In fairness, Unger had become injury-prone (16 games in 2012, 13 in 2014, 6 in 2014) and was a likely salary-cap cut. Still, trading him and jettisoning Brent Giacomini (2014; one of KJ Wright’s all-time favorite teammates), James Carpenter (2015), and Russell Okung (2015) amounted to strip-mining the OL in order to spread second contracts around the defense with no real plan to replace it. The idea, if there was one, seemed to drafting for versatility and signing FAs for value in the expectation Tom Cable would coach them up. We’ve seen how that worked out.
Anyway, had Schneider been able to rebuild the OL, the Unger trade isn’t so bad—it’s not like Graham was unproductive. It’s the greater failure (and Unger’s getting over his injuries) that makes this one stand out. Still, keeping Unger almost certainly would meant no second contract for one of Avril, Bennett, Chancellor, Sherman, Thomas, or Wagner.
Here’s an overlooked bad trade: Jermaine Kearse and a second-round pick to the Jets for Sheldon Richardson. Richardson was bad in Seattle (KJ Wright says that he refused to absorb blockers on running plays) while Kearse had one more productive season left and the draft pick wound up becoming Dallas Goedert. (The Jets included the pick in a trade with the Colts that allowed them to draft Sam Darnold—a cautionary tale about overdrafting QBs.)
I like the thought of getting Dereke Young involved in more than just special teams. Given the Seahawks problems at safety, why not try him there. His speed and strength could upgrade the safety position on both pass coverage and run support.
I would like to see Curhan at Center. I like that you mentioned the Haynes move but as you said, it never materialized. Curhan has played RT, and both guard positions. He must have a thorough understanding of the play book and should be able to make the line calls. But can he snap the ball. Wait, no, even a monkey can learn to snap the ball. From personal experience, that's the easiest thing the center does. Long snapping is an art but QB exchanges, as well as shotgun and wildcat snaps are not that difficult unless you are completely uncoordinated and have terrible reaction time. Besides I want to see Haynes play LG and move Damien back to RG. In my mind that is our best option moving forward.
Totally with you here. If Haynes doesn't hold down the LG spot or is too injury prone it already seems like LG is 2023 draft position of need. I suspect the question is one of smarts and understanding of Waldron's offense since the center calls the blocking.
I love this post. It’s a great mix of ideas I assume plucked from current events and Twitter scuttlebutt. The Who to Root For should become a regular segment! I notice you didn’t include the Seahawks in that segment...ha ha ha.
I have a $30,000.00 bet going with ESPN and to keep going, I need Green Bay to beat the Patriots. Otherwise, I agree to root based upon teams needing QB's to win as much as possible.
I tell friends, last weeks outcome was fine. It might even be said to be good, great, or superb. We lost, but we looked pretty good while losing. Our defense, riddled with injuries to key players, lost us the game but gave a great effort. The best players on the team are the cheapest. Our rookies excel. And we have loads of rookies. Five rookies made significant contributions.
Next year we have loads of draft picks. Too many to use all on a QB. Especially if we are being sneaky and use our influence to keep Grayson McCall out of the Senior Bowl or from getting any media coverage at all. Then in the third round we pick McCall to be our next best QB. Hooray. Will Anderson with Denver's first round pick. A center, a guard, and a few late round gens and a couple of undrafted rookies, and we'll have a whole new team on the cheap.
An underrated aspect of why the Graham trade was so bad was that the Seattle D all thought he was soft and had no respect for him, and acquiring him just deepened the D vs O rift.
He's struggled every since the moved him from RG. I think we'd all like to see what Curhan can do at both LG and C and I remember Lewis acquitted himself pretty well at center last year.
Root for all AFC teams except the Broncos. Within the AFC, root for all teams that can make their record better than the Broncos. In the NFC, whatever, root for the teams with a bad record preferably, but you do you.
I say the adams trade was the worst trade. The team wasnt 1 safety away from being a continder. The lost potential resources on a player that hasnt helped the team.
Though the Harvin trade and the jimmy trade we also bad.
All 3 trades we bad decisions and part of the reason this team is void of a lot of talent.
There were a lot of bad draft picks along with some bad personnel decisions..
As for the fullback position..
I kind of thought thats what they drafted Dareke Young for.. hybrid wr/te/rb... i hope they get around to getting Dareke some snaps.
