Welcome to the Hawks blog, and a few notes on the eve of training camp
Thursday, July 30, 2009 | 4:08 pm
First a very quick hello, welcome and introduction. I'm John, I've been covering the Huskies for the Herald for the past two-plus years, so some of you may be familiar with me from that blog. And for those who aren't, my hope is that this will be a place for you to find the latest Seahawks news, analysis and my thoughts in general on the happenings of your NFL team. If you're lucky I'll even mix in some dumb jokes and my strange sense of humor.
I welcome comments, suggestions, or whatever other feedback you want to give, either on this blog or via email (jboyle@heraldnet.com), and I'm looking forward to serving you the reader this football season.
Ok now, enough of that, let's talk football.
Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell met with reporters earlier today to talk about his team one day before training camp starts. Here are the highlights:
The Seahawks won't open training camp Friday quite at full strength as they had hoped.
Left guard Mike Wahle, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, hasn't progressed as well as planned, and won't be available at the start of camp, Ruskell said. Wahle's timetable will be reassessed after Friday's physical.
Additionally, defensive end Patrick Kerney (shoulder) and left tackle Walter Jones (knee) will be available but on a limited basis. The good news on the injury front is that Ruskell reiterated what has been said throughout the offseason—that Matt Hasselbeck's back is not a concern.
“Matt's been absolutely great,” he said. “He's in the best shape of his life, he feels great, strong, and ready to go full.”
Mansfield Wrotto is listed as Wahle's backup at left guard, but if Wahle is out for an extended period of time, don't be surprised if rookie Max Unger challenges Wrotto for that job. Unger, who agreed to a contract with the team Wednesday afternoon, impressed during May and June minicamps and could find himself on the field this season. Unger, a center at Oregon, was drafted in part because of his versatility. He has gotten the most reps at left guard, a move made in part because of Wahle's injury.
“That was kind of the thinking on Unger, that that would be an important guy to bring in, so we kind of thought about that as part of the plan,” Ruskell said.
Asked if Unger has the potential to be a starter in the near future, Ruskell responded, “Yeah, we believed that when we took him.”
And speaking of rookies, the Seahawks have one who is still unsigned: No. 4 overall pick Aaron Curry. Ruskell said talks are ongoing with the linebacker's agents, Michael Sullivan and Andy Ross, and hopes to have Curry in camp as soon as possible.
“We've been nonstop talking to those guys for the last few days,” Ruskell said. “”We're optimistic.”
Only seven first rounders have signed so far, making it a bit tougher to negotiate. And the contract worth a guaranteed $28 million given to the No. 5 pick, quarterback Mark Sanchez, could make things more difficult as well.
“There aren't a lot of precedents to go off of right now,” Ruskell said. “We'll discount the quarterback deals, they'll so ‘Nope, there it is' so therein lies the rub. But we're optimistic, it's been good talks so far. We absolutely want him in by [today] to get going. We don't want him to miss a day. Here's a guy that we're projecting to start and that would hurt him. We're optimistic, we're going to go nonstop and try to get it done, even without these other deals in.”
UPDATE: It's now eight first-rounders that have signed, as the Rams have come to terms with No. 2 pick Jason Smith according to ESPN.com's Mike Sando. And as Sando points out, that could help give the Seahawks a better measuring stick to base a contract for Curry off of, since the other two top-five picks to sign previously were both quarterbacks.
Only one kicker this year: An oddity on Seattle's 2008 roster was the presence of two kickers throughout the season. Olindo Mare held down the job all season, but rookie Brandon Coutu was with the team as well. That's a situation that won't be repeated in 2009, Ruskell said.
“That won't happen this year,” he said. “We'll go with one guy, and it'll be a nice battle to watch. . . We're not going to have two kickers this year, I'm going to go on record and say that.”
All for now. Check tomorrow's Herald for more info previewing the start of camp, and check back here tomorrow afternoon for updates from training camp.
I welcome comments, suggestions, or whatever other feedback you want to give, either on this blog or via email (jboyle@heraldnet.com), and I'm looking forward to serving you the reader this football season.
Ok now, enough of that, let's talk football.
Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell met with reporters earlier today to talk about his team one day before training camp starts. Here are the highlights:
The Seahawks won't open training camp Friday quite at full strength as they had hoped.
Left guard Mike Wahle, who is recovering from shoulder surgery, hasn't progressed as well as planned, and won't be available at the start of camp, Ruskell said. Wahle's timetable will be reassessed after Friday's physical.
Additionally, defensive end Patrick Kerney (shoulder) and left tackle Walter Jones (knee) will be available but on a limited basis. The good news on the injury front is that Ruskell reiterated what has been said throughout the offseason—that Matt Hasselbeck's back is not a concern.
“Matt's been absolutely great,” he said. “He's in the best shape of his life, he feels great, strong, and ready to go full.”
Mansfield Wrotto is listed as Wahle's backup at left guard, but if Wahle is out for an extended period of time, don't be surprised if rookie Max Unger challenges Wrotto for that job. Unger, who agreed to a contract with the team Wednesday afternoon, impressed during May and June minicamps and could find himself on the field this season. Unger, a center at Oregon, was drafted in part because of his versatility. He has gotten the most reps at left guard, a move made in part because of Wahle's injury.
“That was kind of the thinking on Unger, that that would be an important guy to bring in, so we kind of thought about that as part of the plan,” Ruskell said.
Asked if Unger has the potential to be a starter in the near future, Ruskell responded, “Yeah, we believed that when we took him.”
And speaking of rookies, the Seahawks have one who is still unsigned: No. 4 overall pick Aaron Curry. Ruskell said talks are ongoing with the linebacker's agents, Michael Sullivan and Andy Ross, and hopes to have Curry in camp as soon as possible.
“We've been nonstop talking to those guys for the last few days,” Ruskell said. “”We're optimistic.”
Only seven first rounders have signed so far, making it a bit tougher to negotiate. And the contract worth a guaranteed $28 million given to the No. 5 pick, quarterback Mark Sanchez, could make things more difficult as well.
“There aren't a lot of precedents to go off of right now,” Ruskell said. “We'll discount the quarterback deals, they'll so ‘Nope, there it is' so therein lies the rub. But we're optimistic, it's been good talks so far. We absolutely want him in by [today] to get going. We don't want him to miss a day. Here's a guy that we're projecting to start and that would hurt him. We're optimistic, we're going to go nonstop and try to get it done, even without these other deals in.”
UPDATE: It's now eight first-rounders that have signed, as the Rams have come to terms with No. 2 pick Jason Smith according to ESPN.com's Mike Sando. And as Sando points out, that could help give the Seahawks a better measuring stick to base a contract for Curry off of, since the other two top-five picks to sign previously were both quarterbacks.
Only one kicker this year: An oddity on Seattle's 2008 roster was the presence of two kickers throughout the season. Olindo Mare held down the job all season, but rookie Brandon Coutu was with the team as well. That's a situation that won't be repeated in 2009, Ruskell said.
“That won't happen this year,” he said. “We'll go with one guy, and it'll be a nice battle to watch. . . We're not going to have two kickers this year, I'm going to go on record and say that.”
All for now. Check tomorrow's Herald for more info previewing the start of camp, and check back here tomorrow afternoon for updates from training camp.
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