Carroll on Aaron Curry, he is still a work in progress

Published on June 15, 2011 by Tacoma News Tribune (Feed)     

Aaron Curry is a work in progress: Pete Carroll said linebacker Aaron Curry will be used in the same fashion the team used him last year, as a strong-side outside linebacker on the line of scrimmage in early downs. And Curry also will get his opportunities to rush the passer again, although Carroll admitted they would have liked to have seen a little more from Curry in those situations.

Curry finished with 73 tackles, 3.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception in the playoffs against Chicago.

Those numbers are a slight improvement from Curry’s rookie season, but still not up to the lofty expectations of a No. 4 overall draft pick. Curry is scheduled to make a little over $10 million in base salary and signing bonuses this year.

“We would like to continue to utilize him on the line of scrimmage,” Carroll said. “He’s a real physical factor matching up on the tight ends, and he’ll continue to get that done. He really excelled on that, and we’ll just continue to let him grow in that situation.

“We think he’s has a guy who has a tremendous amount of potential to get better. He wasn’t able to factor in the pass rush as we hoped. He wasn’t able to break into the top two rushers.”

Tags: 10 Million, Base Salary, curry, Draft Pick, Fashion, Fumbles, Interception, Line Of Scrimmage, Linebacker, Lofty Expectations, Pete Carroll, Rookie Season, Rush, Sacks, Slight Improvement, Strong Side, tackles, Tight Ends, Work In Progress