Thursday, March 19, 2009

Pigskin Ponderings-Seahawks version

The Seattle Seahawks made fewer moves than the Browns,but unlike the Browns-Seattle made a major move in the wheeling and dealing time.

The Seahawks traded star linebacker Julian Peterson to the Detroit Lions in exchange for defensive tackle Cory Redding and a fifth round draft pick.
Peterson was a standout in his three years in Seattle and helped make the Seattle linebacking corps one of the leagues best along with Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill.
Ironically,Hill was the likely reason that Seattle had to move Peterson as Hill was franchised by Seattle and it became cost prohibitive for the Hawks to keep all three backers together.
Peterson collected Pro Bowl honors in each of his three seasons with the Seahawks and his outside rush will certainly be missed.
I loved watching Peterson blitz from the outside and swallow quarterbacks whole.
Julian Peterson was the rare player that was productive,but with flash and that made him very fun to watch.
Peterson is from Michigan,so at least he will be returning to his home state.

Redding had a huge season in 2006 with eight sacks and looked to be one of the top free agent defensive linemen in 2007,but the Lions franchised Redding and kept him off the market.
Redding's performance dipped in 07 and 08,but has the potential to step up and replace Rocky Bernard's pass rush up the gut after Bernard left for the Giants......
The fifth rounder helps as well after Seattle foolishly shipped their fifth to the Broncos for mediocre wideout Keary Colbert when the Seahawks were decimated by the injury bug early last season.

Seattle retained guard Ray Willis with a new contract and (as noted in the Browns post) lost guard Floyd "Pork Chop" Womack to Cleveland.
Seattle added blocking tight end John Owens from the Lions as their other free agent signee.

Seattle lost long time running back Mo Morris to the Lions in what seems to be a constant shuttle between Detroit and Seattle.
Morris may finally get his long awaited chance to run the football full time with the Lions.

The Seahawks also watched long time slot reciever Bobby Engram sign with Kansas City.
Engram was pretty much gone after the signing of T.J Houshmanzdeh,but we wish him well after several productive seasons in Seattle.
Seattle's starting fullback Leonard Weaver is still in the free agent market,but no word on whether the Hawks are interested in Weaver returning or handing his job to second year man Owen Schmitt....

Could be back later with more catching up or for sure tomorrow as we continue to chip away at things with Devils and Pirates posts....

Photo Credits
Peterson:Dan DeLong-Seattle Post-Intelligencer

No comments: