris Gray had a false start in team drills that caused Holmgren to offer a bit of criticism. Well, Gray's young, and he'll learn. During his interview, Holmgren was asked about these types of "focus" penalties and he said that last year's team was the most penalized he's ever had. He said that he hates those penalties so much that if he could imagine something really horrible to do to players who commit them, he'd do it.

David Greene must be a real gamer. He won more than 40 starts while at Georgia. For the life of me, I can not see any indication in practices that he ever could be a successful quarterback in the NFL. He's consistently inaccurate.

The death of coach Bill Walsh led Holmgren to be asked about his relationship with the former 49ers coach. Holmgren gave some poignant recollections about Walsh's impact on his life and career. Walsh was critical in starting the NFL's minority coaching program, Holmgren said, pointing out that UW coach Tyrone Willingham was their first assistant to benefit. At one point, Holmgren very articulately spoke of Walsh as "being an artist while the rest of us were blacksmiths."

My usual KJR radio visits are with Elise and Ian at 8:30 Monday nights. In addition, Clare Farnsworth of the P-I and I were on with Mitch Levy this morning. Here's a link to the audio.

Nothing to be alarmed about, but during one-on-one pass routes/coverage between receivers and corners, Marcus Trufant got tangled up with Nate Burleson and went down. It appears that he got poked in the eye. Trainers looked at him and brought him off the field. No blood, just a lot of blinking as he went past.

Interesting moment in that drill, too, when Deion Branch beat second-year corner Kelly Jennings on a route. All the way back up the field, Branch walked close to Jennings, talking to him, gesturing, obviously trying to teach him what it was he had done. These are the ways in which some guys are more valuable than their statistics suggest.

Got a chance to watch tight end Marcus Pollard go one-on-one against safeties. This guy runs routes like a receiver. He looks very precise and agile, with good hands.

Back to practice ...

Same schedule for practices today: 9:15 and 2:45.

Here's links to Ryan Divish's camp story and my column from this morning.

Off to Kirkland.

The sun came out in the afternoon and the Hawks had a crisp practice. The tempo of practice was good and quick all day.

The afternoon session seemed to focus on teaching, with a lot of walking through assignments.

Jordan Babineaux, who appeared to injure a knee in the morning practice, did not practice in the afternoon. Holmgren didn't address the media after the afternoon practice so we got no official report on Babineaux's condition, although one source called it a "bruised bone." If so, he could miss some practice time ... but that's conjecture at this point. We'll know better tomorrow. Pork Chop Womack and Mike Green practiced in the morning but not the afternoon, which was according to the plan that would allow them to ease back into action.

DT Craig Terrill always looks great in pass-rush drills. He's quick off the ball and has a slippery spin move.

Since everybody wants to know about the rookies, Brandon Mebane seemed to have more success this afternoon than this morning. Mebane is touted as a good run stopper, but he's been consistently strong in these pass-rush drills since he arrived.

During one rush, DT Marcus Green absolutely clobbered rookie guard Mansfield Wrotto, but on the next snap, Wrotto held his ground and got a stalemate.

The Hawks will go another two practices Monday, and most likely will stay in shorts and shells. Generally, they go this way until padding up on the third day, but that is open to the coaches' discretion.

Gotta read this feature on Walter Jones in the Huntsville Times. Sounds like "60 Minutes" will have at least some kind of film on him working out pushing the Escalade around. The descriptions of his house are interesting. More information supports the image of him as a very low-key guy.

Quotes from Patrick Kerney after practice.

"It feels good to be playing football again, there’s some rust to knock off.
It feels great, using that arm, punching as hard as I can, it feels great, like there’s never been any damage."

About missing minicamps: "Now’s the time I can make up for it, make a lot of headway and get back to where I want to be."

Recent workouts he said included "yoga for flexibility, and (exercises for) core strength and shoulder stability."

Impressions of the Hawks defense? "I gotta keep up with them, these guys play hard. It’s something I always pride myself in. There’s a great standard here which I like, I’m going to try to contribute to that."

A few pages out of my rain-soaked notebook after the first Seahawks training camp practice...

CB Kelly Jennings has terrific hands. In early drills, he reached behind with one hand (his left) and blindly speared a pass with somebody directly in front of him blocking his vision.

Tom Ashworth and Chris Spencer didn't take part in one-on-one pass blocking. Spencer was at center, though, in team drills.

One early scare came in individual pass coverage when Jordan Babineaux went up with Ben Obomanu. Babineaux appeared to injure his right knee. He got up and tried to walk, then took a knee. He was examined and then walked off gingerly. Coach Holmgren said afterward that h thought it was not a major issue but it would be examined further.

Patrick Kerney is not only healthy, he's a nightmare to block. Wait until you see how he gets into a four-point stance to rush the passer. He's tilted so that his facemask almost touches the turf. He gets off the ball and hits the edge with wicked quickness.

Rookie Baraka Atkins, in pass-rush drills, looked way better than he did in minicamps. He's really quick. He won on his outside rush, but got stopped with an inside move.

The thoughts about Deon Grant moving from free to strong safety ... He was accustomed to playing strictly free at Jacksonville. What they like about strong safety Brian Russell is his assignment correctness. He's really sharp about calling coverages and directing traffic ... normally the free safety's job. In Seattle, the safeties are largely interchangable. It appears that Russell will handle the signals. Otherwise, little has changed about their responsibilities.

Rookie receiver Jordan Kent was slowed by a foot injury in minicamp, but looks REALLY quick now. He caught one ball in drills and then absolutely jetted past a corner.

We've kidded about the name of backup quarterback Derek Devine (Dirk Diggler?), but the kid has a lot of zip on the ball. He threw a long out route in drills that was sizzling as it flew.

How are the rookie draft picks doing on defense? Josh Wilson and Will Herring each had interceptions in team drills. The best, however, was a diving pick by undrafted rookie free agent Patrick Ghee.

First play of team drills? Hasselbeck flushed, probably would have been sacked. Second play, Mack Strong can't pull in a short pass.

Jim Mora talked briefly after practice about the Michael Vick situation. Basically, he said he never saw anything out of Vick but professional behavior. He has recently exchanged text messages with him. No, he wouldn't admit to being relieved to not be in that nightmare ... he said he's just focusing on his job with the Seahawks.

The second practice starts at 2:45 p.m.

Somebody please check the weather report for Cheney for me. The Hawks have just finished stretching and early drills and it's rainy and foul. Coach Mike Holmgren took the field in his customary shorts. "I have no comment on the weather," he said, flashing a look that clearly was not thrilled.

Marcus Tubbs appears to be the only Hawk not in action. He's along the sidelines rehabbing. He doesn't limp at all and there's no outward indication that his knee is bothering him.

The weblog will continue to evolve as we change our focus to training camp.

I'm back off vacation and spent today shaping a column for the Sunday paper advancing training camp ... capsulizing many of the issues and concerns we've dealt with here for the past month. You can check for that in the paper or our on-line version.

Ryan Divish and I will staff the opening of camp tomorrow and supply a column, news story, probably a notebook or sidebar, and most likely some manner of a camp-info box with newsy tidbits. Ryan and I will both continue to feed the weblog until Frank Hughes joins us Aug. 1.

To clarify a misconception of some posters, I'm not taking over the Seahawks insider weblog. I aim to occasionally contribute some observations and analysis to supplement the news entries of our beat people. We haven't worked out a definite schedule yet. I do wish to thank you for your kind words and support. I am particularly delighted to see so many the weblog's "voyeurs" actually step out of the shadows and take part in recent discussions. I am also overwhelmed by your knowledge of the topic and your passion for your team ... not to mention the vast geographical breadth of participation. Posts from Denmark and Yokohama and London, etc., support the notion of NFL globalization. Thanks very much for your contributions.

What to expect: The Hawks will have a morning and afternoon practice on Sunday. Holmgren usually speaks after the first practice, with Hasselbeck or Alexander addressing groups in the afternoon. There may be group breakouts with other key individuals, perhaps Kerney or Tubbs. Otherwise most players and assistants are generally available after each practice and also after lunch. Usually, they'll go in shorts and helmets the first day or two and then ease into pads and more contact. After they get going, they'll usually schedule an afternoon practice for special teams every other day or two, giving a portion of the team that time for a breather.

The Seahawks just announced that defensive tackle Marcus Tubbs, recovering from microfracture surgery of his knee, has been placed on the physically unable to perform list. What it means is he probably hasn’t yet passed the physical to be in action at the start of training camp (Sunday morning).

Although the thought during minicamps was that Tubbs would be recovered by the start of camp, this doesn’t automatically signal disaster. Those on the PUP list can’t practice with the team, but they can attend meetings and rehab. They can be brought onto the roster at any time. However, if players are still on the PUP list at the time of the final cutdown date (Sept. 1), they must sit out the first six weeks of the regular season.

The first-round draft pick in 2004, Tubbs is considered critical to bolstering the Seahawk rush defense that had so many problems last season. When spotted rehabbing during minicamps, Tubbs looked extremely fit and powerful … better, in fact, than at any time since he arrived in Seattle.

The range of possible implications is so broad, and we won’t know where this falls until we see him on Sunday and hear Mike Holmgren’s evaluation. Maybe this is a matter of caution with a key player who has had injury issues. It might mean only a few days missed. On the other end of it, if Tubbs can’t return to playing shape in time for the regular season, the nature of the entire defense changes to some extent. If you can’t stop the run up the middle, the pressure that puts on the other layers of defense is enormous.

I'd also argue there's at least a measure of psychological impact, too, if Tubbs misses much time. For a team that dealt with so many injury issues in 2006, there could be a hint of "here we go again" if a key player is sidelined from the start. But, as they say on the television broadcasts when a player is getting carted off the field: "we don't want to speculate prematurely."

The Seahawks announced a couple of roster moves today. The release:

Seahawks Release One, Sign One

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks have released linebacker Marquis Cooper and signed kicker Kurt Smith, the team announced this afternoon.

Cooper, who attended the University of Washington, signed to Seattle’s active roster from its practice squad on December 12, 2006 and played in one regular season game and one postseason game.

Smith is an undrafted rookie free agent from the University of Virginia.

The start of camp brings us the need to use this space for news and analysis. But there’s still a little time for the kind of philosophical discussions that you seem to enjoy on occasion. Some of our best participation has been when you’re telling me something rather than the other way around, so I want to toss out one suggested by Greg from Tennessee. He wants to know how everybody out there caught the same bug. How did you become Seahawks fans? You’ve arrived at the same place, but surely through different routes. What happened?

Was it a player, a game, a season, an experience? Was it just a matter of geography? This was where you lived so you adopted the team out of convenience? What lit the spark? What caused it to grow?

An example: In my job, I don’t get to embrace a team. But I love the sport. My older brothers played football, and I idolized them, so I wanted to play football. At times when I was a kid, my dad got us tickets for Bears games. I remember freezing my scrawny little fanny off at Wrigley and, in the days before the end zone nets, racing in among a mob of muscular mill-workers and hog-butchers to try to retrieve a ball after a field goal or extra point. I’d come out of there missing my hat, coat ripped, bruised … and I never got close to getting a ball. But one moment more than others sucked me into the game: The “Johnny Unitas” championship game, the sudden death win by the Colts over the Giants on Dec. 28, 1958. I was 7, and my dad, two brothers and I watched it on a television that was the size of a refrigerator but had a screen about 8 inches across. The figures were tiny shadows in shades of gray, but the brilliance of Unitas was such that it absolutely reached out of that little screen and grabbed hold of me. It’s never let go. On a corkboard to my left, as I type, I see a brilliant Robert Riger picture from that game, with Unitas about to pass, left arm out in front of him like he’s sighting in his target. Bodies are flying and falling around him, but he’s anchored there in frozen perfection. Just beautiful.

Tell us what got to you. Thanks.

The Seahawks will begin selling single-game tickets Monday morning. The release from the team:

Seahawks Single Game Tickets Go On Sale Monday

KIRKLAND, WASH. – Single game tickets for the Seattle Seahawks 2007 season will go on sale Monday, July 30, at 10 a.m. Fans will be able to purchase a maximum six (6) tickets per game.

Tickets will only be available at www.seahawks.com or through Ticketmaster by calling 888-NFL-HAWK. Ticket availability is limited and games are expected to sell out within minutes.

The team has a franchise-record 61,000 season tickets holders.

The club’s season ticket waiting list, Blue Pride, has more than 10,000 deposits to date. To learn more about Blue Pride, the Seahawks season ticket waiting list, please visit www.seahawks.com.

The Seahawks have sold out 35 consecutive home games, and are 27-6 at home since week 16 of the 2002 season, second-best regular-season home record during that span.

The Seahawks announced the signings of their last two draft picks today. The team release:

Seahawks 2007 Draft Class Set for Training Camp

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks have signed their remaining two draft picks in cornerback Josh Wilson and defensive end Baraka Atkins, the team announced this afternoon.

Wilson, drafted in the second round (55th overall) and Atkins, drafted with the first of two fourth round selections (120th overall), round out Seattle’s eight draft picks to sign with the club. It is the first time since 2003 that all draft picks have signed prior to the start of camp.

To make room on the roster, the team waived running back Kenny James.

Josh Wilson signed today and the Hawks also confirmed the signing of Baraka Atkins, meaning all draft picks are in camp and ready to start work. The full team reports Saturday with the first practice Sunday at 8:45 a.m.

The Seattle Seahawks welcome their rookies to training camp today, along with the team’s quarterbacks. They are involved in physicals and meetings, and we’ll have no access to players until Sunday morning’s first practice. I wanted to file this early today so I’m not yet sure if the contract for second-round pick Josh Wilson has come together.

About this rookie “class:” I’ve visited with all the draft picks at one point or another at minicamps or after they were selected. As a whole, it’s once again an impressively bright group. Everybody’s got degrees, some more than one (Baraka Atkins has two), and Wilson was the top scholar-athlete last fall in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The transfer qualities there are obvious. The hardest thing for rookies is learning the scheme, the system, the language. The logical presumption is that when you sign bright guys, they catch on quicker and can be more productive early in their careers. A classic example of the value of this Tim Ruskell approach is Lofa Tatupu, a second-rounder two years ago, who showed up from the start of minicamps and was immediately able to get the defensive unit lined up in the right spots. The staff was practically stunned with his mastery of the defense. For anybody coming into the league, the quicker he can grasp the system, the sooner he can start cutting loose and rely on his instincts rather than having to think about his responsibilities.

As for climbing the depth chart, the top three defensive picks have the easiest chance to get on the field. Wilson already looks like the third cornerback with opportunities for a lot of action in the nickel. Although there are a lot of bodies at defensive tackle, they’re still going to need to improve run defense, so Brandon Mebane could work his way into the rotation. And quality depth at defensive end seems lean at this point, giving Atkins a chance to get on the field.

What will these rookies see? For one thing, they’ll be treated with a degree of respect. Under Holmgren’s regime, there’s no inordinate hazing of rookies. These guys might have to carry some vets’ shoulder pads off the field or maybe pick up some dinner tabs if they make the team, but that’s about it. Historically, there’s been the requirement that rookies sing at dinner, etc., and for a short time there was some actual physical harassment involved. I think I recall Sam Adams getting taped to a blocking dummy and having to endure brief humiliation. As stupid as this stuff was, I remember only one guy getting really torqued over it … Joey Galloway. I think he got taped up to a dummy or a goal post or something, and he came off the field really hacked off. I’m not sure but I think that stuff might have ended when Walter Jones got drafted and nobody wanted to mess with Walter.

The Holmgren approach is far more civilized. I think the question that’s often asked in the mind of Holmgren and his staff is this: Does this help us win games? Messing with rookies serves no purpose.

Generally, players come in and become attached to others in their position group with whom they work most closely. But one group of newcomers managed to stay close throughout their careers. It was probably the influence of first-rounder Cortez Kennedy, but the 1990 group turned into “The Rookie Club” comprised of the top four players taken (Kennedy, Terry Wooden, Robert Blackmon and Chris Warren). The top three got starts in the first season, and Warren eventually put together four 1,000-yard rushing seasons. They played together and socialized and for years after they were in the league, they still called themselves “The Rookie Club.”

--To the question of whether Seneca Wallace would be attractive in trade to the Atlanta Falcons considering Michael Vick’s situation … I wouldn’t doubt it. As a backup to Vick, they’ve got Joey Harrington, who has been undistinguished. The theory that the elusive Wallace could be a reasonable facsimile of Vick in the Falcons offense makes sense. However, the Seahawks aren’t going to trade Wallace without a proven commodity to step in behind Matt Hasselbeck. Do you want David Greene running the team if Hasselbeck goes down again this season? Right now, Seneca Wallace is a very valuable player for the Seahawks. Unless they can pick up a veteran backup who won’t cost them games, Seneca’s staying here.

--Our coverage. Since you’ve all asked so politely … staffer Ryan Divish is going to handle the “beat” aspects of training camp for the first few days until our new beat writer, Frank Hughes, officially takes over next week. I’ll be there every day doing columns and, yes, continuing to man the weblog. Once Frank hits the ground, he will assume the weblog duties. Although, since you’ve been so welcoming and generous in your comments, it’s been decided that I’m going to continue contributing commentary and analysis in this space on a regular basis during the season. We haven’t yet decided on which days or how often … maybe on Monday to deal with post-game fall-out and perhaps Thursday to look ahead. Maybe you all can help advise on when it might be best to serve your needs. Thanks.

I know how your little minds are working out there. Come on, confess. The second you Seahawks fans heard the allegations of betting and possible game-fixing by NBA ref Tim Donaghy, here’s what you thought: Well, if it can happen in the NBA, it can happen in the NFL. If it can happen in the NFL, it can happen in the Super Bowl. If it can happen in the Super Bowl, it can happen to the Seahawks.

And people accused you of being paranoid … ha! Donaghy, you will point out, is from Pennsylvania … so are the Steelers.

I’ll let you in on a secret that was meant as a joke. We had a zillion people covering Super Bowl XL, and we were spread from the main press box to auxiliary boxes set up in the stands. We communicated via instant messages on the computer. At halftime, I shot this IM to my boss, who was in a remote “aux” box: “Whoa, it looks like the fix is in.” It was a joking comment about the number of calls against the Hawks, but something obviously seemed strange to me. In my column from the game, I wrote that the Hawks certainly faced adversity but in the end didn’t play well enough – with so many drops and blown coverages -- to win. It was one of their worst performances of the season, I felt, even if you could set aside the officiating questions. And for the record, no, I don’t think the game was fixed. I also don’t think it was well-officiated.

Sorry to bring up a sore topic … but you know you were thinking about it, and the Donaghy headlines opened the doors – fairly or unfairly – to a lot of questions in all sports.

--pokey007. I can’t help you with strategies on ticket purchasing, but I think it’s a great topic for you all to discuss … so have at it. I suspect there is a competitive aspect to this, however, and the savvy vets might not want to yield their secrets.

--On the Qwest Experience thread. Whoa, way to go, guys, terrific input … so many lengthy, thoughtful and enlightening reports. Thanks. I mentioned the thread to the PR folks with the suggestion that your thoughts be passed on to management.

On that topic, I don’t like all the ads and promos and games on the big screen, either. They seem to work at baseball games because there’s so much down time. With football, it seems to get in the way of the natural action and the expectations of replays. As somebody whose salary is paid by the ads in the newspaper, I feel a touch hypocritical getting too sanctimonious on the topic.

On the weekday game traffic headaches. Yes, but they’re certainly not going to turn down such games that give them national exposure.

On a Super Bowl at Qwest? The league seems committed to having no games at “cold weather” sites with open stadiums. If they could re-route the Safeco Field roof to come across the street, maybe they’d have something.

On having me rate the Qwest halftime experience … I usually get a hot dog, a coffee, some stats and check the television screens for what’s happening in other games. I never see what’s on the field. The only time I watch is when there’s a Ring of Honor presentation or something like that. I love that at other parks, too, especially when they bring back the old-timers. I love seeing some of the old icons of the game … although it’s often sad to see what the game has done to many of them. The wildest halftime show I can remember was in Miami (can’t remember, either ’96 or ’00). There was a monsoon going on, but it didn’t stop the halftime activities … representatives from local “men’s” clubs engaging in a dance competition wearing skimpy bikinis. I am not kidding you. I’m thinkin’ that wouldn’t go over too well in Seattle?

On placing more of an emphasis on team history … I love the idea of the Steve Largent sculpture at the stadium … particularly if you could have Lester Hayes hanging off him.

--On whether the complimentary weblog entry by “nanomoz” was actually me using a pseudonym … you don’t think I could come up with something better than “nanomoz”? Another secret, the fictional name I use when reserving tables at restaurants or when the lady at the haircut place demands a name … “Buck Rampart.” I think it’s enough of a combination of intergalactic explorer and ‘70s adult-movie actor to create the necessary confusion over my real identity.

--On why I use the term “weblog” in place of “blog.” Frankly, to me the term “blog” sounds too much like a bathroom function.

--On the possible addition of Chris Simms. What I read is that he’s not really healthy yet after that spleen surgery of last season. It looks like he’s expected to be a backup to Jeff Garcia in Tampa Bay, but they’re also looking at Daunte Culpepper, which would make Simms more expendable. I think it’s clear the Hawks would like having a veteran backup aside from Seneca Wallace, but I have no bankable “inside” information regarding the appeal or availability of Simms. The late addition of Trent Dilfer a few years ago shows that such things are sometimes workable.

--On the post by “fender” regarding the terrific play made by Deion Branch at Arrowhead Stadium last season in which he stole back a ball that had been intercepted. I like the way you think “fender.” I thought that was one of the most alert, heads-up hustle plays of the year. That, and the time in Arizona when Matt Hasselbeck raced downfield about 15 yards to pick up a fumble by a receiver. I think it said a great deal about Branch as a player and team guy. But he still needs to have more catches and touchdowns this season.

--A couple other notes. The arrival of rookies and quarterbacks Thursday doesn’t really signal much in the way of on-site coverage. They’ll be taking physicals and having meetings, etc., but we will have no access until the first practice Sunday morning at 8:45 … Also, to clarify, Seahawks officials actually made attempts to open training camp practices to some fan availability, but the City of Kirkland deemed that impossible, reportedly because of issues regarding parking, traffic, access, egress, etc. … The contract situation with fourth-round pick Baraka Atkins is said to be an agreement in principle awaiting an official signing, leaving second-rounder Josh Wilson the only unsigned rookie.

Kicker Tyler Jones was released, the team announced this afternoon.

He didn't have a prayer.

Third-round pick Brandon Mebane has reached an agreement wtih the Seahawks, leaving just secon-round Josh Wilson and fourth-rounder Baraka Atkins left to sign before rookies and quarterbacks report to camp Thursday.

We've talked about Mebane here in the past, and I'd say he was very impressive during the early minicamp drills with no pads. He's got a good body type, with a low center of gravity providing nice leverage. Obviously, stopping the rush is an area that needs buttressing on the Seahawk defense. What scouts liked about him was his ability to be strong in the hole and deliver a pop on the back once he shed his blocker.

You guys have been asking me for opinions and “inside” information. I’m hoping you can help me with some opinions and “outside” information today.

I cover every game from the press box. Some are better than others for seeing the action (Fed Ex Field’s is wrapped all the way around in the end zone), but at the very least, they’re dry (except for when the roof caves in during a storm at Arrowhead), and generally comfortable (San Francisco and Oakland notwithstanding). Qwest is one of the very best for so many reasons.

I’m interested in hearing your take on watching games in the stands at Qwest … things you like or don’t like. Anything on your mind. Quality of seats, concessions, parking, security, prices. How does it compare to the experience at other parks you might have been to?

The other part of this that rouses my curiosity is your take on fan interaction. As the crowd noise and fan activity has risen to make the 12th Man phenomenon a factor in games, I suspect it has changed the experience for some of the fans. I’ve gotten emails from some fans who proudly tell of standing and screaming the entire three hours, and from some others who say that sometimes their section gets so rude and profane that it’s not a good place to take their kids or actually see the game.

I don’t really know what it’s like out there, but I’m sure you can provide some interesting perspectives. I thought you could give me some of your thoughts on the Qwest experience and take this topic as a springboard for an enlightening discussion. Thanks.

You navigate your way to this destination in the ether because you are fans of the Seattle Seahawks. So, you’re not going to be too keen on hearing somebody criticize your favorite lads. But the question was asked and I’m not going to duck it just to curry favor with a lot of guys whose identities look like their license plates (klm 008), band names (Mongo 5), or CB “handles” (Jammer).

Just as I was skittish about using the term “under-rated” – given the absence of fair context – I’m at least equally uncomfortable pinpointing anybody as “over-rated.” So many things go into a player’s performance … most obviously injuries. And I’m very sensitive to those issues. From ages 13 to 21, I spent much of my time getting lumps and bumps, concussions and contusions, dislocations and subluxations, sprains, strains and fractures on football fields. In short, big people hurt me. I specifically remember waking up almost every Saturday morning in the fall with this thought: “Man, I wish I felt better.” The beating these guys take at the NFL level is so much worse that it’s impossible for the typical fan to fathom. So, I tend to be a lot less critical of guys who are out there trying to do their jobs with bones sticking out.

Still, it’s a bottom-line business. And it’s obvious that this team was nowhere near where it was in 2005. Instead of calling players “over-rated,” I’d rather look at some of them who “played down” last season. Much of it was because of injuries, some of it caused by collapses around them, maybe even by the schemes they were asked to employ at certain times. The positive part of this negative analysis is that very little seems to be a function of effort or attitude or talent.

In ’05, Shaun Alexander, Matt Hasselbeck, Steve Hutchinson, Walter Jones, Mack Strong, Lofa Tatupu and Robbie Tobeck made it to the Pro Bowl. Hutchinson was lost, of course, and I would say that every one of the others was markedly less productive last season … with injuries having the prime culpability. Coach Holmgren has said that to get to the Super Bowl, a team has to have career years out of its stars. When almost every one of them “plays down,” it’s amazing they even made it to the playoffs.

Some specifics:

--Tim Ruskell. It’s my opinion that the guy has done a marvelous job reshaping expectations and building a sound franchise foundation. But losing Hutchinson caused the Hawks to go from having one of the great lines in the business to having a mess that disrupted the entire offense all season. The team is better off because of Ruskell in the long run, but that deal alone was a black mark last season.

--Shaun, Matt, Walter. Because of injuries, Shaun rushed for almost 1,000 fewer yards, Matt saw his passer rating drop 22 points, and Walter was less dominating than usual. There’s enough prior evidence on all of these guys to believe that last year was an aberration rather than a trend. But Shaun will be 30, a critical birthday for heavily used backs (he carried 430 times in the Super Bowl season). Hasselbeck was under heavy pressure and injured all season. Walter is 33, which is still not too gray as far as great tackles go, and he should be infinitely more effective if the rest of the line is solidified.

--Mack Strong. Mack is unquestionably one of the all-time class guys. For the purposes of guys covering the team, we’d hope he can play for another decade. He was beat up last year, too, and not the blocker he was in previous seasons.

--Lofa Tatupu. There’s every reason to believe he will be a terrific linebacker and team leader for many years, but it’s my opinion that he missed too many tackles last season. He wasn’t getting enough support from up front, obviously. Aside from that, I didn’t feel as if he was shedding blockers or meeting people in the hole as well as he did as a rookie, and he didn’t wrap up as well. Some of the more obvious guys he missed, Larry Johnson, Frank Gore, etc., were the kind of guys a lot of people whiffed on, though.

--Michael Boulware. He got benched so questions of his “rating” are valid. But he’s a second-round pick who showed such promise in his first two seasons. Maybe Jim Mora can figure this out and get him back on the field and reliably productive.

--Pork Chop Womack. The staff loves him for his attitude and his willingness to step into any position. He was given a shot to start, and although injuries were a large part of the problem again, he still hasn’t gotten the job done. Remember, this is his 7th season.

--Marcus Tubbs. For Tubbs, it’s all been a matter of health. If he can get and stay healthy, he can be an absolute game-changer. But he’s a first-round pick who hasn’t put together an entire season, leaving fans still waiting for him to reach the potential so many see in him.

The question you presented about the most under-rated and over-rated Seahawks players is a tough one. It’s serious but entirely subjective and without context. Whose ratings? What criteria? Value? Production per contract dollar? Linemen have no stats … great cover cornerbacks may get few interceptions … second effort can’t be quantified … playing hurt might be good for the team, but can make a player seem like he’s under-performing.

So you’re putting me on shaky ground. Pure opinion. But you asked for it so I’ll give it a whack. I’ve got my opinions … I’d like to hear yours. For my purposes, the base-line “rating” will be based solely on a general sense of how much public/fan/media attention players seem to generate. (See … entirely seat-of-the-pants analysis). Today, under-rated, tomorrow, over-rated.

Some guys seem chronically under-rated and overlooked to some extent. Chuck Darby is undersized at his position but a battler; Bobby Engram is not the highest-profile receiver, but clutch; Chris Gray has never been to a Pro Bowl, but he started 121 straight games for these guys; Mack Strong was with the team 12 seasons before he made a Pro Bowl.

Seneca Wallace stepped in during Matt Hasselbeck’s injury and ended up with a higher passer rating than the starting quarterback. Guys like Will Heller, Josh Parry, Tom Ashworth, Maurice Morris, Jordan Babineaux and others came off the bench last year and performed well enough that the team stayed afloat despite a rash of injuries.

But I’m going to go beyond that group and pinpoint a few specific guys, in no particular order.

--Josh Brown. Yes, the team franchised him, and he’s become one of the most-recognizable players on the team. But he didn’t make the Pro Bowl last year after making four game-winning field goals. Several of his six missed field goals were blocked, but they count against his percentage. He had a long of 54 yards. All of this was while breaking in a new snapper and holder, which is a major disruption of a mechanism that requires critical timing. His kickoffs were deeper and his positional kicking more precise. Any less reliable and this team doesn’t make the post-season.

--Ryan Plackemeier. Nobody pays much attention to punters until they shank a few. This kid came in as a rookie and had a few exciting moments, but was fourth in the NFL in gross punting with a 45-yard average. Generally the net totals are more important, but during much of the season the Hawk coverage units were comprised of guys off the street, which didn’t help those totals. Plackemeier shanked an 18-yarder in the playoff game against Chicago, but he was under heavy pressure and it might have been blocked had he gone through with the full followthrough. The week before, he adroitly handled a pair of low snaps to get punts away against the Cowboys. The much-overlooked skill that added to Plackemeier’s value was as a holder. During that Dallas playoff game, remember that it was Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo who dropped a hold … not Ryan Plackemeier.

--Leroy Hill. Hill had 92 tackles last year and led the team in tackles in the post-season. He was among those who played with injuries last year, and his sack total dipped from 7.5 to 2. He was used differently last season, though. I would contend he’s under-rated because he plays alongside Julian Peterson and Lofa Tatupu, guys who have been to the Pro Bowl.

--Rocky Bernard. The Hawks’ rush defense took a beating last year, no question. But with Marcus Tubbs out, Bernard was relied upon heavily in the middle. His totals were not attention-getting, as he had 35 tackles, and his sack numbers dropped from 8.5 to 3.5. But Bernard limped through much of the season with different injuries, including a foot problem that landed him on the injury report just about every week in the second half. Talk from some of the staff and players was that he was a lot more banged up than anybody thought, but he kept showing up and playing through it, earning a great deal of respect for his effort.

Counting down to the final week, I'm getting psyched up for training camp. None of us can walk into this thing cold, you know. There's got to be game plans, strategy, mental calisthenics.

Unless you can talk me out of it with a better choice, I'm thinking that the guy I most need to see in action is defensive end Patrick Kerney.

This is the guy they signed for what was it ... something like $20 million in guaranteed money? And he's coming off a season in which he missed seven games and made only 14 tackles. Recovery from the torn pectoral muscled that required surgery kept him out of action in minicamps, so I've got no clue how he's going to look when he gets back.

With Grant Wistrom gone, the Hawks tentatively have Bryce Fisher at right end, backed up by Darryl Tapp, with the left end manned by Kerney and rookie Baraka Atkins (with Brandon Green and Nu'u Tafisi behind them). That seems like very slender depth to me if Kerney doesn't make a full recovery and return to studly performance.

I recall watching Kerney with the Falcons and thinking the guy was a real talent. He's had a couple seasons as a double-digit sack guy, but has 11 the past two seasons. The reputation is as a high-motor, reliable player.

This team needs that out of him.

The Seattle Seahawks have released center Nick Jones, an undrafted rookie free agent (Georgia) signed on May 2.

The Hawks still have Chris Spencer, Pat Ross and Austin King at that position, as well as veteran guard Chris Gray, who can also play center.

Another topic lobbed in from the constituents. A reader suggests that Tim Ruskell is one of the great general managers in the NFL, and he wanted to know if I shared his opinion.

Ruskell’s been here 2 1/2 years, so the evidence has not been proven over time, but let’s go back to when he was brought in (Feb. ’05) and examine what the goals were at the time. He wanted to create a culture of winning with high-character players. And, of course, the goal of any new GM is to get his team to the Super Bowl. Done and done.

These were enormous challenges that were met through the contributions of a lot more people than just Tim Ruskell, to be sure. Randy Mueller brought on Walter Jones. Mike Holmgren landed Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck. Mike Reinfeldt worked the cap and contracts.

But things obviously changed under Ruskell. In an area of great need, the Hawks managed to pick up two rookie linebackers who would end up starting (Tatupu and Hill), with Tatupu landing in the Pro Bowl. I think a larger indicator of Ruskell’s insight was the acquisition of a pair of veterans who helped define the team’s attitude toward energy and effort. Defensive tackle Chuck Darby and receiver Joe Jurevicius were critical in the Hawks’ run to Super Bowl XL. They weren’t the highest-profile, necessarily, but no-nonsense guys who played with real passion and tree-bark toughness.

The Steve Hutchinson situation, though, was botched. Pure and simple. I will confess that when Hutchinson was given the “transition” designation rather than “franchise,” I didn’t jump up and pound the table and write: “This is crazy, now teams can steal him away with poison-pill provisions in a contract that the Hawks will be helpless to match.” But it’s the job of Ruskell and his lieutenants to anticipate such things. They misjudged the situation, they misjudged the market for a high-end guard and, most importantly, they misjudged Hutch’s feelings. I hear that he was hacked off at management long before the franchise/transition fiasco because he hadn’t been offered a longterm extension already. Somehow, the communication failed … as it did between the front office and Holmgren. In the end, the Vikings paid a lot of money for a guard and finished 6-10. It was obvious that the Seahawks struggled with health and continuity on the offensive line all season. With the freed-up money, though, the Hawks landed on their feet to some extent by signing impact linebacker Julian Peterson. Still … consider that one a net loss.

Last year’s moves need time to season before judging, I think. They spent a lot of resources picking up Deion Branch and Nate Burleson who under-performed. If one or both have terrific seasons this time around, the evaluation on the deals changes.

Other draft picks? Let’s see them play some more.

Has Ruskell managed to change the culture? Obviously. Troublemakers are unwelcome. Newcomers understand the high expectations for personal conduct. Smart players of good character are expected to be better in high-pressure situations, but also better representatives of the franchise in the community. Ruskell and Leiweke stress this and I applaud the concept. I’d say that the bond between the fans and franchise is stronger than anytime since the days of the Nordstrom ownership.

I don’t know much about Ruskell personally. He keeps pretty close counsel and not much seeps out of the front office. I don’t sense that he’s inordinately power-hungry, falsely inflated or heavily ego-driven.

Not every deal works in pro sports. Not every prospect pans out. But here’s what I appreciate, Ruskell has been extremely consistent. He had a plan, he implemented the plan, the plan works. That seems to be the most compelling assessment of any general manager.

--Here’s a copy of the column I did on the day Ruskell was hired:

Ruskell seems ready to take one for team
Dave Boling
Feb 24, 2005
Copyright The McClatchy Company Feb 24, 2005

Ask around for a scouting report on new Seattle Seahawks president Tim Ruskell, and a quick consensus is reached: "Good guy ... knows what he's doing."

Let us offer right up front that those were not always the terms used to describe his predecessor, Bob Whitsitt.

Those involved in Ruskell's hiring didn't bother to veil the appeal of a guy whose pitch for the position featured his eagerness at "unifying" the front office, at tearing down internal obstructions.

And to owner Paul Allen, the software magnate who recently executed the control-alt-delete trick on the team's administration, the issue of compatibility needed to be foremost in the new operating system.

Ruskell, then, is a team-first guy who is unlikely to leave bruises because his ego is banging around headquarters.

Here's an example: Allen cited Ruskell as a shrewd and experienced evaluator of talent. When given a chance to identify some of his draft nuggets with either Tampa Bay or Atlanta, Ruskell hedged.

"I hate to say those were my picks," he said. "We did it as a team; it's more fun to do it as a team, to give everybody credit. Our team picked John Lynch, our team picked Derrick Brooks."

It's a small distinction, but an important one. And when the habit of promoting the collective whole starts at the top, it can establish a tone for the entire franchise.

As an eager proponent of the collaborative effort, then, Ruskell had no problem acknowledging the paradigm established by the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.

Yes, he said, the Patriots have changed the way management looks at the construction of a roster.

"There's so much emphasis on team and so much emphasis on character," Ruskell said. "If you don't pay attention to that, you're foolish. It's another way to win; you don't have to get a Pro Bowler at every position. If you get guys who can work together, and they're smart and they don't make mistakes, then you don't have to have a superstar. You have to have a collection of men who work together for one common goal."