I agree with you on the Jimmy Graham trade--we haven't had a C yet that compares with Unger, and Jimmy was just a bad fit for the Seahawks in terms of supporting the run etc.
But maybe that experience is what kept the Seahawks for trading for another Jimmy G?
Kenneth - this is a very interesting concept on several fronts -
1) Remember the Red Bryant transition from an inside nothing special DT to a Pro Bowl worthy outside run stopper. His OT controlling presence instantly made Bobby Wagner's speed really pop. Keeping your LBs clean is the primary job of the front 3 when it comes to stopping the opposing team's running game
Lets get a bigger body as a strong-side DT/DE out there. Is Brian Mone available yet? Put him in the middle and Big Al Woods as Red Bryant 2.0 and for sure - tighten up those gaps on the D-line!
2) Seventh round WR Dereke Young with 4.4 speed, a RB background, and a big-fluid body won out on a roster spot primarily due to his Passion for blocking - I was originally thinking of using him as a 3rd down-style back when he was drafted ala how SF uses Deebo Samuel but -
Remember the Raiders' use of the former UW WR Marcel Reese? They took a big bodied athlete with good hands and made him a Pro Bowl FB. Dereke's receiver's mitts plus penchant for blocking downfield certainly can transition his skills into a triple threat of running/receiving and blocking for Penny/Walker III on the edge. Cool.
3-ish) Will Dissly is So good as an inline blocker that it is hard to fathom that Pete will want him doing anything else but giving that dude a little space to spread out his blocking targets is worthy of discussion.
How about using him as more of a H-back TE but in a less traditional role - have him be a 'Running-Head-Start-To-Crush-Any-LB-Who-Attempts-To-Fill-Holes' kind of player. Typically an H-back is a 'Move TE' but this dude is especially good at finding blocking targets in space - so maybe...
Some of the music scores out of the fifties and sixties and on into the seventies make them hard to watch. Modern movies have learned a lot over the years what works and what doesn't. Lot's of bad jazz and overdone and overloud symphonies.
In fairness, Unger had become injury-prone (16 games in 2012, 13 in 2014, 6 in 2014) and was a likely salary-cap cut. Still, trading him and jettisoning Brent Giacomini (2014; one of KJ Wright’s all-time favorite teammates), James Carpenter (2015), and Russell Okung (2015) amounted to strip-mining the OL in order to spread second contracts around the defense with no real plan to replace it. The idea, if there was one, seemed to drafting for versatility and signing FAs for value in the expectation Tom Cable would coach them up. We’ve seen how that worked out.
Anyway, had Schneider been able to rebuild the OL, the Unger trade isn’t so bad—it’s not like Graham was unproductive. It’s the greater failure (and Unger’s getting over his injuries) that makes this one stand out. Still, keeping Unger almost certainly would meant no second contract for one of Avril, Bennett, Chancellor, Sherman, Thomas, or Wagner.
Here’s an overlooked bad trade: Jermaine Kearse and a second-round pick to the Jets for Sheldon Richardson. Richardson was bad in Seattle (KJ Wright says that he refused to absorb blockers on running plays) while Kearse had one more productive season left and the draft pick wound up becoming Dallas Goedert. (The Jets included the pick in a trade with the Colts that allowed them to draft Sam Darnold—a cautionary tale about overdrafting QBs.)
I like the thought of getting Dereke Young involved in more than just special teams. Given the Seahawks problems at safety, why not try him there. His speed and strength could upgrade the safety position on both pass coverage and run support.
I would like to see Curhan at Center. I like that you mentioned the Haynes move but as you said, it never materialized. Curhan has played RT, and both guard positions. He must have a thorough understanding of the play book and should be able to make the line calls. But can he snap the ball. Wait, no, even a monkey can learn to snap the ball. From personal experience, that's the easiest thing the center does. Long snapping is an art but QB exchanges, as well as shotgun and wildcat snaps are not that difficult unless you are completely uncoordinated and have terrible reaction time. Besides I want to see Haynes play LG and move Damien back to RG. In my mind that is our best option moving forward.
Totally with you here. If Haynes doesn't hold down the LG spot or is too injury prone it already seems like LG is 2023 draft position of need. I suspect the question is one of smarts and understanding of Waldron's offense since the center calls the blocking.
