An additional SD point. In two games with the Rams he had 6 INTs. The math says SD had 8 INTs in the remaining 14 games played this season. My feeling is that would be considered pretty decent.
Love your call on Jalen Nailor. He would be a great complimentary piece to slide into Kupp's spot, or work in that role with him. Shaheed's game is more like Horton's game, IMHO.
So:
-JSN does it all as #1
-Shaheed & Horton as big-play guys, backed up by Cody White.
-Nailor & Kupp as possession guys, backed up by Bobo.
But that's 7 WRs without counting Dareke or RWIII for ST. Somebody would be odd-man (men) out or PS risks to get signed by others, most-likely the Whites (I'll let you decide if that's 2, 3, or 4 players 😉).
Yeah. I appreciate the Nailor idea. Most of my knowledge of non-Seahawks receivers comes from playing fantasy football, so guys like Nailor don't jump out at me, but he seems like a good type to add to the mix. He might remind us of Tyler Lockett a bit if he takes a step forward.
While I appreciate their various skills and respect the men that Cody White, Young and Bobo are, I won't be too upset to see them play elsewhere next year. We need some new investments at the WR position, and there will not be roster space for everyone.
I'm not 100% on this, but if they have $70M in unused cap for 2026, and $16M in unused cap for 2025, I believe that unused 2025 cap rolls into 2026 (cap carryover), so we'd have $86M for 2026 as a starting point, before any cuts. That's a significant amount. So if their are internal or external FA's that the Seahawks want to target, JS will have the money bag to go get them.
It's good to read how confident many Seahawk fans are that we'll win Saturday's game. We should have confidence in a 13-3 team. I think we should win, but I'll also allow that we could be lamenting a game we COULD have won, but didn't.....for many reasons. We'll win if we play our game, and we don't make critical mistakes. The 9'ers are good enough to beat us, especially if we help them do it.
The key players and coaches for me on Saturday are;
Woolen - Had two critical blunders late in the first game against the 9'ers. I think he'll want to atone for that, especially going into free agency.
Emmanwori - He'll get some match-ups on Kittle, and that should be a mismatch in favor of the Seahawks. He'll also get an opportunity to meet McCaffrey in the flat and in the backfield, and he'll need to make those tackles.
Okada - Open field tackling machine, which will be critical. Get guys on the ground.
Barner - Will need some critical 3rd down conversions, and his usual blocking in the run game.
Kubiak - Make the game simple early on. Plays the ball gets out quickly. Plays that keep the offense on schedule. Under center, get Sam on the move, outside zone, etc. Sam excels when there is a coherent plan. Make it so.
Appreciate the info on Darnold. I've been thinking for some time that he needs to improve his pocket awareness. Don't know if it could be a peripheral vision thing or just a lack of that 6th sense when things are closing in. I like Darnold, and I think he does better outside the pocket also, but sometimes he runs into the pressure instead of away from it. He seems to do well when moving forward to get out of pressure and has made some clutch passes doing that.
There are too many arm hits, fumbles, and batted passes especially when he stays in the pocket. He showed better awareness in the last play in OT against the Rams to Saubert. Saw him look off Turner to the left before throwing it to his right to hit Saubert and miss Turners raised arm. Hope that continues (the looking off of receivers).
Hitting helmets, batted passes, and bouncing passes off people in tight coverage leads to more interceptions. There could have been 4 or 5 more Int's off batted passes this season. Don't force the ball Sam, just throw it away, away from D players.
I thought the last Int to Jackson may have been miscommunication between he and Njigba as to where he was expecting him to be. A back shoulder pass might have worked. It seemed odd that Jackson was in beyond Njigba and it didn't look like Njigba was trying to get to the back of the end zone.
We have to take time away from Purdy and not give him time to throw. Without pressure he will do what Stafford did before we started getting to him in the last quarter. Purdy hasn't seen a defense like ours.
Looking back, in which game was the offense the most frustrating?
For me, it wasn’t slow start games or Sam turning it over to the Rams. For me, it was game 1 against the Niners.
We all expected an efficient zone run game and play action from under center. Instead, we got a lot of man and power concepts in the run game and Sam threw a lot from shotgun. It looked nothing like our base scheme from preseason or from Saints tape at its best.
I think Kubiak was trying to outsmart Saleh, and we outsmarted ourselves. Walker got 20 yards on ten carries. JSN got over 100 yards, but fumbled twice, losing one. Our second leading receiver was Kupp with 15 yards. Walker was 3 of 3 receiving and had four yards to show for it.
As bad as the execution was, the play calling was bizarre.
If I ever speak with Kubiak, I’d ask him about that game. Did he call those plays thinking that he would surprise the 49ers, or because those were the plays that the offense was executing well in practice? If it was the latter, then the offense was well behind schedule in adopting the new scheme.
Now, our defense is healthy and clicking. Our offense has experience with the whole playbook. Maybe we even have some trick plays that we can finally pull off. I don’t think we’ve executed one all year. Week one was from a different universe.
I'd be surprised if Sala-han don't both go deeply into their respective bags of tricks. Fake punts? Blitzing? Weathering the trickery is going to be critical. I doubt they leave anything out. McDonald is going to be tempted to call a tighter game and I fear that. You have to be ready to counter some bluffs. What the 49ers study is probably the Rams's playbook. Because Seattle's comeback against the Rams would be very hard to repeat. The Rams got up big with misdirection and getting Puke-Uh (spelled that way because it made me sick) open deep. Purdy doesn't have a long arm like Stafford, but if a guy's got five yards of clear air.... It wasn't obvious to me what led to so many busts in that game, even from Spoon, but whatever it was, expect Shanahan to try the same method. Now, to Purdy's weaknesses....
Given what SSJ has shown about Purdy outside the pocket, and the pick-six and INT in the end zone he threw this past week (called back for very questionable DPI), both from INSIDE structure, they'll want him on the move. Any advantage there has to be tracking him down and watching out for screens and throw-backs. They'll cut you deeply that way. Pen him in on scrambles, force him to throw out of it, and watch out for the stuff back across his body. You REALLY want to see Seattle's DBs lock down their third and fourth options, too, which Chicago didn't. No more Tonges crap. But if you can bait Purdy into throwing on those sucker punch plays and pick him... That'd be swell. Easier said than done.
Agreed on Jimmy's comment, too. Taking some deep shots has to be part of Seattle's offensive equation, but it's going to very much depend on Seattle's shaky O-line holding up.
Mostly what I fear in this game is Seattle missing golden opportunities. Darnold hasn't just been turning the ball over. He's, at times, looked less crisp these past few weeks. Why did he throw the pick into the end zone last week? It wasn't there. Throw it out of bounds. Every possession is critical.
But... somehow I want Seattle to play like it's house money. They have to play fast and loose and take it TO SF. To make THEM make mistakes. To make THEM tight. When SF is rolling, it's because they're winning with all the magic/fakery. It's on dump-offs to McCaffrey that go for 30 yards. Somehow you have to get that stuff to fall apart. To blow up in their faces. To become a problem, not a solution. And maybe, to force the taste of that medicine back at them.
I fully expect to see Salah running what we haven't seen, namely, Blitzes. Like Jamal Adams, we can expect McC to die trying, but then it is the unexpected that I expect to see. Who is their back up RB? Might we see short passes to them, rather than hand-offs? Riding herd on Kittle has a whole lot of teams finding the L Column. I'd love to see Sheed taking a deep pass for a TD to start the first play. Loosen Sam up. Again, I expect to see what we have yet to see and SF is much better at that than we are. That takes seasoning. 16 games is a ton of experience, but there is so little time each week to work on out-of-the-box stuff. Having 2 weeks to practice new plays would be ideal. New Season/New Team?
Since I live in North Texas now as we are snowbirds I see the Cowboys a lot. Pickens reminds me a bit of DK. He can be a game changer if he wants to play, but sometimes he just seems disinterested drops balls and could care less.
If you could get Nailer that would be my preference. If a top guard is available be a trader for your agency. I would be all over it. Bradford has had his shot and he is one of the lowest rated guards.
I think Colby is a guy we must keep. I don’t think he will be all that costly but his versatility is important.
I know I'm being quite petty and I apologize for it but it's like nails on a chalkboard when someone says they "could care less"... which means they still have f#cks to give. "Couldn't care less" is what you're looking for.
In defense of Sam, any QB playing behind future Hall of Famer Anthony Bradford is going to be more nervous than Barney Fife on uppers. Hopefully, Kubiak can scheme to keep Sam fairly clean.
I feel better with Shaheed coming back. I think we win if we can put max pressure on Purdy and we can run the ball like last week! Either way, we're in the playoffs and we did it without Geno and Pete.
Shaheed has been getting integrated into the offense slowly since his acquisition, while playing ST. He really has a shot to be a not-so-secret weapon for KK this week and into the playoffs. Would love to see KK prioritize the ball to him early in this one to take some defensive eyes off JSN. It could really balance our offense out for the playoff run if he can establish Shaheed as a legit threat.
Thanks for responding to my (not a) question. Interesting insights you shared. I’m probably over reacting, but I’ve seen some examples where Sam gets pressured and it looks like he could climb the pocket to buy time / scramble / throw it away. But he seems to try and spin out and out run the defense to the sideline, which hasn’t gone well.
I'm looking at age vs productivity...wr seems to be a position where young players are excelling, so I'm drafting wr's and rb's for same reason. Whereas...linemen seem to accel later in their career, so I'm looking for trades and FA to fill those while also drafting bigs cause teams don't let good big players walk often. I think we're set up very nicely for the near future, let's hope we win it all this year and keep going for a couple years. This last draft was great but we need to nail it again. I would love to see two starters from this upcoming draft, a WR and a RB. In the off season sign a vet RG and Big End. On my wish list would also be linebacker. Thanks Santa. Happy new year everyone!
Problem is that, like SJ says in this article, the only OL available in FA are ones that have a reason to be there: overpriced or underperforming. So, if we have to pay overprice, pay overprice on someone you know (Cross). Trades are just much harder to find and hit on. I believe JS knows that and is trying to allow Benton to coach up his draft picks into good vets, and will continue to draft lnto that system.
I agree, FA is not likely the path. Trade is hard but probably the route of you want experience. For a right guard I'm going both, draft and acquisition of vet, no half measures.