Hallelujah, brethren.

The retrospective scuttlebutt on Whitsitt's tenure was that, for too long, Allen heard only one voice emanating from Seahawks headquarters - Whitsitt's.

A common supposition is that Whitsitt and coach Mike Holmgren were, at times, at cross-purposes. If Whitsitt provided the lone conduit to Allen, then ownership might not have been able to make decisions based on adequate and balanced information.

At the news conference Wednesday at Qwest Field, Allen spoke of Ruskell's style, with the implication that it differs from Whitsitt's.

"I think every person's management style is different," Allen said. "I feel really great about Tim's style."

Allen said he consulted with CEO Tod Leiweke and Holmgren after the season to elicit broader input, which allowed him to "come to the decision that I had to make a change."

When Ruskell arrived bearing a message of brotherhood and unity, it resonated clearly with Allen.

"We have to have better communication," Ruskell said. "The coaching, the personnel, the front office ... we're all in this together. You can't do that if there's walls up and people have agendas. I know how it can go south when it's dysfunctional."

Ruskell looked very much the mild-mannered businessman, except for the Super Bowl ring earned for his help in building a title winner in Tampa Bay.

His wife, Linda, wore a sparkly bracelet that spelled out "Seahawks." And his daughter, Samantha, at one point was tossed a football. She dropped it, showing that she, too, fits in here.

Ruskell won't make any tackles or rush the passer. But he's a committed part of the team. And here's a story to show just how much - one that had to score points with Allen.

It comes from practices before the 2004 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. As it is told, Ruskell was on the sideline with Falcons owner Arthur Blank.

A running back headed around end and was driven out of bounds, right in the direction of Blank.

Ruskell supposedly threw his body in front of Blank to protect him, taking the bullet (or at least the running back) for his owner.

Ruskell ended up with a broken leg. But he proved to be a handy guy to have on the sideline.

And, apparently, in the front office, too.

- - -

Here's the release from the Seahawks:

KIRKLAND, WASH. — The Seattle Seahawks will hold its annual team scrimmage on Saturday, August 4, at Memorial Stadium located at Seattle Center. The scrimmage begins at 5 p.m. Tickets will be available at seahawks.com, all Ticketmaster outlets, and the Qwest Field Box Office beginning Monday, July 23, at 10 a.m.

All proceeds from the scrimmage will benefit TEAM Seattle Athletics, a non-profit organization created to assist the Seattle School District to raise funds in order to supplement existing financial support for athletic programs at all district schools.

Ticket prices are $12 for adults, and $5 for kids (ages 6-17). Fans under the age of five are free. Tickets are limited and there is an eight ticket maximum. General admission for the 90-minute scrimmage opens at 2 p.m. A player autograph session will take place immediately following the scrimmage.

Prior to the scrimmage, the team will host a Gatorade Jr. Training Camp (ages 8-14) at 2 p.m. Participants will have the chance to work with Seahawks alumni and local high school coaches to learn football fundamentals, techniques and skills. Participants must register through seahawks.com.

The team will begin the 2007 NWCN Seahawks Training Camp on Sunday, July 29, and will host an open practice at the University of Washington on Wednesday, August 8, starting at 8:45 a.m. Admission is free.

Okay, troops, I hope you’re ready … Seahawk rookies report in a week.

As the rookie signings have trickled in, we’ve blogged the heck out of them and I’ve offered whatever memory snapshots I’ve been able to call up from seeing them in minicamps. But the prospects of this crop of rookies has been a recurrent question here, so you obviously want to continue batting around the topic.

As a group, a common identity of the draft picks is that they are obviously "Ruskell" players. It's a motivated and intelligent bunch with a lot of degrees and academic accolades. Usually, the team's first-round pick serves as the face of the draft, but there was no first-rounder this year.

So, with one week until these guys show up and start getting after it, let’s collect our thoughts on their chances and potential impact.

--Josh Wilson. The first two flash impressions of this kid are that he’s too short but he’s very competitive. After watching him play a little, he didn’t seem to “play short,” but he was, indeed, competitive. He’s got really good make-up speed and looks to have nice timing and elevation for getting up to knock the ball away from taller receivers. I remember seeing Bobby Engram sneak in front of him and get a catch with a veteran move, but I also saw him get up high to knock away a deep pass to Nate Burleson.

When Kelly Jennings arrived as last year’s first-rounder, he looked extremely thin (5-11, 180). Wilson is 5-9, 192 and looks sturdier than Jennings. Wilson may be the fastest man on the team. He reportedly was clocked at 4.28 in the 40. Sound like a kickoff returner to you? He averaged 27.3 yards per kickoff return last season, and ran one back 100 yards for a touchdown.

Beyond that, as a business administration major, he won the award given to the top football-playing scholar in the ACC.

What Wilson also has is a hyper-competitive attitude. He said he’s always been that way, and that he was born six days before the scheduled arrival just because he wanted to get a head-start on things.

Chances: He should be the team’s No. 3 cornerback right off, and see a lot of time in the nickel while also getting every chance to earn the returner’s job and gunner’s job on coverage units.

--Brandon Mebane. The third-round defensive tackle is listed as a third-teamer behind Rocky Bernard and Marcus Tubbs. At 6-1, 314, he looks like a larger Chuck Darby, with a low center of gravity and great leverage. They liked the way he was stout at the point of attack, shed his blocker and met the back in the hole. Of course, the Seahawks can’t get enough of that.

In early workouts, he looked like a high-energy guy who also might have that first-step quickness to get in the gap and disrupt things. I came away impressed by his aggressiveness.

Chances: There’s a pretty big pile at those DT spots, with much depending on players’ health, particularly Marcus Tubbs. There’s at least five guys on the inside with experience (Darby, Tubbs, Bernard, Terrill, Davis), so Mebane will have to open some eyes to earn early playing time.

--Baraka Atkins. The fourth-round defensive end also played defensive tackle at Miami, but he looks more like a rangy edge-rush guy. Some of his numbers are very impressive; at 6-4, 271, he has been clocked in 4.69 in the 40. Early impression based on very limited evidence: If he turns out to be a high-motor guy, he might really be a steal. But I’ll be interested to see if he revs it up when camp starts.

Chances: Atkins walks into a spot without great depth, and is listed as the No. 2 left defensive end behind Patrick Kerney.

--Mansfield Wrotto. The second fourth-rounder caused me to wonder about the rarity of an offensive lineman named “Mansfield.” He said coaches call him “Manny.” He’s 6-3, 320 with very little experience at guard. He was a defensive tackle at Georgia Tech before being moved to offensive tackle as a senior. He’s obviously thick and powerful, but I didn’t see much that caused me to notice great technique or nimbleness. Guards don’t always have to, though, they need to be tough and reliable and preferably nasty. One of the scouting reports called him a “developmental project,” and I’d probably go along with that assessment.

Chances: Chris Gray is aging at right guard, but there are other candidates to fill in when needed. Wrotto should have time to learn the position.

--Linebacker Will Herring. The converted safety looks too lean, at 221 pounds, to be an every play linebacker. He won’t have to be for now. He is obviously quick and reportedly aggressive and smart.

Chances: If he gets on the field, it will be as a special teams guy.

--The Hawks took two receivers in the sixth round, Auburn’s Courtney Taylor and Oregon’s Jordan Kent. Taylor looks smoother since he’s played the position longer. Kent was a former basketball and track guy with the Ducks who is still raw at receiver but immediately among the most talented pure athletes on the team.

Chances: The position is stocked and these guys will have to sit around a while.

--Seventh-round guard Steve Vallos looked good and scrappy to me in minicamp. He seemed to have more attitude than Wrotto.

Chances: He’s going to have to be very convincing in camp.

Free agents. Of the rookie free agents, Holmgren pointed out receivers Joe Fernandez and Logan Payne. Fernandez should have the chance to show himself on special teams as he was a returner at Fresno State, scoring once on a 72-yard punt return. Tight end Joe Newton of Oregon State is 6-7 and is at a position without proven depth.

The question put to the blog was this: Will Jim Mora be the next head coach of the Seattle Seahawks?

I would say right off that it makes a lot of sense, is probably a good fit and a logical progression. I would also say that an awful lot can happen in two seasons before Mike Holmgren’s contract expires.

The biggest variable in the equation is whether Holmgren will be willing to give it up in two years. He signed a two-year extension in 2006. He’s 59 now, we may assume that his financial status is secured, as is his legacy in the game, having taken two franchises to three Super Bowls. I would be willing to bet that he’ll be ready to at least go into one of those temporary retirements … maybe take a year or two off, see how he likes it, and then get back into it with another club if he finds he’s getting too antsy at home.

He’s a year older than former Mariners’ manager Mike Hargrove, who up recently chucked it all. If the tone of some of his comments can be used as an indicator, it seems that Holmgren is a bit more philosophical these days, more willing to see value in time spent away from the game. He and his wife, Kathy, are very involved in many charitable causes that they find fulfilling. I think I read somewhere that she once said she’d like to see him running a book store someplace instead of being in the NFL pressure-cooker.

Maybe the Hawks have a great season and he doesn’t wait until 2008 to pull the plug. Maybe they’re vastly disappointing this season and he hops on the Harley and disappears early. Maybe those are the same reasons he decides he wants another extension.

Much of his approach could depend on factors we can’t imagine: How does the team fare? How does his relationship with GM Tim Ruskell progress? How much does he feel he has left to prove? Perhaps most importantly: Is the balance between the joy of winning and the pain of losing still in the tolerable range?

At times he sounds as if he still has the itch to be the GM as well as coach, but at times it sounds as if he’s happy not to deal with many of those issues.

Based on current circumstances, we may presume that Mike Holmgren can have this job as long as he wants it.

Now, for Mora. He’s got the title of assistant head coach/secondary, which seems to fairly clearly establish the chain of succession.

He took over a 5-11 Falcons team and took them to the NFC title game in 2004 with an 11-5 record. The assistant general manager for the franchise then, of course, was Tim Ruskell. After going 8-8 and 7-9, and making some joking comments on KJR that got him in hot water with Falcons’ ownership, Mora was fired.

That smudge on the resume isn’t nearly enough to keep him from getting another chance … especially with Ruskell.

But how will he do here? I was asked about the potential impact of Seahawk newcomers … Patrick Kerney, Deon Grant, Brian Russell, Marcus Pollard, etc., and I argued that Mora will be the addition that will make the most change.

In minicamp practices, he was seen leading the defense in reaction drills that were clearly an implementation of some new wrinkles. Players were impressed with his style. “He is having a good time,” said linebacker Lofa Tatupu. “He is always smiling and joking around. He is out there trying to compete, too. He wants to go out there and play just as much as everybody else. It is fun out there and he brings a little life to practice.”

You can sense that right off from Mora. He’s got that head-coach charisma about him.

But, as much as Mora talks like a Seattle Chamber of Commerce flak, making it clear that he sees this as his home, what happens if a head-coaching job opens after next season? Does he make a run at that? Does he wait to see what Holmgren does?

So, a lot of things need to fall into place, and Mora has to be effective in the job he has right now before he gets another one. But I’d say that his eventual elevation in Seattle will be only a matter of time.

The question was whether the Seahawks could continue to “negotiate” with Josh Brown’s agent regarding a contract extension now that the deadline to sign a deal has passed. The best I can figure out, with the kind assistance of somebody who knows these things (okay, Sando), is that the wording states that the team can not make a “contract offer” until after the last regular-season game. I interpret a contract offer to be different from negotiation. Even if they did continue to talk, though, I can see little reason why it would be on a front-burner until late in the season.

Interestingly, the tender number for a franchise kicker (the salary average of the top five in the league) dropped almost 16 percent this year.

Yes, there is now a limit to the number of times a player may be franchised … twice.

To the question of whether cornerback Marcus Trufant would be a likely candidate to be designated a franchise player next year. The Seahawks paid Trufant a $3 million bonus in April ’04 to activate the sixth-year option on his contract, leaving him under contract through until 2008.

Also, since Brown signed his tender, he is under contract and must report to camp and not just show up for the season as did Walter Jones, who didn't sign the tender until later.

The Seahawks have until 1 p.m. local time Monday to arrive at a long-term contract with franchised kicker Josh Brown. If no deal is reached, Brown will play with Hawks for the $2.078 million franchise tender this season and be an unrestricted free agent after this season. The options then are to franchise him again, take another shot at negotiating a deal, or allow him to leave as a free agent.