I love this post. It’s a great mix of ideas I assume plucked from current events and Twitter scuttlebutt. The Who to Root For should become a regular segment! I notice you didn’t include the Seahawks in that segment...ha ha ha.
I have a $30,000.00 bet going with ESPN and to keep going, I need Green Bay to beat the Patriots. Otherwise, I agree to root based upon teams needing QB's to win as much as possible.
I tell friends, last weeks outcome was fine. It might even be said to be good, great, or superb. We lost, but we looked pretty good while losing. Our defense, riddled with injuries to key players, lost us the game but gave a great effort. The best players on the team are the cheapest. Our rookies excel. And we have loads of rookies. Five rookies made significant contributions.
Next year we have loads of draft picks. Too many to use all on a QB. Especially if we are being sneaky and use our influence to keep Grayson McCall out of the Senior Bowl or from getting any media coverage at all. Then in the third round we pick McCall to be our next best QB. Hooray. Will Anderson with Denver's first round pick. A center, a guard, and a few late round gens and a couple of undrafted rookies, and we'll have a whole new team on the cheap.
Will Anderson will be a top five pick. We'd better hope they keep struggling.
An underrated aspect of why the Graham trade was so bad was that the Seattle D all thought he was soft and had no respect for him, and acquiring him just deepened the D vs O rift.
I think it might have to be Lewis to C, and they should have made that happen in the offseason. He is struggling, again, at LG.
He's struggled every since the moved him from RG. I think we'd all like to see what Curhan can do at both LG and C and I remember Lewis acquitted himself pretty well at center last year.
Rooting guide:
Root for all AFC teams except the Broncos. Within the AFC, root for all teams that can make their record better than the Broncos. In the NFC, whatever, root for the teams with a bad record preferably, but you do you.
I say the adams trade was the worst trade. The team wasnt 1 safety away from being a continder. The lost potential resources on a player that hasnt helped the team.
Though the Harvin trade and the jimmy trade we also bad.
All 3 trades we bad decisions and part of the reason this team is void of a lot of talent.
There were a lot of bad draft picks along with some bad personnel decisions..
As for the fullback position..
I kind of thought thats what they drafted Dareke Young for.. hybrid wr/te/rb... i hope they get around to getting Dareke some snaps.
The Harvin trade may have won us a super bowl. So no qualms about it
I agree with you on the Jimmy Graham trade--we haven't had a C yet that compares with Unger, and Jimmy was just a bad fit for the Seahawks in terms of supporting the run etc.
But maybe that experience is what kept the Seahawks for trading for another Jimmy G?
Max Unger for Jimmy Graham was the worst trade. After all this time they still haven't replaced Unger.
Kenneth - this is a very interesting concept on several fronts -
1) Remember the Red Bryant transition from an inside nothing special DT to a Pro Bowl worthy outside run stopper. His OT controlling presence instantly made Bobby Wagner's speed really pop. Keeping your LBs clean is the primary job of the front 3 when it comes to stopping the opposing team's running game
Lets get a bigger body as a strong-side DT/DE out there. Is Brian Mone available yet? Put him in the middle and Big Al Woods as Red Bryant 2.0 and for sure - tighten up those gaps on the D-line!
2) Seventh round WR Dereke Young with 4.4 speed, a RB background, and a big-fluid body won out on a roster spot primarily due to his Passion for blocking - I was originally thinking of using him as a 3rd down-style back when he was drafted ala how SF uses Deebo Samuel but -
Remember the Raiders' use of the former UW WR Marcel Reese? They took a big bodied athlete with good hands and made him a Pro Bowl FB. Dereke's receiver's mitts plus penchant for blocking downfield certainly can transition his skills into a triple threat of running/receiving and blocking for Penny/Walker III on the edge. Cool.
3-ish) Will Dissly is So good as an inline blocker that it is hard to fathom that Pete will want him doing anything else but giving that dude a little space to spread out his blocking targets is worthy of discussion.
How about using him as more of a H-back TE but in a less traditional role - have him be a 'Running-Head-Start-To-Crush-Any-LB-Who-Attempts-To-Fill-Holes' kind of player. Typically an H-back is a 'Move TE' but this dude is especially good at finding blocking targets in space - so maybe...
Some of the music scores out of the fifties and sixties and on into the seventies make them hard to watch. Modern movies have learned a lot over the years what works and what doesn't. Lot's of bad jazz and overdone and overloud symphonies.