Losman unsure of place, but happy to have one

Published on November 17, 2010 by Tacoma News Tribune (Feed)     

Seven years ago, J.P. Losman was a first-round selection in the NFL draft.

Fast forward to this season. The 29-year-old is now a journeyman quarterback, one of several players who have been part of the Seattle Seahawks’ yo-yoing roster.

“I’m getting older and starting to understand how things work,” Losman said. “You can’t take too many things personal and let it keep haunting you. You’ve just got to keep rolling with the punches.”

The Seahawks needed a third quarterback last week because of Matt Hasselbeck’s injury concerns.

The Detroit Lions stymied the team’s attempt to get rookie Zac Robinson back on the practice squad by claiming him off waivers, so the Seahawks re-signed Losman to the active roster. Losman said he had a workout with Washington the week before.

Losman was one of the feel-good stories of training camp, a former starter for Buffalo who fell out of the league, but worked his way back by leading the Los Vegas Locomotives to the inaugural United Football League title last season.

Losman said he got caught up in a numbers game with the Seahawks, and was released during final roster cuts in September.

“It’s more of just a realization of the business part of football,” Losman said. “It would have been an expensive room to keep me there. A lot of teams went with two quarterbacks, and are starting to do that, especially when the room gets that expensive.

“So that’s just the way it is. I kind of knew that coming in to choosing Seattle. I always knew that would be a possibility when the time came, but I took my chances, either way I’m back now.”

Carroll’s comments about Losman returning last week seem to back up that claim.

“He’s been with us in our system, he’s real anxious to get back at it, and we talked the day we talked about him going (away) that we were counting on this day to come and it finally did,” Carroll said. “So it’s really about opportunity more than anything. We’re more stable now than we were because of that. So I think it’s a very, very good move for us at this time.”

Losman’s thankful for another opportunity and understands the unstable nature of playing for a team that already has made 251 roster moves this year.

While Losman got some extra work after practice last week, on a field next to him free-agent quarterback Trevor Harris was going through a workout, so there’s always the chance he can be replaced.

But with all the uncertainty at the quarterback position for Seattle this year, Losman could end up being part of the conversation moving forward at season’s end.

The team’s anointed quarterback of the future, Charlie Whitehurst, did not exactly set the world on fire during his opportunity for playing time this season, although Carroll offered a few words of encouragement after the 28-year-old Clemson product led Seattle on a scoring drive in replacing Hasselbeck last week.

And Hasselbeck, in the final year of his contract, played his best game of the season after struggling through an unimpressive first half of the season.

Losman said that even though things have not gone the way he planned, he’s pleased to be back.

“You just love being around the guys,” he said. “You love being around the game, actually. It’s no fun watching it on TV, I’ll tell you that, especially in some little dive bar in Napa Valley.”

LEWIS IS THE MAN

Seahawks defensive back Roy Lewis was named the Seahawks’ man of the year on Tuesday. The award is presented each year to a player who goes above and beyond in his charitable work in the community. Lewis is now in the running for the national award, which is named after the late Walter Payton. Josh Wilson won the award last year.

Tags: Attempt, Buffalo, Detroit Lions, J P Losman, Locomotives, Los Vegas, Lot, Many Things, Matt Hasselbeck, nfl draft, Numbers Game, Practice Squad, Realization, Rolling With The Punches, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS, Seven Years, training camp, United Football League, Waivers, Workout