It might not even make much sense to put it this way, but we too often forget to analyze the impact of things that don’t happen. The Seahawks not having to go to China, for instance. With training camp less than two weeks away, I’m sure the football people at the Seahawks are increasingly more delighted that the NFL scrapped plans to have the Seahawks play a preseason game against the Patriots in Beijing.

The league has been intent – especially under new commissioner Roger Goodell – to work toward the globalization of the brand (perhaps even the physical globalization of the league at points in the future). When the Seahawks were named as participants in this game last fall, the organizational position was one of being honored. It was considered symbolic of the Seahawks’ newly arrived status as a major force in the league.

The football people seemed far less enthralled. Logistics called for the Hawks to play the Pats in Seattle once, and then for both to proceed to China for another game the following week. It meant the Seahawks had to play five preseason games. Why not just count the China game as one of the four? Because that would cost a team a home “gate.” The players, then, would have to strap it on an extra time before the games even counted.

Head coach Mike Holmgren made the appropriate comments, but they sounded as if grumbled through clenched teeth. Coaches hate disruptions of their normal routines. This meant that they’d have to move training camp back to Kirkland rather than Cheney, they’d have to dramatically change the camp schedule, and they’d have to prepare for a 25 percent increase in games.

In the spring, though, the NFL abruptly scrapped the whole thing, saying it was going to be too much of a challenge to prepare for it as well as the league’s other international game, a regular-season contest between the Dolphins and Giants in London in October. There was some suggestion at the time that the underlying problem was that the Chinese weren’t going to have the facilities ready. Uncharacteristically, the tightly wired NFL came off looking a little slip-shod.

Indianapolis won 14 regular-season games in 2005 after opening in the preseason in Tokyo. Dallas won the Super Bowl after a 1993 preseason appearance in London. So, these things don’t doom seasons. But I can guarantee you that the Seahawks are very happy this week that they’re not getting ready for a premature report to camp to accommodate the globalization of the league trademark. Beyond that, I don’t believe the team would have benefited in any way from the distraction. They’re better off here.

At the time, I heard stories from some fans who already had booked travel to China to see the game and were unable to get refunds after the cancellation. They’re heading to China in a few weeks … with no game to watch. I’m curious if any of you have such stories to share, or have heard of friends facing those circumstances.

Don't look for weblog entries from me for the next day and a half as I'm headed to Bellingham to visit my daughter and pretend that I'm really on vacation for a while

--On the potential scrimmage date and time. I couldn’t get the info that GladiatorHawk provided confirmed by the team today. That doesn’t mean that it’s wrong by any means, but they’re apparently not ready to make an official announcement yet.

--On the signing of Isaiah Kacyvenski by Oakland. I’m with the well-wishers here. As hard as I tax my memory, I don’t recall ever being around an NFL player so ceaselessly enthused about playing the game. Everybody knows his personal history and tales of rising from incredible hardships.

A publishing house approached me to ghost write Kaz’s autobiography last summer. I thought it would be a great project and after talking it over with him, was prepared to do it. But the timetable was so hurried for both Kaz and me (with an October deadline) that we didn’t think it possible to do it the way it deserved. I’m not sure if they ever got anybody to do it with him at a later date, but I know it would make a terrific story and potential TV movie or the like.

I’ve done countless columns on him starting from the day he was drafted, and the toughest thing was getting him to slow down a little bit as he spoke … he was always so excited that he answered questions as if he were covering kickoffs.

I don’t know how much more he’s got left in him physically, but I know it’s wrong to write him off too early because he can contribute in a lot of ways. He certainly elevated the tempo of practices, as nobody I’ve seen played with such unsparing energy.

--On D.J. Hackett being overlooked by national analysts. I only know what I’ve seen, and that was Hackett coming up with a lot of big catches at crucial times in games and making the most of the opportunities when they arose. It will be different this year because those plays will be expected rather than coming as a bit of a surprise out of a bench guy. Sometimes players respond to increased responsibility and higher expectations differently. He seems to have proven, though, that the physical skills are there. Somebody has to pick up the slack for the departure of Darrell Jackson and the 10 TD catches he made last year. Hackett is certainly one who will be expected to do his part.

--On whether Chris Gray can be anything more than a backup at RG this season. I re-read “Old Man and the Sea” the other day and came across a line that I underlined to use in a column about Gray some day. “I may not be as strong as I think,” the old man said. “But I know many tricks and I have resolution.” Seems a fitting scouting report.

I was critical of him a few years ago, as the big DTs were really pushing him around, but it seems to me that he’s somehow managed to be more effective the last couple years. Maybe it’s tricks, scheme, or others giving him more help. But I certainly would be hesitant to tell him it’s time to sit down.

--On Leonard Weaver’s skills at catching the ball. Those of you paying close attention to this team probably share my thoughts on this … Weaver could be a very productive player just waiting for his opportunity to show it. His development as a blocker will be a critical component of his getting more time. As a receiver, remember that he was a former college tight end. During one minicamp practice, he made the catch of the day. I recall it was in the Red Zone offense; he sneaked through a crease and caught a ball that was high and behind him. It was one of those where he had to raise, spin, and just spear it with one hand. He brought it down, falling backwards, causing the offense to break out in cheers. Very impressive.

--On the reported signing of seventh-rounder Steve Vallos. They call him a tackle, but he looks like a 6-3 guard. He’s not huge and his strength numbers are supposedly unimpressive. You know what, though? This guy has a look about him when he comes to the line. I’ve seen that look … it tells the defender that this guy is willing to do anything up to and including chewing off somebody’s knee caps if he has to to get the job done. One low draft pick I covered when he was in college had that look … Mark Schlereth. I don’t want to imply that Vallos is going to end up with that kind of career and retire with three Super Bowl rings. I’m just saying that if a tough attitude comes into play, Vallos seems to have it.

I watched him a little in minicamp when he was going one-on-one in pass-blocking drills against fourth-round rookie Baraka Atkins. It was one of those rainy, wet days, and Atkins might have had trouble with his footing, but Vallos stonewalled him two or three times.

The Seahawks announced the signing of their seventh-round draft pick today. The team release:

Seahawks Sign Seventh Rounder, Release Running Back

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks have signed guard Steve Vallos, the team announced this afternoon.

Vallos, drafted in the seventh round (232nd overall), becomes the fifth draft pick to sign with Seattle. Cornerback Josh Wilson, defensive tackle Brandon Mebane and defensive end Baraka Atkins remain unsigned.

To make room on the roster, the team released running back Joe Rubin.

Before getting back to weightier issues, here's a schedule for the upcoming training camp.

July 26, rookies and quarterbacks report
July 28, all players report
July 29, first practice
Aug. 24, camp breaks

Plans are in progress for a scrimmage, but they're still working out the details. An announcement should be expected by no later than the end of next week. We'll pass that along as soon as plans are solidified.

I got an email from Greg in Tennessee, who claims to read the Seahawks blog here religiously (although I’ve never seen him toss in coins when the offerings platter was passed). He did, however, offer four topics that he’d like analyzed and discussed here in coming days.

1) Ray Willis … where does he fit in and what can he add?
2) Who would I label the most underrated and overrated Seahawks?
3) Will Jim Mora be the next Seahawks head coach?
4) Tim Ruskell … Is he the genius Greg thinks he is?

One at a time, in installments, here we go.

When I first heard that Willis was going to get some time at right guard, it seemed absurd. The man is walking around in a great tackle’s body. And those guys are too rare to use at guard. He’s a long-armed 6-6, 327. The NFL is crawling with 6-4, 300-pound guys to play guard, but 6-6, 327 tackles are far more precious. From what I’ve seen of him in drills at tackle the last couple years, he’s got good feet and that crucial talent of locking a guy out when he gets his hands on him. I seem to recall that some of the smaller really quick guys gave him more trouble, but that’s based on memory and a limited sampling of practice reps.

He’s spent two years apprenticing starting tackles Walter Jones and Sean Locklear. But this is his third season, and instability along the offensive line was a limiting factor for the offense last year. Jones isn’t ready for replacement, and Locklear has been capable. So what to do with Willis?

If they decide that Willis is among the best five guys up front, which I don’t doubt, my initial suggestion would have been to kick Locklear (6-4, 301) down to guard and move Willis into the RT start ... leaving both at more natural positions. But Chris Gray has been the RG and played it with such durability and toughness that he deserves first dibs at holding the spot, even at age 37.

Here’s where we get into a little bit of the psychology of offensive line coaches. I’ve always sensed a great hesitance among them to replace somebody who is doing the job with somebody who might do it better, but hasn’t yet proven it conclusively. The offensive line is different in this regard than almost any other unit on the team. Backups are rotated in across the defense all the time and have plenty of chances to prove their skills. Receivers and running backs get shuttled in frequently. But unless starting offensive linemen have a bone sticking out, they tend to stay in the lineup, leaving back-ups with little chance to prove themselves in regular-season circumstances. Unless an injury or high draft status is involved, it may be harder for an offensive lineman to unseat an incumbent starter than any position other than quarterback. Last season, the Hawks made a move that I loved that bent that tendency a bit, using both Chris Spencer and Rob Sims at left guard. By doing that, Sims was ready to ease in as a starter when Spencer had to move back to center for the injured Robbie Tobeck.

But Willis hasn’t had that chance. The more I saw of Willis in the minicamps, the less bothersome the idea of him at guard seemed. He didn’t look too “long” in there. Practices were only in shorts and helmets, but he looked like a good enough drive blocker for a tall guy. Guards have evolved into more compact guys because they operate in cramped space and have to deal with ground-huggers like Chuck Darby. Those guys enjoy leverage advantages over guys who are 6-6.

Here’s what Shaun Alexander had to say when asked about Willis at guard: “I have been pleasantly surprised with Ray. His feet are in the right place. His attitude is perfect. It reminds me of Hutch (Steve Hutchinson) when he first got in here. He was so hungry. He was doing way more stuff right than what he should do. That is kind of what Ray is doing. Hopefully I didn’t give him too much of a mountain to climb by comparing him to Hutch but I expect great things out of him this year.”

Willis has a great deal to prove at either position. But it’s apparent he’s going to get a chance to earn a spot. If forced to project, I’d say that given time to break in and adapt, Willis can be a better long-term right tackle in the NFL than Sean Locklear. He might eventually turn into a left-tackle kind of guy if the need arises.

Willis showed the staff quite a bit in the minicamps … things that may be more important than footwork and mechanics. With Gray and Jones absent for stretches of camp, Willis saw action at both guard and tackle, rarely getting a rep off … and he did much of it with a cast protecting a broken bone in his hand. Football coaches love to see that stuff. They like to reward it.

The fact that Mike Holmgren so openly declared the spots on the right side of the offensive line open for competition made this the hot topic heading into camp. Holmgren doesn’t just say things to the media accidentally, without a motive. It leads guys who want jobs to fire up and guys who have jobs to fight to keep them. It also means that at least a couple guys are going to have to perform pretty well to keep Ray Willis out of the lineup.

Since many of you have shown interest in facets of the Seahawks aside from stats and contracts, etc., I thought you might be interested in what some of these players do in the community. Many are extremely committed, including fullback Mack Strong. I’ve done a number of columns through the years on the commendable off-field efforts of Mack and his wife Zoe. I got this press release that I’ll pass along as it came to me – in case you’re interested. Of course, this is only one of the many events these guys are involved in, but it is a good example of how many are using their position and visibility for far more than just personal gain.

--

Seahawk Mack Strong to host TEAM-WORKS Sports and Leadership Camp on the Tulalip Reservation for Native American Youth July 11-13

Marysville, Washington – Tribal youth from around the Northwest will be learning from professional and collegiate athletes at the Mack Strong TEAM-WORKS Sports and Leadership Camp July 11-13 at the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club. The camp is presented by HOPE - worldwide Washington, Tulalip Casino, the Tulalip Education Department, and the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club. Professional athletes attending from the Seattle Seahawks will be All-Pro Mack Strong, DJ Hackett, Floyd Womack, Jordan Babineaux Seneca Wallace. Additional professional and collegiate athletes will also attend such as Ian Scott from the Philadelphia Eagles and others.

Students, coaches, players and parents alike are expressing excitement about the inter-tribal participation of the Tulalip, Muckleshoot, Lummi and Nez Perce attendees. In the three-day program, athlete mentors will focus on the TEAM-WORKS formula of Strong Minds, Strong Bodies and Strong Character workshops on healthy lifestyles and sports. Professional athletes will be instructing youth on the fundamentals of sports in four sports clinics; football, basketball, baseball and soccer. Along with providing physical skills training, the athletes will share stories of personal hardship, courage, and victory. In addition, Native leaders who take part encourage the high school students to take pride in their identity and will present indigenous games and activities. Camp registration for students from the Tulalip Tribes (7th through 12th grade) is still open until July 10th. You can register at the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club.