Good article, what I am now curious about are Brock Purdy’s numbers. I feel like he is one of those players that Seahawks fans feel is overrated, but has the opposite narrative than Darnold. We feel that way because we sees the flaws in his game, understand about how often our defense loses more than him beating us. But the media sees his mistakes as ones that can be overcome (unlike Darnold), even though his TOs seem pretty bad to me.
TBH I think they are both better than good, and both are not perfect, and most importantly both are system QB’s. Purdy has a leg up because he has one of the best offensive minds out there.
Here is to Purdy regressing to his previous results going against MM defenses.
I would also be interested to see how the Detroit & Rams defenses from last season played against SD those last two games. Are there similarities and things that MM & KK are doing to try and mitigate that long term. And maybe the playing loose is a short term issue because of a shifting game script?
I’m right there with you on JSN having a big day on Saturday. A couple of days ago I felt he was going to go for over 150+ yards. I also think that Cooper Kupp is going to give us a great regular season finale swan song. Everyone keeps saying how the 49ers offense is going to get big points no matter what. I disagree, especially if our offense hits big early. My earlier week prediction: “ If the Hawks offense can get going on their first or second drive and score a first quarter TD, the game might not even be close. I think JSN has a very big day - 150+ yards. I think Kupp has his swan song big day. (I didn’t know Rasheed was going to play when I made this prediction) Kupp gets a TD and a couple of 3rd down catches. I think Charbs has another big game. I think the defense has an early 1st quarter safety score if the 49ers begin a drive inside their own 5 yard line. The MOB defense holds the vaunted 49er offense in the teens. Hawks win by a three score margin and put up at least 31!”
I think JS wants to extend Cross, but he just hasn’t had the jump in play I expected with this O-line coaching staff. I looked him over again a few weeks ago before he was injured, and I saw a slightly better than average OT. My preseason hope was that he would be pushing pro bowl this season. I looked at him closely because I saw some absurd projections from some Seahawks posters suggesting he could go for $30 million APY in an extension. I see him at $20, maybe $22. Unfortunately I don’t believe Cross and JS are close with the numbers. I know people will give JS hell if he lets Cross walk, but as much as I hate the idea of trying to find another LT, I would side with JS if he refuses to go to anywhere near $25 million for Cross. I feel Kupp will be back next year in some capacity. He’s a workaholic. He’s got experience under McVey and now Kubiak. Not many NFL players are cut out to be coaches, but I think he might be Receivers coach or passing game coordinator next year if he hangs up his cleats.
Seahawks next three starting LTs after Russell Okung: George Fant, Bradley Sowell, Rees Odhiambo (23 games). Then they lucked out in getting Duane Brown (although he didn’t come cheap), but not before Russell nearly got his knee torn up. Otherwise, they wander in a wilderness of bad LT play for who knows how long.
Charles Cross may or may not be worth $25M/yr. Charles plus avoiding what comes next might well be worth at least that.
They tried to do a deal with Cross before they used the 5th year option. There was a gap in what Cross felt he’s worth and what JS felt about that. I’ve seen nothing in Cross’s play this year to move the needle much. I had expect to see a jump in his play with these new coaches, but when I revisited his all-22 a few weeks back, I still saw a slightly better than average LT. I even asked SSJ a super Joe question about Cross. Believe me, I was a very huge fan of singing Cross to an extension in OTAs and preseason. I even went so far as saying the best news we could get in camp was a long term extension of our LT and RT. I pointed out how long and difficult it is to find a quality OT. That being said, I’m disappointed Cross is not extended, but I now doubt JS feels much better about increasing his number much given what Cross has shown. If Cross does get a long term contract closer to$27 - $30 million, it will be with another team in 2027 unless he proves next year he’s a near pro bowl quality LT. I’ll be disappointed if we lose Cross, and I get how hard it will be to find a quality replacement, but JS has been right more than wrong, and if he lets him walk, I will stick by him. P.S. I will also stick by him if he pays him $30 million a year. I just feel he’s looking at more $20-22 million right now.
LT is probably THE most important o-line position by protecting your QB's back most often. It is vital our guys get their cohesion down pat, which takes more than one year. JS will be looking hard that this commitment is not an issue. I expect he will be generous with the salaries, but no doubt the Agent will know desperation exists. At what point does the Ask go beyond Schneider's parameters? I recently read that so many gimmicks exist that no team will let a guy go over money issues.
Maybe you’re right, but I do feel JS always has a hard number - a line in the sand - that he will not cross. (No pun intended) That’s why he used the 5th year option. I hope they get it done next year, and Cross plays at a higher level allowing JS to raise his number and they can meet somewhere in the middle.
I’m not holding my breath. Kupp has generational wealth and three kids. Putting in 25-hour days as a low-level assistant is probably not in the cards for him.
Good catch Paul. If it is that much of a grind, I agree: why be rich and miss what can't be bought, like raising your kids? It makes those positions a young man's Game.
I say this every year. The Cap is a myth! It has never materially impacted any team in the League, no-one has ever been cut "for cap reasons". Players do get cut because they are not providing value, but not because a team must get under the cap. It's honestly one of the best ruses in professional sports, and so many decisions start to make sense when you realize this. The bigger limiting factor is the owners pockets and how willing they are to cough up cash.
So will the Hawks splash some of that cash in the market? Yes, but not at WR. Firstly I do fully believe Shaheed gets an extension and one possibly not too far from what Kupp is on. Then WR i stand by being our first pick in the Draft. In a weak class at every position, WR is gonna be the easiest to find relative value in the 1st/2nd. Slot a rookie alongside JSN, Shaheed, Horton (when fit), Bobo/White and the TE's of Barner and Arroyo and that receiver set is looking tasty. An FA veteran could be added, but like a Tutu Atwell or Gabriel Davies or even a Hunter Renfrow or Josh Reynolds, sometimes you just kick the tyres and see if it'll work out (a la MVS). Best served taking those FA agents efforts and cash elsewhere, or even to the trade market.
I did my first mock draft (one round) a couple of days age. I still feel edge is a bigger needs than WR, although Horton’s injury and Kupp’s age could make WR a more pressing needs. I am an Edge and IOL person for round 1 and 2. I’m not convinced we have a solid long term choice for RG or Center on the roster, although we have a number of choices. I would still add someone if that’s a BPA in round two. BTW, I took Cashius Howell edge from Texas A&M in the mock draft I did. He was the 5th edge off the board.
What do we keep saying, don't draft for need, draft the best players. Go get an edge from trade because this class is not good at edge. It is better at IOL but no top tier talent will be available to us.
Depth pieces on day 3 there. The value for us is going to be at skill positions (WR, RB, CB) late on day 1/early day 2.
I discount what the experts are saying about the quality of this draft class. They’ve been terribly wrong before, and they’ll be terribly wrong again. Plus, I’ve seen many boards have a significant number of edges in their top 35. I’ve seen Mocks with 5 or even 6 edges in their top first 32. Trading for a very good edge is going to cost significantly. Either in players you will have to give up or draft picks. Then there’s the cost of an edge. $30+ million and even reaching $40 million is a possibility. If JS makes such a trade, I will love it. But getting an edge in the first round that proves solid or better (not a sure thing for certain) will provide 5 years of club control at a ridiculously low cost. If they don’t re-sign Shaheed, if they don’t believe in Horton, then it will be time to raise the expectation of WR in round one. But if they believe in Horton, he has flashed the potential to be a very solid number 2 WR, and Shaheed could fit as a solid number 3 WR. Arroyo could still develop into a quality hybrid TE/ wide out. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but D-law is going to be mid thirties. Mafe is likely gone, Chenna is potentially still there, but his cost will make him a potential casualty. D Hall, will be on his last year next year. I see edge as a very high priority in round one and I feel it is one of the deeper round one positions in this draft. I could easily be wrong, and I’m fine if JS tells me I am way off with his pick or trade of pick 32 ;)
We're just viewing the class differently, which is fine with me. I see plenty of Mafe/Hall types in this class, guys who can be 'servicable' but don't jump off the page as amazing footballers. I see value in taking one or two on Day 2 or 3, but not in the 1st. I do imagine JS will trade out of Day 1 (especially if we are picking 29-32) and may well then stack a few options on Day 2 instead.
I also see usable Mafe/Hall style guys we can get in FA to fill in the rotation. But rotation is not the hard part. We need a killer rusher, and I'd pay for it via trade and letting the draft fall to us again. Plus I think DLaw ain't gonna slow down at all, he's a damn diesel tank!
Do you have any eyes in particular Edges in this draft class? I wouldn't mind targeting some of my time this weekend to reviewing some tape whilst it snows outside.
I've been playing with mocks all week, but it's just me being tired because I don't know the players yet. That said...I know we fans want a twitchy fast pass-rushing Edge to disrupt opposing QBs. I'm not sure our defense works that way. (I'm also not sure that our defense hasn't been structured around the absence of that kind of player as a coaching coping mechanism.) It seems as if our D wants edge players to contain the run, to disrupt the pocket, and to create space/opportunity for OTHER players to get to the QB. I could also be totally wrong about that. But we haven't gone after the twitchy Edge dude in two seasons with MM, so...
This will be an interesting Seahawks draft, with only three picks instead of last year's wretched excess. Those three picks have to count. It feels like we can pick up one of several Centers in R3, or at least a G. Which feels about right. My sense is we're hunting CB in R1, and then either WR or RB in R2? I still think we need inside linebacker help, but that might more easily be found through free agency.
WR is weird because we don't really know what's up with Horton. Kupp...needs to become a coach. I'd love to see him retire at the end of the year, especially if we win the big one. I assume we paid enough draft capital to resign Shaheed, but that means we're looking for a possession receiver from somewhere? If it were going to be Bobo, we'd know that by now.
An additional SD point. In two games with the Rams he had 6 INTs. The math says SD had 8 INTs in the remaining 14 games played this season. My feeling is that would be considered pretty decent.
GO HAWKS
Love your call on Jalen Nailor. He would be a great complimentary piece to slide into Kupp's spot, or work in that role with him. Shaheed's game is more like Horton's game, IMHO.
So:
-JSN does it all as #1
-Shaheed & Horton as big-play guys, backed up by Cody White.
-Nailor & Kupp as possession guys, backed up by Bobo.
But that's 7 WRs without counting Dareke or RWIII for ST. Somebody would be odd-man (men) out or PS risks to get signed by others, most-likely the Whites (I'll let you decide if that's 2, 3, or 4 players 😉).
