RENTON — Given the opportunity to describe the Seattle Seahawks tight ends earlier this week, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck couldn’t possibly do it in a single word.
He needed two.
“Very quiet,” Hasselbeck said.
In a nutshell, that sums up the foursome that is Seattle’s tight ends. One gets the feeling that the four of them — Will Heller, Jeb Putzier, Joe Newton and rookie John Carlson — could take a five-hour car ride and exchange only about six words.
“That’s just their personality; every one of them,” tight ends coach Jim Lind said. “Will Heller doesn’t say two words. John’s a quiet kid. Jeb Putzier is very quiet. And Joe’s quiet. They all are.
“Now, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a sense of humor or they don’t like to laugh. They’re just quiet guys.”
How quiet?
Heller, he of the drawn-out words and the sneaky wit, claims that during one of the group’s early position meetings, the reticent Lind looked around at the silent faces and was taken aback.
“He said: ‘I’m not going to sit here and crack all the jokes and tell all the stories,’” Heller recalled.
Lind doesn’t quite remember the story that way, but he does admit that his group lacks verbosity.
“Our meetings are business,” Lind said. “It’s not social hour in there. From that standpoint, we get in there, get our stuff done and get out. I’m not going to sit there and waste their time, which is very valuable.”
It’s a far cry from previous seasons, when big personalities like those of Marcus Pollard and Jerramy Stevens often overshadowed the other tight ends. This year, there’s not one obvious leader among the group.
The 29-year-old Putzier is the elder statesman, having played six seasons in the NFL. Heller, in his third season with the Seahawks, has been in Seattle’s system the longest. Carlson is the rookie who has an inside track on a starting job, while Newton is the sneaky jokester.
“From the outside, I can see how it might look like a quiet group,” Newton said. “But when we’re together, we have fun together.”
Last season, Pollard dominated the meeting room with his harmonious personality. He was not re-signed after a forgettable playoff performance, and replacements Putzier and Carlson have not quite filled the gap in terms of outspokenness.
Putzier is the only father among the group, so he spends most of his free time with his family. The 24-year-old Carlson, who recently got married himself, carries the seriousness of someone two or three times his age.
“He’s kind of a straight-edged guy,” Heller said of the Seahawks’ second-round draft pick. “We can’t get too many stories out of him. We try to chip away at him, but he’s holding his ground. We’ll just keep working on it and see what he’s got in that closet.”
Carlson makes no apologies for his straight-forward approach to the NFL.
“It’s a business,” he said, “and you don’t really have the time to joke around like you did in college.”
Despite their unaffected exteriors, Seattle’s tight ends do like to crack on each other.
When Heller was asked this week about his teammates’ hobbies, he took some good-natured shots.
“Joe claims to be this outdoorsman,” Heller said. “He claims that he wants to be a mountain climber, but he’s scared of heights. So I don’t know how that’s going to work out. John, I have to say, he’s a tough one to crack. Since I’ve been around him, it’s just been football, football, football.
“… And Jeb. What does Jeb like to do? He likes to promote his baby company. He has some company with his wife. I’m not quite sure what they do.”
Hasselbeck said that Heller’s covert personality has come out more this year.
“They have a little bit of class clown in all of them,” the Seahawks’ quarterback said. “Especially Will Heller, which I didn’t know.”
Hasselbeck added that the tight ends travel in a pack, noticing that one of them won’t do anything socially without the other three.
Said Newton: “There’s safety in numbers.”
Lind appreciates the Seahawks tight ends for who they are. He says there is nothing wrong with muted personalities, adding that he himself can be pretty quiet.
“A lot of (tight ends) are generally quiet, going all the way back,” he said. “Itula Mili was quiet, Jerramy was pretty quiet, Ryan Hannam was quiet.
“Maybe that’s part of being a tight end.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