HOPE worldwide is an international charity that changes lives by empowering the compassion and commitment of dedicated staff and volunteers to deliver sustainable, high-impact, community-based services. The Washington Branch of HOPE worldwide is dedicated to providing these services to Native American youth and at-risk individuals in the Puget Sound region through the TEAM-WORKS Academy, Annual Maternity and Infant Clothing drive/Baby Shower Event benefiting the Seattle Indian Center, Annual Holiday Toy Drive for orphans and at-risk families, Annual Blood Drive for the Puget Sound Blood Center, and Mack Strong’s TEAM-WORKS Sports and Leadership Camp.
###

The Seahawks announced that cornerback Rich Gardner was released to accommodate the recent signing of sixth-round wide receiver Courtney Taylor.

Gardner was signed as a free agent in Week 17 last year when injuries decimated the Seahawk secondary.

During a hot morning spent jockeying a pry-bar and reciprocating saw -- determined to reduce a rotting back deck into a pile of kindling -- I tried thinking of a good weblog topic today. One of the things I love to ask players who arrive at the Seahawks as free agents or draft picks is: What kind of jobs have you worked? I always thought it helped cast some light on the forces that shaped the player into who he is. Some answers have been pretty interesting.

Bill Hitchcock, an old lineman from the early ‘90s had been bouncer in a biker bar in Montreal, where he put his martial-arts skills to good use. Lamar King used to work as a cook at Taco Bell, and a crate loader at UPS. More recently, center Chris Spencer told of laboring on his grandfather’s farm in Mississippi as early as age 6, and of driving the tractor at age 7. I asked him if that kind of work made the challenges of pro football seem easier. “Playing football is fun; pouring asphalt in 100 degrees, that’s work,” he said.

One of the real interesting stories of hard labor came from Chuck Darby. I talked to him for a column soon after he arrived in the summer of ’05 because it seemed to me that he had introduced a higher intensity to the defense with his practice habits. Turns out, he used to help his father log cypress trees in the swamps of South Carolina. Heat, humidity, bugs, snakes … that job had to be a living nightmare. Darby had no complaints, though.

So, if you’re like I am today, sweating out some mild yard project, take solace in the fact that you could be swamp logging.

Here’s a copy of that column on Darby, who, indeed, turned out to be a nice acquisition by Tim Ruskell.

--

ROLLING BALL OF ENERGY
Darby is a new force on defense

Aug 3, 2005

CHENEY - As the defensive free agents trickled into Seattle in the offseason, geared toward upgrading the Seahawks' most obvious weakness, headlines heralded the arrival of Jamie Sharper, Bryce Fisher, Andre Dyson and a few others.

The signing of Chartric Darby caused little comment other than, perhaps, "What's a Chartric?"

But as training camp progresses, it's Darby who is making the most visible early impact.

"One of the key guys who can help our football team right away is Chartric Darby," coordinator Ray Rhodes said. "Chartric has been here playing with a lot of energy and effort. The thing that is very noticeable about him is that he has one speed. I like players who play with one speed . . . all out."

The pace of practice for the defensive line has quickened since the addition of the kinetic Darby. And if attitude becomes a concern, well, Darby appears willing to take care of that, too.

"He is a leader," Rhodes said. "He is not going to do a lot of talking, but (lead) by example. If somebody is talking (negatively) around him, he is going to make them shut up."

Darby, late of the Tampa Bay Bucanneers, doesn't fit the blueprint for defensive tackles. He's 295 pounds, although a shade under 6 feet tall.

But he's a rolling ball of energy.

"I know I'm not the tallest player in the world, but none of those pro scouts could ever measure my heart," Darby said Tuesday. "My heart is seven feet wide and seven feet tall. And when I play in the middle, being short gives me leverage. Because I'm so low to the ground, it's tough for those big offensive linemen to get down there and block me. Those bigger defensive linemen are bigger targets for getting blocked."

Darby should be somewhat accustomed to being overlooked.

He's from the curiously named hamlet of North, South Carolina (population: 813). "We've got a caution light and some cow pastures."

His father is a logger, and Chartric (aka Chuck) spent time out in the swamps with him, engaged in the difficult enterprise of felling cypress.

They have a name for people who do this: Snake bait.

"I went out there and worked with him, cutting cypress and oak and pine," he said. "It's tough work and he's a tough guy, a hard- nosed guy. He worked hard to make ends meet; he's my biggest role model."

Wildlife? "Oh yeah, we ran into some snakes down in the swamps, but that's typical."

Darby played at South Carolina State and went undrafted by the NFL, but when he got a chance to compete in NFL Europe for the Barcelona Dragons, a Tampa Bay personnel evaluator - Tim Ruskell - liked his effort.

"He doesn't fit most schemes, being 5-11-something, so nobody was really looking at him," said Ruskell, now president of the Seahawks.

"But he was effective. We didn't care about the size, we cared about getting off the ball, the energy, the way he played the game. He always managed to do something."

Darby improved steadily, Ruskell said, and he was valuable as a situational fill-in. He started for the Bucs in Super Bowl XXXVII, next to the redoubtable Warren Sapp.

"He's a great football player and was a great person to me," Darby said of Sapp. "He was a player with a motor; he was very intelligent and he gave great effort. He's different; he's what you'd call special."

When Ruskell joined the Hawks last winter, and started evaluating free agents, Darby seemed a natural addition.

"He's a quiet leader, not a rah-rah guy who's getting up on the chair; he leads by example," Ruskell said. "When he was available, we thought, 'Oh, that would be a nice element to bring into the mix.' You have to give all the credit to Chuck because he's got a big heart and plays hard all the time and loves the game."

That's fairly obvious. Darby sprints everywhere on the field, after drills, between drills, as if he can't wait to get to the next task.

And, early on, he's playing so well that he's seeing considerable action with the first team, next to vastly improved second-year tackle Marcus Tubbs . . . an impressionable player with whom he's sharing his experience.

"Tubbs is going to be a truly great football player," Darby said. "He has a ton of talent waiting to explode. He works on his tools every day. I think that years from now, you're going to be reading about Marcus Tubbs . . . one of the league's great defensive linemen."

Darby willingly shares more than his football lessons, including what appears to be an irrepressibly upbeat philosophy on life.

"I believe that if you work hard every day, then good things are going to happen," Darby said. "The sun will shine on you. I believe that's a true thing. It just can't rain every day."

Of course, Darby hasn't yet spent a winter in Seattle.

- - -

Our former compatriot John Clayton of ESPN reported Monday that “… talks between the Seahawks and franchise kicker Josh Brown have been slow.” Clayton cited existing cap room and Paul Allen’s wealth as reasons to be baffled by the hang-up in reaching a long-term deal.

I can’t add much to the specific sticking points on the matter. At the time he was franchised, Brown sounded flattered by the gesture. The $2.078 million he’ll receive this year as a one-year tender is the average of the top five kicker salaries in the league. The tender keeps him off the market as an unrestricted free agent this season.

His four game-winning field goals last season left little doubt that he’s worth retaining. His kickoffs were deeper, too, as he had a career-high 12 touchbacks. If you follow this team, you recognize his enormous value.

It wasn’t until I specifically researched it, though, that I noticed that his 25-31 effort on field goals (80.6 percent) was only the 14th best success percentage in the league. Of kickers to have more than 12 attempts, Stover (Baltimore, 93.3), Elam (Denver, 93.1), Carney (NO, 92.0), Lindell (Buffalo, 92.0), Kaeding (SD, 89.7), Vinatieri (Indy, 98.3), Gould (Chicago, 88.9), Nugent (Jets, 88.9), Kasey (Carolina, 88.9), Hanson (Detroit, 87.9), Andersen (Atlanta, 87.9), Wilkins (St. L, 86.5), Feely (Giants, 85.2), Longwell (Minn., 84.0) and Graham (Cin., 83.3) had higher percentages than Brown.

Remember, though, that the two blocked field goals in the opener at Detroit, when snapper J.P. Darche was ailing, count against Brown, who capped the game with the last-play game-winner. High percentages are one way of measuring the quality of a place-kicker. I’d suggest that a more important question is whether he makes the ones that the team absolutely needs when games are in the balance.

It has never appeared that Brown is in any way unhappy with his circumstances with the Hawks, as he's one of the quickest with smiles and jokes on the practice field and in the locker room.

I see the Times is reporting that the Hawks have agreed to terms with Courtney Taylor, the sixth-round receiver out of Auburn.

I confess to a vast absence of excitement over these signings. The important thing is they’ll all be there when camp opens. Without a first-rounder, there’s very little drama to this. You want terms? For the most part, each will make a little less than the guy drafted ahead of him and a little more than the guy drafted behind him.

Here’s what you do want to know about Courtney Taylor. He’s got nice size, 6-1, 209 and decent speed. Draft reports claimed he would not be a vertical threat in the NFL, but he looks almost identical to me to Ben Obomanu, another former Auburn receiver, who seems to have progressed nicely heading into his second year with the Hawks. Taylor set an Auburn school record with 153 career catches. In 2004, as a flanker, Taylor caught 43 passes to Obomanu’s 25. It’s clear that Obomanu is working to take Taylor under his wing, as the two always seemed to walk on and off the field together during minicamps. The problem facing Obomanu, Taylor, and others, including athletic rookie Jordan Kent and minicamp surprises Joe Fernandez and Logan Payne? There’s not much room on the 53-man roster for them with Branch, Hackett, Engram and Burleson established ahead of them by virtue of experience, talent and contract status.

There was a little draft-day hub-bub when Courtney Taylor was announced by the Hawks and we all dove into the internet searching for background. As we all discovered quickly, when we pulled up a website named for Courtney Taylor, the Auburn receiver shares a name with a porn star who is not at all hampered by modesty. Those with company laptops started asking about ways to clear the memory cache.

After Taylor was drafted, the sports editor from a newspaper in Pickens County, Alabama, emailed me and asked if I’d file some reports for him of the two players from tiny Pickens County on the Seahawks roster. Courtney Taylor and Walter Jones. I told him I wasn’t sure Walter Jones had even met the kid. Apparently Jones’ hometown of Aliceville is just a few miles away from Taylor’s home in Carrollton.

I’m going to tell you about one play during a June minicamp practice that leads me to pinpoint one Seahawk player who looks ready to emerge as standout.

Last year at this time, Rob Sims was getting ready for his first training camp with the Seahawks. He had been a fourth-round pick out of Ohio State. Some of the draft reports questioned his work ethic, and whether he’d be able to control his weight. They must have been looking at a different guy because from the very start of training camp, Sims was fit, strong and surprisingly well-prepared. Some veterans beat him with certain moves, of course, but he got a surprising number of wins or stalemates against even the vets. He can bench press 515 pounds, so strength certainly was not an issue.

I sat down with him for a column interview early in camp because he was the one rookie who impressed me as a guy who had the wherewithal to really contribute if that turned into a position of need. Frankly, I thought he looked better than starter Pork Chop Womack after the first week. Sims was very articulate during the interview, telling of the impact of his father’s death just a few weeks before. Mickey Sims died of a heart attack at age 51. The two had been very close, and the elder Sims, who played for the Browns in the ‘70s, had dedicated endless hours working with Rob for this NFL opportunity he would never get to see.

“I’m still hearing his words every day,” Rob said. (I’ll paste a copy of the column from July 31, 2006, onto the bottom of the blog. I would link it, but I pulled it from the archives and I think it might be password protected). After that story was published, I encountered a first: One of Sims’ professors from Ohio State sent me an email praising him. I’ve heard from coaches, fans, relatives, etc., but never a professor. “What a great young man he is,” the prof said. “ … a true leader and a very funny guy.”

Line coach Bill Laveroni loved his attitude from the start. “… he’s a solid man, and that’s the kind of guy we want on our team,” he said.

With Pork Chop fighting injuries and the line being steadily shuffled, Sims started getting some time with the first unit, and finished as the starter the final three games of 2006. Sims naturally dealt with a learning curve last season, and suggestions were that he occasionally had assignment breakdowns on late check-offs or tricky stunts. I would not expect that to be a concern this season.