Yeah. I appreciate the Nailor idea. Most of my knowledge of non-Seahawks receivers comes from playing fantasy football, so guys like Nailor don't jump out at me, but he seems like a good type to add to the mix. He might remind us of Tyler Lockett a bit if he takes a step forward.
While I appreciate their various skills and respect the men that Cody White, Young and Bobo are, I won't be too upset to see them play elsewhere next year. We need some new investments at the WR position, and there will not be roster space for everyone.
I'm not 100% on this, but if they have $70M in unused cap for 2026, and $16M in unused cap for 2025, I believe that unused 2025 cap rolls into 2026 (cap carryover), so we'd have $86M for 2026 as a starting point, before any cuts. That's a significant amount. So if their are internal or external FA's that the Seahawks want to target, JS will have the money bag to go get them.
It's good to read how confident many Seahawk fans are that we'll win Saturday's game. We should have confidence in a 13-3 team. I think we should win, but I'll also allow that we could be lamenting a game we COULD have won, but didn't.....for many reasons. We'll win if we play our game, and we don't make critical mistakes. The 9'ers are good enough to beat us, especially if we help them do it.
The key players and coaches for me on Saturday are;
Woolen - Had two critical blunders late in the first game against the 9'ers. I think he'll want to atone for that, especially going into free agency.
Emmanwori - He'll get some match-ups on Kittle, and that should be a mismatch in favor of the Seahawks. He'll also get an opportunity to meet McCaffrey in the flat and in the backfield, and he'll need to make those tackles.
Okada - Open field tackling machine, which will be critical. Get guys on the ground.
Barner - Will need some critical 3rd down conversions, and his usual blocking in the run game.
Kubiak - Make the game simple early on. Plays the ball gets out quickly. Plays that keep the offense on schedule. Under center, get Sam on the move, outside zone, etc. Sam excels when there is a coherent plan. Make it so.
Appreciate the info on Darnold. I've been thinking for some time that he needs to improve his pocket awareness. Don't know if it could be a peripheral vision thing or just a lack of that 6th sense when things are closing in. I like Darnold, and I think he does better outside the pocket also, but sometimes he runs into the pressure instead of away from it. He seems to do well when moving forward to get out of pressure and has made some clutch passes doing that.
There are too many arm hits, fumbles, and batted passes especially when he stays in the pocket. He showed better awareness in the last play in OT against the Rams to Saubert. Saw him look off Turner to the left before throwing it to his right to hit Saubert and miss Turners raised arm. Hope that continues (the looking off of receivers).
Hitting helmets, batted passes, and bouncing passes off people in tight coverage leads to more interceptions. There could have been 4 or 5 more Int's off batted passes this season. Don't force the ball Sam, just throw it away, away from D players.
I thought the last Int to Jackson may have been miscommunication between he and Njigba as to where he was expecting him to be. A back shoulder pass might have worked. It seemed odd that Jackson was in beyond Njigba and it didn't look like Njigba was trying to get to the back of the end zone.
We have to take time away from Purdy and not give him time to throw. Without pressure he will do what Stafford did before we started getting to him in the last quarter. Purdy hasn't seen a defense like ours.
Looking back, in which game was the offense the most frustrating?
For me, it wasn’t slow start games or Sam turning it over to the Rams. For me, it was game 1 against the Niners.
We all expected an efficient zone run game and play action from under center. Instead, we got a lot of man and power concepts in the run game and Sam threw a lot from shotgun. It looked nothing like our base scheme from preseason or from Saints tape at its best.
I think Kubiak was trying to outsmart Saleh, and we outsmarted ourselves. Walker got 20 yards on ten carries. JSN got over 100 yards, but fumbled twice, losing one. Our second leading receiver was Kupp with 15 yards. Walker was 3 of 3 receiving and had four yards to show for it.
As bad as the execution was, the play calling was bizarre.
If I ever speak with Kubiak, I’d ask him about that game. Did he call those plays thinking that he would surprise the 49ers, or because those were the plays that the offense was executing well in practice? If it was the latter, then the offense was well behind schedule in adopting the new scheme.
Now, our defense is healthy and clicking. Our offense has experience with the whole playbook. Maybe we even have some trick plays that we can finally pull off. I don’t think we’ve executed one all year. Week one was from a different universe.
As long as the trick play doesn't involve a Milroe run-pitch option or a Cooper Kupp pass to K-9. :)
Or, at least, practice those plays enough that they know they will work!
I'd be surprised if Sala-han don't both go deeply into their respective bags of tricks. Fake punts? Blitzing? Weathering the trickery is going to be critical. I doubt they leave anything out. McDonald is going to be tempted to call a tighter game and I fear that. You have to be ready to counter some bluffs. What the 49ers study is probably the Rams's playbook. Because Seattle's comeback against the Rams would be very hard to repeat. The Rams got up big with misdirection and getting Puke-Uh (spelled that way because it made me sick) open deep. Purdy doesn't have a long arm like Stafford, but if a guy's got five yards of clear air.... It wasn't obvious to me what led to so many busts in that game, even from Spoon, but whatever it was, expect Shanahan to try the same method. Now, to Purdy's weaknesses....
