Seattle Seahawks cutdown analysis

Published on September 4, 2010 by Seahawks.Com News (Feed)     

Biggest surprise: The Seahawks had a choice. They could guarantee $7 million to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and send him against opposing secondaries, or they could guarantee $7 million to him and tell him to play somewhere else. They chose the latter option, a surprise only because of the money involved. Houshmandzadeh wasn’t a natural fit on a rebuilding team. It’s still fair to wonder why a team without great depth would dump its most productive and most proven wide receiver, particularly with so much guaranteed money at stake. If nothing else, the Seahawks are proving to their players that even the most established veterans aren’t safe.

No-brainers: Jordan Babineaux, Julius Jones and Craig Terrill stuck around on the initial reduction to 53. I wondered if the team might find younger and cheaper alternatives in one or more of their cases. That could still happen, but the Josh Wilson trade seemed to make Babineaux more valuable because he could play corner in a pinch (he has in the past, anyway). Jones wasn’t great during preseason, but neither was the running game overall. The decision to keep four tight ends came as little surprise given the alternatives.

What’s next: The Seahawks have only five linebackers on their 53-man roster after Leroy Hill went on the reserve/suspended list. That’s an extremely low number. Dexter Davis could provide some flexibility there. Six linebackers seems like a reasonable minimum. The team was working to finalize a trade for Philadelphia’s Stacy Andrews after placing veteran tackle Ray Willis on injured reserve. Seattle could be active in the waiver market and it’s still possible the team could make a play for San Diego receiver Vincent Jackson. This is definitely the initial 53-man roster in Seattle, not the final one. I haven’t heard anything on the Matt Leinart front. The Seahawks might keep only two quarterbacks. The Packers tended to keep two quarterbacks when John Schneider, the Seahawks’ new general manager, was with Green Bay.

Seahawks players cut:

S Jamar Adams

CB Marcus Brown

C Jeff Byers

G Mitch Erickson

CB Cord Parks

LB Joe Pawelek

T Jacob Phillips

DT Quinn Pitcock

RB Louis Rankin

DE Rob Rose

T Joe Toledo

TE Nick Tow-Arnett

DT Amon Gordon

LB Tyjuan Hagler

WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh

WR Brandon Jones

QB J.P. Losman

WR Ruvell Martin

DE James Wyche

DT Jonathan Lewis

DE Nick Reed

via Seattle Seahawks cutdown analysis – NFC West Blog – ESPN.

Tags: Brainers, Craig Terrill, Initial Reduction, Injured Reserve, John Schneider, Jordan Babineaux, Josh Wilson, Julius Jones, Latter Option, Leroy Hill, linebackers, Matt Leinart, Natural Fit, Ray Willis, Running Game, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Stacy Andrews, T J Houshmandzadeh, Tight Ends, vincent jackson