Skip ahead to the last minicamp. The offense was going through running plays against a scout defense. Sims, at left guard, pulled from the line, bellied back to gain depth, and circled around the left side. I don’t know what this 310-pound guy clocks for 40 yards, but his quickness and agility over a curving 15-yard path was attention-getting. He targeted an opponent from the secondary, maintained control, and wrapped up the defender. At game-speed, it would have been a knockout, and maybe a touchdown block. Not only did he get there, he was in perfect position to “finish.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was just one play in a non-contact drill in June. But the physical skills it displayed were very impressive, making Sims look far closer to a first-round stud than a fourth-rounder with question marks. Credit the scouting department for identifying his value, credit the staff for developing him … and credit the late Mickey Sims for the inspiration that keeps him motivated. A lot of things can happen to knock linemen off their developmental path, but Sims is one to keep your eyes on.

--Here’s a copy of that column from last training camp.--

INTERIOR VOICE DRIVES ROOKIE LINEMAN
(Copyright (c) 2006 The News Tribune)

CHENEY - Typically, after a good practice like Sunday morning's, when he performed well in drills, Rob Sims would whip out his cell phone and provide a block-by-block recap of the action for his father, Robert "Mickey" Sims.

No one was more interested than Mickey, of course, and no one was more invested in Rob's performance, since Mickey had spent much of his life grooming his son for this exact opportunity.

On June 7, when Rob Sims was in Seattle at a Seahawks minicamp, Sergeant Sims of the Cleveland Metroparks Ranger Department died of a heart attack at age 51.

He was eulogized as a humble, jovial and spiritual man whose prodigious size (6-foot-5, 350 pounds) and perpetual grin caused him to be called: "The Gentle Giant."

Sunday afternoon, Rob Sims spoke of how much he missed those phone connections, but the lines of communication, he said, remain.

"I'm still hearing his words . . . every day," Rob Sims said. "Every day."

The words that passed from father to son were more specifically applicable than the customary "Do your best, buddy," and "never give up." Mickey Sims understood big-time football because he played for the Cleveland Browns in the 1970s.

Of his messages, the one most frequently emphasized was the need to stay hungry and motivated, because Mickey Sims conceded that he came to take the game for granted, and his career was truncated because of lax work habits.

"It was a huge point for him," Sims said. "That's why I try to go out every day and push as hard as I can. He always said he was good enough to play in the league longer, but he got a little cocky. He stressed that to me many, many times. He made sure I had the work ethic in me. And it was great having someone like him who knew what it was all about."

Mickey Sims lived his advice, working two jobs much of the time.

"He worked for the parks and did security, too," Rob Sims said. "We were trying to get him out of it; that's what we were going to do if I made it here. I don't think we were really hurting (for money) but he always wanted to do more."

Rob Sims started on the offensive line for Ohio State for most of four seasons, then was drafted in the fourth round by the Seahawks. When coach Mike Holmgren called to welcome him to the team, Sims was in church with his family.

The sermon that Sunday: Catching a Dream.

In the first few days of his initial training camp, Sims has been impressed by the diligence of his fellow offensive linemen, how they study their meeting notes and prepare for the day's challenges.

So, he watches tackle Walter Jones, whom he says is a blocking "textbook," and he tries to catch on to the tricks of the veterans on the line, Robbie Tobeck and Chris Gray.

At the moment, Sims is listed at left guard behind Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack, but he looks comfortable and hardly out of place, acquitting himself well in blocking drills.

"I think he has a great attitude," Holmgren said. "He's physically strong enough; he moves well, he can pull, he can do all those things for a big guy."

With a bench-press maximum of 515 pounds, Sims is already among the strongest of the Seahawks.

"He's got skills and he works hard," said line coach Bill Laveroni. "He's got quick feet and power, and he's smart enough that he's going to learn the offense quickly."

But there's more to Sims than that, more depth, more substance, more of the inner resources that sometimes separate offensive linemen into a group distinct from their teammates.

"You know, he's a solid man," Laveroni said. "And that's the kind of guy we want on our team."

And that's the kind of assessment that would make Mickey Sims proud.

Frank Hughes, our soon-to-be Seahawks beat reporter, asked me to post this note for him ....

As many of you now know, I have been asked to replace Mike Sando on the Seahawks. The first thing I want to assure you all is that both the newspaper and I am committed to sustaining the same level of coverage on this important beat that Mike provided, both in print and particularly on the blog. Mike built a solid, devoted readership, which I fully respect, and we all want to offer the same type of information dissemination to a deserving fan base.

I will say that you will have to be starved for a few more weeks, or at least continue to enjoy the exclusive offerings of Mssr. Boling. Some of you may have noticed, but the Sonics beat has been an intense, non-stop affair since Clay Bennett took over. I am taking the month of July to decompress from a regular season that started last October and has not stopped, as well as to spend valuable time with my family, whom I have seen far too infrequently recently.

Speaking of family, I too have Frankwife and Frankids, as well as Frankdog. When I undertake the blog and the beat on a full-time basis, I want to get some insights from the blog readership about the aspects of Mike’s blog that were most liked so that we can continue the popular offerings, which included the inclusion of family. I certainly can’t promise that everything on the blog will be the same, but I do want to strongly maintain the positive aspects.

I look forward to the new job and I hope you do too.

Frank

Okay, now it’s official, Frank Hughes is sliding over onto the Seahawks beat from the Sonics. What does this mean to you? Anybody who reads the TNT knows that Frank is a pedigreed newshound. He’s generally way out front on Sonics happenings and has been deft with his analysis of where things are headed and why. He walks in with a veteran’s skill at developing and working sources, and delivering the news in an interesting style. Just as Mike Sando excelled in different ways when taking over for John Clayton, I’m sure Frank will do the same stepping in for Mike. I’ve been around long enough to have worked with all three. I respect them all as newsmen and friends. This beat will be in very good hands.

--To bassnw, who worried I would walk out on you all one morning, leaving you feeling used and oh-so cheap: Remember, I set up the ground rules for this relationship from the start. You knew this was only a summer fling, a vacation dalliance, and that eventually I’d be going back to my long-term love. But that doesn’t mean it has to be just about the laughs and satisfying needs. It can be meaningful … the fun, the sharing, the exploration … oh, yes … yes … yes. Here’s one thing you know is true, that when the day arrives that I have to break it off, I guarantee you that I’ll write.

--The Tank Johnson Issue: As so many of you pointed out, Tank Johnson will never play for a Seahawks franchise run by Tim Ruskell, who stresses character and off-field accountability. Such a thing would undermine the culture he’s created.

Still, anybody who watched opposing backs have career days against the Hawks last season knows that run-defense is a serious deficiency. Aside from allowing the other team to control the clock and wear you down, the inability to stop the run has so many other damaging side-effects, including the psychically painful realization that the other guys are dominating you. Big, strong, athletic men don’t like being run over. When that happens, they get cranky.

Weakness at defensive tackle causes problems all the way down the field … sort of a “trickle-back” effect. It’s my opinion that linebacker Lofa Tatupu seemed less effective last season than in his rookie year because backs weren’t getting slowed down at the line, and secondary players were getting beaten up because they were having to make too many tackles on backs who should have been stopped before they got that far down field.

The answer fans and staff can hope for lies in the return to health of Marcus Tubbs. Sando has filled you in on Tubbs’ rehab from the microfracture surgery on his knee, and told you how good Tubbs has been looking even though he’s been sidelined, and how hard he appears to be working at getting back on the field. Let me put it this way, the guy is an absolute physical beast. He looks stronger, leaner and more mature. If he can get and stay healthy, he could have as much impact as any “addition” to a roster in the league.

--To klm008, who asked about the offensive line situation, particularly in the middle: Doubts are valid when you go into a season with center Chris Spencer coming off shoulder surgery and his possible back-up, guard Chris Gray, turning 37. The expectation is that Spencer will be recovered by training camp and Gray is a warhorse who is almost impossible to sideline. Barring worst-case scenario, they should be able to find somebody to snap the ball with those two. I haven’t seen enough of Pat Ross in live action to make a fair evaluation. Be certain that if Spencer is sound, he’s going to be a long-term anchor on that line. He’s one of the strongest men on the team, nimble, and he seems bright enough to develop the grasp on line calls.

--To itscarlstime247: It’s my understanding that there will zero fan access to training camp at the Kirkland headquarters. There’s no place to park and no sideline space for fans. I’ll double check and get back to you, but I’m almost positive. It will be interesting to see how it works out at the new facility next year. It might take them a little time to get the logistics figured out. Having walked the site, it doesn’t seem like much space there, either, for all that they plan to put in. As I recall from the media day gathering they had last spring, team exec Tod Leiweke pointed to a berm area that would accommodate fan attendance. But I think parking would require some manner of shuttle from an off-site area. I think Leiweke has been pretty sharp in solidifying the franchise’s connection to the fans and recognizes the public-relations value of it. I think they’ll make something work at the new place, although I would assume that space constraints would keep access from being unlimited.

--To oldslow, who asked how practices differ from day to day during the season: On the typical week of a Sunday afternoon game, Monday is film work, light loosening up and time in the training room. Tuesday is off. Wednesday and Thursday are the heavy-work days when the game plan is implemented. Friday tapers off and might involve travel. On how much contact they have in practice … very, very little at full speed during the season. Some blocking sessions go live, but I think live tackling pretty much stops. Even during training camp it’s not like it used to be when they’d feature lengthy “live” scrimmages. Roster limits and the value of these players caused teams to recognize the wisdom of risk reduction.

--To Sherminator and Woofu (and trust me, I have a hard time believing I just typed in “Sherminator” and “Woofu”), who asked for more observations on players and stories from the past: Sure, I’d love to, sounds like a great idea. As I promised, I’m going to assiduously avoid the newsy aspect of this. News would require calling agents and sources, etc., which I swore NOT to do on vacation. But telling stories? Sure, that’s easy and fun … it’s the kind of thing I get asked to do whenever I’m invited to speak at Seahawkers meetings and such. I’m always asked about who are the good guys and who are the crumbs. What goes on in the locker room? What’s so-and-so like to deal with? Absolutely. Maybe I can do some lists … favorites, toughest, funniest, etc. You all can help me shape this by telling me what you want to hear. At some point, I’ll have to identify the one player I came to dislike because he so often delighted in walking past a gathering of media and … (how to put this?) … cutting the cheese.

--To PaulieP and others who graciously suggested I continue with the Seahawks blog: Thanks for the support, but my day job is one of the coolest on the planet. It’s something I’ve worked hard to attain. As a columnist for the Trib, I’ve been sent to cover Olympics in Japan, Greece and Italy, a dozen Super Bowls, NBA Finals, bowl games, U.S. Open golf, etc., etc. I doubt that any paper our size in the country expends the resources on sports coverage we do, and I’ve been lucky enough to benefit. I love covering the Seahawks and it’s probably my favorite thing to do. Be assured that I’ll keep providing analysis and opinions three or four times a week in columns. But I also get to do so many other things besides Seahawks. As a columnist, I have a voice and a vehicle. It’s a privilege and responsibility I love and take very seriously.

Seahawks Insider readers:

We're announcing today that Frank Hughes, who has covered the Seattle SuperSonics for The News Tribune since 1997, is taking over the Seattle Seahawks beat. He replaces Mike Sando, who left the paper earlier this month to take a job at ESPN.com.

In looking for Sando's replacement, we hoped to find someone with a strong background in breaking news and one who has the ability to put that information in context for readers -- both in the paper and on the Web. Frank has demonstrated those skills on the Sonics beat through the years.

I know that the subject of Sando's replacement has generated a few comments on this blog. I appreciate the interest. Your support of this blog has been amazing. We recognize that this blog is an important part of the beat. Frank will continue to develop this spot as a vehicle for news and discussion about the Seahawks.

Thanks,

Dale Phelps
Deputy Managing Editor

I got an email from a Seahawks fan I met at the Tampa Bay game last year. She approached Sando and I while she was waiting by the team buses for pictures and autographs. She’d come down from Pennsylvania to see the game, and I was reminded the expense some fans face trying to follow their favorite team. In the recent email, she mentioned coming out for training camp. Of course, since the Hawks are training at the Kirkland headquarters this summer, there will be no fan access. That should be different when they move to the new headquarters.

It got me thinking, though, of how precious that access is to fans. After all, this woman wanted to travel across the country to watch a few days of practice. Meanwhile, it’s something we who cover sports tend to take for granted as a part of our work day. For those of you who haven’t had the chance, I thought I’d tell you what goes on at practice, and some of the things that stick out in my mind about the experience over the years.

If you get out there early enough, the head coach walks past and generally stops for a brief visit. Of the four Seahawks head coaches I’ve covered, Holmgren has been the most likely to pause a few minutes, kid a little, inquire about current events, families, etc. Very cordial. He’s never once used the opportunity to comment on columns or opinions he might not have liked.