Given what SSJ has shown about Purdy outside the pocket, and the pick-six and INT in the end zone he threw this past week (called back for very questionable DPI), both from INSIDE structure, they'll want him on the move. Any advantage there has to be tracking him down and watching out for screens and throw-backs. They'll cut you deeply that way. Pen him in on scrambles, force him to throw out of it, and watch out for the stuff back across his body. You REALLY want to see Seattle's DBs lock down their third and fourth options, too, which Chicago didn't. No more Tonges crap. But if you can bait Purdy into throwing on those sucker punch plays and pick him... That'd be swell. Easier said than done.
Agreed on Jimmy's comment, too. Taking some deep shots has to be part of Seattle's offensive equation, but it's going to very much depend on Seattle's shaky O-line holding up.
Mostly what I fear in this game is Seattle missing golden opportunities. Darnold hasn't just been turning the ball over. He's, at times, looked less crisp these past few weeks. Why did he throw the pick into the end zone last week? It wasn't there. Throw it out of bounds. Every possession is critical.
But... somehow I want Seattle to play like it's house money. They have to play fast and loose and take it TO SF. To make THEM make mistakes. To make THEM tight. When SF is rolling, it's because they're winning with all the magic/fakery. It's on dump-offs to McCaffrey that go for 30 yards. Somehow you have to get that stuff to fall apart. To blow up in their faces. To become a problem, not a solution. And maybe, to force the taste of that medicine back at them.
I’m not sure MM plays it conservatively. A win gets Seattle HFA and a buy. I think that’s more than enough for him to bring his bag of tricks too.
Perhaps the Raiders should subscribe to Seaside Joe!!
I fully expect to see Salah running what we haven't seen, namely, Blitzes. Like Jamal Adams, we can expect McC to die trying, but then it is the unexpected that I expect to see. Who is their back up RB? Might we see short passes to them, rather than hand-offs? Riding herd on Kittle has a whole lot of teams finding the L Column. I'd love to see Sheed taking a deep pass for a TD to start the first play. Loosen Sam up. Again, I expect to see what we have yet to see and SF is much better at that than we are. That takes seasoning. 16 games is a ton of experience, but there is so little time each week to work on out-of-the-box stuff. Having 2 weeks to practice new plays would be ideal. New Season/New Team?
Since I live in North Texas now as we are snowbirds I see the Cowboys a lot. Pickens reminds me a bit of DK. He can be a game changer if he wants to play, but sometimes he just seems disinterested drops balls and could care less.
If you could get Nailer that would be my preference. If a top guard is available be a trader for your agency. I would be all over it. Bradford has had his shot and he is one of the lowest rated guards.
I think Colby is a guy we must keep. I don’t think he will be all that costly but his versatility is important.
I know I'm being quite petty and I apologize for it but it's like nails on a chalkboard when someone says they "could care less"... which means they still have f#cks to give. "Couldn't care less" is what you're looking for.
And once more, I apologize for being a dick.
Along those lines, there is no such word as "irregardless". Plain old "regardless" is the word you want.
"Irregardless" is more fun to say though, it just seems more emphatic. :-)
In this part of Appalachia, the phrase “I don’t care to” means “yes.” Twenty years here, I still have to pause and translate.
In defense of Sam, any QB playing behind future Hall of Famer Anthony Bradford is going to be more nervous than Barney Fife on uppers. Hopefully, Kubiak can scheme to keep Sam fairly clean.
I feel better with Shaheed coming back. I think we win if we can put max pressure on Purdy and we can run the ball like last week! Either way, we're in the playoffs and we did it without Geno and Pete.
Shaheed has been getting integrated into the offense slowly since his acquisition, while playing ST. He really has a shot to be a not-so-secret weapon for KK this week and into the playoffs. Would love to see KK prioritize the ball to him early in this one to take some defensive eyes off JSN. It could really balance our offense out for the playoff run if he can establish Shaheed as a legit threat.
"Barney Fife on uppers". You paint quite a picture with those four words. Well done, sir.
"is going to be more nervous than Barney Fife on uppers." Oh, dang, Nicholas.
Thanks for the chuckle.
Thanks for responding to my (not a) question. Interesting insights you shared. I’m probably over reacting, but I’ve seen some examples where Sam gets pressured and it looks like he could climb the pocket to buy time / scramble / throw it away. But he seems to try and spin out and out run the defense to the sideline, which hasn’t gone well.
I'm looking at age vs productivity...wr seems to be a position where young players are excelling, so I'm drafting wr's and rb's for same reason. Whereas...linemen seem to accel later in their career, so I'm looking for trades and FA to fill those while also drafting bigs cause teams don't let good big players walk often. I think we're set up very nicely for the near future, let's hope we win it all this year and keep going for a couple years. This last draft was great but we need to nail it again. I would love to see two starters from this upcoming draft, a WR and a RB. In the off season sign a vet RG and Big End. On my wish list would also be linebacker. Thanks Santa. Happy new year everyone!
Problem is that, like SJ says in this article, the only OL available in FA are ones that have a reason to be there: overpriced or underperforming. So, if we have to pay overprice, pay overprice on someone you know (Cross). Trades are just much harder to find and hit on. I believe JS knows that and is trying to allow Benton to coach up his draft picks into good vets, and will continue to draft lnto that system.
I agree, FA is not likely the path. Trade is hard but probably the route of you want experience. For a right guard I'm going both, draft and acquisition of vet, no half measures.
