Friday, August 31, 2018

Winless but Hopeful-- Seahawks 19 Raiders 30

The Seahawks ended the preseason last night with their fourth consecutive loss.  While meaningless in the grand scheme of things, preseason victories definitely mean something to the always competing Pete Carroll and are great confidence boosters, particularly for young players.

Besides, the Seahawks weren't exactly setting out to win these games.  They were more concerned with players winning position battles as the roster continues to turnover.

Last night we saw two quarterbacks that might very well be cut by this time tomorrow.  Austin Davis is definitely gone, in the wake of the Seahawks trading for Brett Hundley.  Alex McGough will probably be cut as well, with hopes of squirreling him away on the practice squad.

Tomorrow is the deadline for teams to trim down to 53 players and the Seahawks have some difficult decisions to make. Here are some of the players on the bubble and my thoughts on their future with the team:

The WR Group

I think Seattle has to keep 6 receivers.  I've heard they're planning to only keep 5, but I don't think that's a wise decision. Baldwin has a nagging injury, Marshall is coming off surgeries and a lot of the current receivers are undersized which could lead to injuries as the season wears on.  Here are the six I would keep.

Doug Baldwin
Tyler Lockett
Brandon Marshall
Jaron Brown
David Moore
Damore'ea Stringfellow

That being said, I really hope they are able to stash Keenan Reynolds and Malik Turner on the practice squad.

The RB Group

I was hoping Seattle would keep 3 running backs and a fullback on their regular season roster.  I'm just not impressed with Tre Madden as a fullback, so I changed to thinking they'll keep 4 RBs.  John Clayton made a point that once again changed my mind-- the Seahawks have been plagued by RB injuries and tend to have 2 backs constantly hurt.  Keeping 4 would mean only 2 would be active-- which isn't enough.  So I guess we have 5.

Rashaad Penny
Chris Carson
Mike Davis
JD McKissic
I hate to say it... but... CJ Prosise

The TE Group

I'm fed up with Ed Dickson. Between his complete unavailability since the moment we signed him and the folklore of him somehow being the greatest tight end that ever lived-- I'm so ready to move on.  Let's roll with these three

Nick Vannett
Will Dissly
Tyrone Swoopes


The Offensive Line

I think we'll be good keeping 10 linemen.  Here's my ten:

Duane Brown
Ethan Pocic
Justin Britt
DJ Fluker
Germain Ifedi
George Fant
JR Sweezy
Joey Hunt
Jordan Roos
Isaiah Battle


The Secondary Group

It's anyone's guess how this group will shake out.  I'd prefer we keep less corners than receivers, because the talent pool isn't nearly as rich on the defensive side. I would imagine that, by keeping Earl Thomas on the roster, Seattle is going to have to bump one of his successors.

Shaq Griffin
Justin Coleman
Tre Flowers
Mo Alexander
Dontae Johnson
Bradley MacDougald
Delano Hill
Tedrick Thompson
Earl Thomas
Akeem King


The Linebackers

More tough calls.  I expect to see some trades here before all is said and done.

Bobby Wagner
KJ Wright
Shaquem Griffin
Barkevious Mingo
Austin Calitro
DJ Alexander (this could easily be Eric Waldren, depending on his special teams contributions)

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