If there’s a coach you notice as practice starts, it’s often Nolan Cromwell, who probably throws as many passes in a day as any quarterback on the roster. Cromwell throws all the warm-up routes to his receivers. Cromwell was an All-American quarterback at Kansas, primarily because of his running skills, but he’s still got a good arm.

Another of the more noticeable coaches may surprise you … Gil Haskell. I suspect the typical fan wonders how much work is done by an offensive coordinator on a team in which the head coach calls the plays during games. But Haskell literally “coordinates” the offensive practice. Especially during team drills, Haskell is very active and vocal, always stressing a quick tempo and precision execution.

Holmgren mostly watches, takes notes, and steps in on occasion with specifics. He makes his presence known when there’s a foul up of a fundamental, or a particular technique he might have stressed earlier. He definitely controls the intensity of the practice, and starts barking more when he feels that’s dragging. But there’s not a lot of yelling out there. Maybe it’s the nature of this staff, or the natural evolution of the game. In the Chuck Knox days, there was far more live contact and more screaming by assistants, perhaps because they didn’t want to look too soft in Chuck’s eyes.

(Knox’s regime is an entire story of its own. He used to turn his ballcap around backward and get into the line drills to show blocking techniques. He was not above really unloading on some guys. The most bizarre incident during a Knox training camp was when owner Ken Behring had his helicopter land on one of the practice fields DURING practice. Players had to scramble out of the way. Knox came over and visited with him, but you could tell he wanted to strangle the guy. Another year, after Knox had back surgery, he was told by doctors that he could coach but only from a folding chair. Well, a helper brought out that chair, and followed Chuck around every practice, but he never sat in it. He also never told the guy to go away.)

After players stretch, they break down into position groups and go through some basic drills: stepping over bags, hitting sleds and blocking dummies … the kinds of things these guys have been doing since junior high.

One of the interesting drills involves quarterbacks getting in a circle. One is in the middle while the others try to roll big rubber balls at him. The quarterback keeps his head up, but dodges the balls to simulate evading pass rushers that might be flying past.

My favorite part of practice is pass-blocking, in which offensive and defensive linemen go one-on-one. It gets pretty spirited. The way it’s set up, it favors defenders, but Walter Jones scores at least a TKO on nine out of 10 tries. For years, the lines were separate and cheered for their group, but recently two linemen have started meeting, like ambassadors, on the side after they’ve taken their snaps. Jones and DT Chuck Darby often get together and use the time to talk as they watch. They say it’s a discussion of techniques and mechanics, but it looks a lot more like two small-town gentlemen from the South taking a breather and enjoying small talk.

There used to be occasional fights during practices, especially during training camp, but there’s very few under the Holmgren staff, which discourages it. There tends to be a good-natured tone to practices as some of the higher profile players are natural kidders. Division titles make that easier, too.

On one field away from the action, the punter, kicker and snapper comprise a small fraternity of outcasts. They join the rest during special-team sessions, and then once again retreat to work on their skills in private.

The most game-like situations take place in “team” sessions toward the end of practice, when the offense goes against defense. At times during training camp, this includes live blocking and tackling, but during the season it’s usually live until first contact with no tackling. Touchdowns, interceptions, etc., always cause cheering from one side and derision from the other.

At the end of every practice, Holmgren calls the team together. It’s like a class assembly. We’re not allowed to listen in. Sometimes we can hear him from the sidelines when he’s been angry, but mostly he’s rather professorial, stressing points off notes he’s made during practice. Sometimes this takes a few moments, but often it’s a fairly lengthy gathering. Then they pull in close, shout once and head to the showers.

The most time I spend with fantasy football is telling people I can’t help them with their picks because I don’t spend time on fantasy football. Still, I know that’s part of our constituency. I just saw ESPN.com’s list of the top 300 fantasy picks for 2007 and it’s worth discussing in a Seahawks context … fantasy or not. It seems obvious that the performance of all these scorers is heavily dependent on the health and development of the piecework offensive line. The same five guys started the first 15 games in the 2005 Super Bowl season. Last season, eight combinations of starters were employed to deal with injuries and ineffectiveness. Sacks went up by 11, rushing yards went down by 500, and scoring dropped more than a touchdown per game. For fantasy players, it was disaster. Many questions still exist up front, and it’s a good topic for another day.

ESPN’s listings of Seahawks are these: Shaun Alexander, No. 5; Matt Hasselbeck, 51; Deion Branch, 82; Mo Morris, 183; Josh Brown, 199; Nate Burleson, 221; Marcus Pollard, 240, Seneca Wallace, 281.

Those ahead of Alexander are Tomlinson, Steven Jackson, Larry Johnson and Frank Gore … a foursome that rushed for 783 yards against the Seahawks last season. Alexander’s foot injury last season caused his output to drop by 21 touchdowns and almost 1,000 rushing yards. In minicamps he’s looked healthy, fit and even playful. This is just an interpretation of all that, of course, but he seems re-energized. Even so, he’s going nowhere if the line doesn’t stay healthy and productive. In camps, Shaun was still not impressive catching the ball, a hole in his game that costs him touches. A tangent to explore on another day is to seek an explanation for the diminished receptions of a back who was so dangerous on screen passes and put together seasons with 44 catches (’01), 59 catches (’02) and 42 catches (’03) before nosediving to 23 catches in ’04, 15 in ’05 and 12 in ’06. Scheme? Motivation? Focus? How much more versatile is this offense with a featured back that catches 59 passes rather than 12?

Hasselbeck dealt with a bad shoulder, bad ribs and a bad knee … at least those were what we heard about. There had to be more. He was hit and hurried, and was further hindered by the lack of a diversionary rushing attack and injuries among the receivers. Coming off left-shoulder surgery, Hasselbeck is deemed ahead of schedule and is expected to be back at full speed come training camp. His seasonal productions of 26, 22 and 24 passing touchdowns prior to last season’s dip to 18 suggest that the problems were an aberration attached to the other factors. I remember noting several times during games last season that some bad throws and misjudgments looked like a case of him trying to do too much.

The receivers are the most interesting part of this. Darrell Jackson and Jerramy Stevens scored 14 touchdowns. Their departures leaves many scoring chances to be spread around to others. It’s logical to assume that Branch, having been with the team a season now, will likely improve on last season’s total of four TDs. He’s been moved to flanker, which seems a more natural position. Hackett emerged last season as a clutch receiver late in games. He’ll only get more chances now. Burleson disappointed last year, playing the early part of the season with a thumb injury. I think he’s going to have to show more in camp and preseason to earn more trust. Stevens’ replacement at tight end, Marcus Pollard, is 35 years old, but still seems to move well. Holmgren has called him a 45-50 catch guy. If so, he could be a sleeper pick.

One player not making the top 300 could be a real oversight: Bobby Engram. Engram is 34, and coming off a season limited by health problems. In minicamps, he looked fit and back up to playing weight. He’s got a ton of savvy and Hasselbeck’s trust. It’s hard to say where he might fit in at a crowded position, but if there’s a real sleeper among the receivers I’d say it’s Ben Obomanu, a seventh-rounder a year ago. He’s got good size, seems to maintain his speed through his cuts and just keeps making nice catches.

The two rookie draft picks reportedly signed by the Seahawks – fourth-round guard Mansfield Wrotto and fifth-round linebacker Will Herring – bring up an interesting point for discussion. Both are players with limited experience at the positions they’ll be asked to play in the NFL. Wrotto played on the Georgia Tech defensive line for three seasons before switching to the offensive line last year. Herring was a three-year starter at safety before stepping in at outside linebacker last year. Why spend draft picks on players who are relatively inexperienced at the job you expect them to do?

Certainly, players grow and change, and their college teams may have positions that need to be filled, requiring a player to jump in. NFL scouts seem to like these converts because they tend to have carryover skills. A converted defensive lineman would be expected to bring a more aggressive approach to the guard position, for instance. Maybe he plays meaner, has a better initial thrust and “punch” and turns into the mauler-type they love. It would be easier to teach an aggressive defender the offensive line techniques than it would be to try to instill those instincts into a career guard who already knows the position but plays it more passively. Meanwhile, a linebacker who played safety should have superior quickness and innate coverage ability.

New Sonics GM Sam Presti has stressed the desire to land guys who can play more than one position. In the fluid game of the NBA, there’s more value in that versatility. In the NFL, it’s mostly meaningful only as an indicator of athleticism. Breaking away from the conventional positional blueprints is sound when the football skills warrant. The undersized Lofa Tatupu is a perfect example. But certain positions require specific physical characteristics for good reasons, reasons that have been proven over time.

Sometimes the transition is not smooth. Michael Boulware may be one of the best and most instinctive athletes on the team. He played linebacker at Florida State and was moved to strong safety by the Hawks. He’s made a number of big plays for the Seahawks … mostly once the ball was in the air, when he could just go and get it. But he’s been vulnerable to giving up the big play on the deep ball. What might be at work there are his deeply ingrained instincts to charge the line on the ball fake as he was taught all those years as a linebacker. The problems led to his replacement in the starting lineup.

How will it work for Wrotto and Herring? Wrotto is 6-3, 317 and plenty strong. He looks shorter because he has what scouts refer to as “good sand,” meaning a very low center of gravity. To be honest, I didn’t see enough of him in minicamps to make any sort of judgment. There’s enough players ahead of him, though, that he should have some time to learn the game. The first impression of Herring was obvious … he’s too small. The Hawks list him at 6-3, 221, which makes him look like a good-sized safety (2 pounds lighter than Boulware). He’s very quick and can get to the ball, where he could easily be absolutely detonated by a lead back. It’s just a first impression. He’ll surely beef up somewhat. And Tatupu’s success stands as a warning about making snap judgments based on size alone. Herring will have to earn his pay on special teams for a while, anyway, where his speed and coursing skills could make him extremely effective.

I’m officially on vacation, but I volunteered to jump in on occasion because the cult is suffering obvious withdrawal symptoms. You deserve more, but at the least, I’m an expensive part-time temp. And it should be slow these days. Put it this way: Until we get a new cook in the kitchen, maybe I can sustain you with some light snacks. I don’t do spreadsheets or podcasts, but I’ve covered the Hawks as a beat-guy or columnist for the last 18 years. My job is subjective analysis, and I’m not in a position to work around-the-clock on this, but I’ll keep my ear to the ground for what limited news should arise. We’ll have somebody on-board soon … please bear with us.

On the topic of signing Erik Meyer, the former Eastern Washington quarterback … here’s a story out of the Whittier Daily News on his return from NFL Europa, where he threw 13 touchdowns and six interceptions for the Cologne Centurions:

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/sports/ci_6199767

I think the most telling fact in the article was Meyer’s completion percentage of 68.6, an NFL Europa record (breaking Jake Delhomme’s mark of 67.4). Meyer is 6-1, 210, a little small (unless he’s standing next to Seneca Wallace). EWU coach Paul Wulff likened him to Jeff Garcia and Drew Brees. It’s not a strain to pinpoint a few differences, of course, but the message is that Meyer’s size should not be considered a sole limiting factor.

At the least, Meyer can be a “camp arm” getting another chance to audition for a team (he was cut by Cincinnati last season). At best, he should be viewed as a challenge for No. 3 quarterback David Greene, entering his third season. Greene looked serviceable in two preseason games last year (7-11, 53 yards vs. Dallas, and 13-19, 144 yards vs. Oakland). His four years as a starter at Georgia, with 42 wins, led the Hawks to take him with a third-round draft pick in 2005. Greene obviously proved himself as a “gamer” in college.

But that third quarterback spot on the roster seems best used as a place where a player who may have starter potential can ripen. Here’s what I see from the sidelines in practices: Greene is not a consistently precise passer. Even if it’s little tosses to flaring backs, the ball is sometimes delivered in a spot where the back has to break stride to make the catch. One of the most impressive things about watching Matt Hasselbeck practice is his focus on delivering every pass … even in warm-ups and drills … to a place where it’s easy to catch. Greene doesn’t always show that degree of focus.

Staffs take considerable comfort in having a No. 3 guy around that they know can at least get the team in the right formation, take snaps, hand the ball off, and get them through the last quarter of a game in case disaster hits the first two quarterbacks. Greene has that going for him, as well as some roster leverage as a third-round pick. Whether it’s Meyer or somebody else putting on the pressure, anybody who’s been a No. 3 quarterback for several seasons and hasn’t threatened to move up the depth chart needs to hear the clock ticking.

I've received a few queries about the status of our Seahawks reporter/writer/blogger opening in the wake of Sando's departure. I wish I had some news to share, but all I can officially report at this point is we're working on it and hope to have someone on board soon.

In the meantime, here's what the boss wrote about Sando in yesterday's edition of his weekly column.

Mark Briggs
Assistant Managing Editor