A repost of a late previous post. Some good, different thoughts.
A really good breakdown of the Hawks:
The Truth About Sam Darnold’s Picks—and a Theory for Why He’s Better Loose
https://www.fieldgulls.com/post/2v9zl66irH2A
I'll probably post in the next comments also since it is kinda late here.
Thanks Fred. Really good article by someone who does not have his head up his a**. Everyone should read it.
Good article, what I am now curious about are Brock Purdy’s numbers. I feel like he is one of those players that Seahawks fans feel is overrated, but has the opposite narrative than Darnold. We feel that way because we sees the flaws in his game, understand about how often our defense loses more than him beating us. But the media sees his mistakes as ones that can be overcome (unlike Darnold), even though his TOs seem pretty bad to me.
TBH I think they are both better than good, and both are not perfect, and most importantly both are system QB’s. Purdy has a leg up because he has one of the best offensive minds out there.
Here is to Purdy regressing to his previous results going against MM defenses.
I would also be interested to see how the Detroit & Rams defenses from last season played against SD those last two games. Are there similarities and things that MM & KK are doing to try and mitigate that long term. And maybe the playing loose is a short term issue because of a shifting game script?
And Happy New Year.
I’m right there with you on JSN having a big day on Saturday. A couple of days ago I felt he was going to go for over 150+ yards. I also think that Cooper Kupp is going to give us a great regular season finale swan song. Everyone keeps saying how the 49ers offense is going to get big points no matter what. I disagree, especially if our offense hits big early. My earlier week prediction: “ If the Hawks offense can get going on their first or second drive and score a first quarter TD, the game might not even be close. I think JSN has a very big day - 150+ yards. I think Kupp has his swan song big day. (I didn’t know Rasheed was going to play when I made this prediction) Kupp gets a TD and a couple of 3rd down catches. I think Charbs has another big game. I think the defense has an early 1st quarter safety score if the 49ers begin a drive inside their own 5 yard line. The MOB defense holds the vaunted 49er offense in the teens. Hawks win by a three score margin and put up at least 31!”
I think JS wants to extend Cross, but he just hasn’t had the jump in play I expected with this O-line coaching staff. I looked him over again a few weeks ago before he was injured, and I saw a slightly better than average OT. My preseason hope was that he would be pushing pro bowl this season. I looked at him closely because I saw some absurd projections from some Seahawks posters suggesting he could go for $30 million APY in an extension. I see him at $20, maybe $22. Unfortunately I don’t believe Cross and JS are close with the numbers. I know people will give JS hell if he lets Cross walk, but as much as I hate the idea of trying to find another LT, I would side with JS if he refuses to go to anywhere near $25 million for Cross. I feel Kupp will be back next year in some capacity. He’s a workaholic. He’s got experience under McVey and now Kubiak. Not many NFL players are cut out to be coaches, but I think he might be Receivers coach or passing game coordinator next year if he hangs up his cleats.
Seahawks next three starting LTs after Russell Okung: George Fant, Bradley Sowell, Rees Odhiambo (23 games). Then they lucked out in getting Duane Brown (although he didn’t come cheap), but not before Russell nearly got his knee torn up. Otherwise, they wander in a wilderness of bad LT play for who knows how long.
Charles Cross may or may not be worth $25M/yr. Charles plus avoiding what comes next might well be worth at least that.
They tried to do a deal with Cross before they used the 5th year option. There was a gap in what Cross felt he’s worth and what JS felt about that. I’ve seen nothing in Cross’s play this year to move the needle much. I had expect to see a jump in his play with these new coaches, but when I revisited his all-22 a few weeks back, I still saw a slightly better than average LT. I even asked SSJ a super Joe question about Cross. Believe me, I was a very huge fan of singing Cross to an extension in OTAs and preseason. I even went so far as saying the best news we could get in camp was a long term extension of our LT and RT. I pointed out how long and difficult it is to find a quality OT. That being said, I’m disappointed Cross is not extended, but I now doubt JS feels much better about increasing his number much given what Cross has shown. If Cross does get a long term contract closer to$27 - $30 million, it will be with another team in 2027 unless he proves next year he’s a near pro bowl quality LT. I’ll be disappointed if we lose Cross, and I get how hard it will be to find a quality replacement, but JS has been right more than wrong, and if he lets him walk, I will stick by him. P.S. I will also stick by him if he pays him $30 million a year. I just feel he’s looking at more $20-22 million right now.
LT is probably THE most important o-line position by protecting your QB's back most often. It is vital our guys get their cohesion down pat, which takes more than one year. JS will be looking hard that this commitment is not an issue. I expect he will be generous with the salaries, but no doubt the Agent will know desperation exists. At what point does the Ask go beyond Schneider's parameters? I recently read that so many gimmicks exist that no team will let a guy go over money issues.
Maybe you’re right, but I do feel JS always has a hard number - a line in the sand - that he will not cross. (No pun intended) That’s why he used the 5th year option. I hope they get it done next year, and Cross plays at a higher level allowing JS to raise his number and they can meet somewhere in the middle.
100% agree on Kupp. Just get him a coaching position and things will rapidly go from there.
I’m not holding my breath. Kupp has generational wealth and three kids. Putting in 25-hour days as a low-level assistant is probably not in the cards for him.
Good catch Paul. If it is that much of a grind, I agree: why be rich and miss what can't be bought, like raising your kids? It makes those positions a young man's Game.
I say this every year. The Cap is a myth! It has never materially impacted any team in the League, no-one has ever been cut "for cap reasons". Players do get cut because they are not providing value, but not because a team must get under the cap. It's honestly one of the best ruses in professional sports, and so many decisions start to make sense when you realize this. The bigger limiting factor is the owners pockets and how willing they are to cough up cash.
So will the Hawks splash some of that cash in the market? Yes, but not at WR. Firstly I do fully believe Shaheed gets an extension and one possibly not too far from what Kupp is on. Then WR i stand by being our first pick in the Draft. In a weak class at every position, WR is gonna be the easiest to find relative value in the 1st/2nd. Slot a rookie alongside JSN, Shaheed, Horton (when fit), Bobo/White and the TE's of Barner and Arroyo and that receiver set is looking tasty. An FA veteran could be added, but like a Tutu Atwell or Gabriel Davies or even a Hunter Renfrow or Josh Reynolds, sometimes you just kick the tyres and see if it'll work out (a la MVS). Best served taking those FA agents efforts and cash elsewhere, or even to the trade market.
I did my first mock draft (one round) a couple of days age. I still feel edge is a bigger needs than WR, although Horton’s injury and Kupp’s age could make WR a more pressing needs. I am an Edge and IOL person for round 1 and 2. I’m not convinced we have a solid long term choice for RG or Center on the roster, although we have a number of choices. I would still add someone if that’s a BPA in round two. BTW, I took Cashius Howell edge from Texas A&M in the mock draft I did. He was the 5th edge off the board.
What do we keep saying, don't draft for need, draft the best players. Go get an edge from trade because this class is not good at edge. It is better at IOL but no top tier talent will be available to us.
Depth pieces on day 3 there. The value for us is going to be at skill positions (WR, RB, CB) late on day 1/early day 2.
I discount what the experts are saying about the quality of this draft class. They’ve been terribly wrong before, and they’ll be terribly wrong again. Plus, I’ve seen many boards have a significant number of edges in their top 35. I’ve seen Mocks with 5 or even 6 edges in their top first 32. Trading for a very good edge is going to cost significantly. Either in players you will have to give up or draft picks. Then there’s the cost of an edge. $30+ million and even reaching $40 million is a possibility. If JS makes such a trade, I will love it. But getting an edge in the first round that proves solid or better (not a sure thing for certain) will provide 5 years of club control at a ridiculously low cost. If they don’t re-sign Shaheed, if they don’t believe in Horton, then it will be time to raise the expectation of WR in round one. But if they believe in Horton, he has flashed the potential to be a very solid number 2 WR, and Shaheed could fit as a solid number 3 WR. Arroyo could still develop into a quality hybrid TE/ wide out. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but D-law is going to be mid thirties. Mafe is likely gone, Chenna is potentially still there, but his cost will make him a potential casualty. D Hall, will be on his last year next year. I see edge as a very high priority in round one and I feel it is one of the deeper round one positions in this draft. I could easily be wrong, and I’m fine if JS tells me I am way off with his pick or trade of pick 32 ;)
We're just viewing the class differently, which is fine with me. I see plenty of Mafe/Hall types in this class, guys who can be 'servicable' but don't jump off the page as amazing footballers. I see value in taking one or two on Day 2 or 3, but not in the 1st. I do imagine JS will trade out of Day 1 (especially if we are picking 29-32) and may well then stack a few options on Day 2 instead.
I also see usable Mafe/Hall style guys we can get in FA to fill in the rotation. But rotation is not the hard part. We need a killer rusher, and I'd pay for it via trade and letting the draft fall to us again. Plus I think DLaw ain't gonna slow down at all, he's a damn diesel tank!
Do you have any eyes in particular Edges in this draft class? I wouldn't mind targeting some of my time this weekend to reviewing some tape whilst it snows outside.
But as of now we have 1 Day 3 pick, unless I’ve missed something.
I've been playing with mocks all week, but it's just me being tired because I don't know the players yet. That said...I know we fans want a twitchy fast pass-rushing Edge to disrupt opposing QBs. I'm not sure our defense works that way. (I'm also not sure that our defense hasn't been structured around the absence of that kind of player as a coaching coping mechanism.) It seems as if our D wants edge players to contain the run, to disrupt the pocket, and to create space/opportunity for OTHER players to get to the QB. I could also be totally wrong about that. But we haven't gone after the twitchy Edge dude in two seasons with MM, so...
This will be an interesting Seahawks draft, with only three picks instead of last year's wretched excess. Those three picks have to count. It feels like we can pick up one of several Centers in R3, or at least a G. Which feels about right. My sense is we're hunting CB in R1, and then either WR or RB in R2? I still think we need inside linebacker help, but that might more easily be found through free agency.
WR is weird because we don't really know what's up with Horton. Kupp...needs to become a coach. I'd love to see him retire at the end of the year, especially if we win the big one. I assume we paid enough draft capital to resign Shaheed, but that means we're looking for a possession receiver from somewhere? If it were going to be Bobo, we'd know that by now.
Does Bobo have a younger brother playing college football?
I see Riley Mills as our Rookie entry, finally. I expect he will quiet any urgent need for new blood.