On Tarvaris Jackson, Part 4

Part 1: Low expectations for Tarvaris Jackson.

Part 2: Why he was still Seattle's optimal choice at QB.

Part 3: Some numbers that hint at Tarvaris Jackson's growth trajectory.


 
Coaches don't just hand their quarterbacks a playbook and set them loose. Handling of a QB by their head coach defines the QB, not entirely, but to a pertinent degree.

We Twelves are aware of this. Notorious are the stories of Mike Holmgren's temper and how it kept Matt Hasselbeck disciplined and accountable on the field. Seneca Wallace usually played with a watered-down playbook and a tight leash held by Holmgren. Read up on almost any successful team, and you'll find that the relationship between coaches and QB's is well-defined.

One of the knocks on Tarvaris Jackson is that he wasn't handled well by his old head coach in Minnesota, Brad Childress, who has a tyrant's reputation and fueled his training camps with bile and profanity. People say his development was hampered by his early pulling in 2008 and the arrival of Brett Favre. Pete Carroll and John Schneider have publicly agreed. Rather colorfully, I might add.

Fair enough. Jackson may have had a poor environment with the Vikings. Whether a better environment will magically improve Jackson's accuracy and field vision, I don't know. But it could happen.

Pete Carroll is used to deliberate QB handling. He and former OC Jeremy Bates were quite open about how they handled Matt Hasselbeck and Charlie Whitehurst. It's about degrees of decision-making freedom and generosity with the playbook.

On Tarvaris Jackson, Part 3

Part 1: Low expectations for Tarvaris Jackson.

Part 2: Why he was still Seattle's optimal choice at QB.


First off: I am posting numbers comparing Tarvaris Jackson against Matt Hasselbeck, not to start more anger or debate about Hasselbeck's decision to go elsewhere, but because many here are very familiar with the progression of his career and the improvement he began to show in year 4 of it.

Tarvaris Jackson and the recently departed Great Bald One have some astounding similarities to their careers. All the following stats are from the first 4 years of Matt's career and the first 5 of Tarvaris'. This is because the number of attempts are roughly similar.

Tarvaris Jackson has had 603 passing attempts for his entire 5 year career. People can get hung up on the number of years he has had in the league, but in reality 603 attempts is a season and a half for many quarterbacks, and barely more than a season for some. Philip Rivers had 541 attempts last season, and Peyton Manning had 679. Point is, Jackson is young in the area of experience, and he shows promise. And a couple of big negatives.

On Tarvaris Jackson, Part 2

Part 1: Low expectations for Tarvaris Jackson.


Funny the difference a year makes. As the 2010 season opened, the national media was hailing Pete Carroll and John Schneider's new Seattle front office. They'd loved our draft, and the dumpster-diving roster strategy and frenetic transactions made for good oddball news, as did second-chance stories like Mike Williams and Lendale White (heh). They were the new kids on the block, and sportswriters everywhere were eating it up.

Now, the recent anointing of Tarvaris Jackson is starting to sap the goodwill.

This is typical, I suppose. The media doesn't like having its collective opinion challenged. As long as you're good for interesting sound bites and not treading on its established mindset, you're fine. But once you touch an issue that already has popular opinion attached to it, that opinion will push back. By declaring Tarvaris Jackson the starter, Pete Carroll has kicked the hornet's nest.

Grading Seattle's Free Agency: Offense

Tarvaris Jackson (#7): C+

Signing the former Minnesota backup isn't exactly a coup in and of itself. Despite his tools, starting experience, and spotty handling by Brad Childress, the fact is that Jackson struggled in Minnesota despite being protected by an awesome offense. He's a popular example of how a good team doesn't necessarily elevate a bad QB.

But the signing looks better when you compare it against the other options. Seattle could have overpaid for Kevin Kolb, risked Vince Young, courted the Carroll-misfit Kyle Orton, or become the next victim of Donovan McNabb. Instead, they went for the best combination of value, experience, cost, and system familiarity in Tarvaris Jackson. His 2-year, $8 million contract leaves Seattle free to keep looking without settling for Derek Anderson-type ineptitude in the present. Jackson should be a little better than that.

I am a little surprised that Carroll just up and handed Jackson the starting spot based on system familiarity. But it's not as if Charlie Whitehurst was likely to pick up the new system with such a short time to practice. Call it "lockout fallout". Hee hee.

Hawks and Hasselbeck: The Eulogy

Longtime Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck has moved on from the Emerald City, signing a lucrative contract with the Tennessee Titans as many outlets have been speculating he would. (Stay tuned for my thoughts on the Tarvaris Jackson signing.)

For the first installment in my "Hawks and Hasselbeck" series, in which I ruminate on Hasselbeck's achievements in Seattle and hopefully demonstrate why I'm not a hater, click here.


It was time. The franchise needed to part ways with Hasselbeck. It needed to look like it was operating with an eye towards the future, rather than having its identity rooted in the past. Allowing Hasselbeck to walk at the natural end of his Holmgren contract, coming off the high note of a good playoff run, was the right move at the right time. Now his legacy as a Seahawk will be protected, and despite the worries of whoever created this, there is no chance he will retire as anything but a Seahawk.

There will remain a contingent of loyal Hasselbeck fans who will keep wondering whether he still had a chance to rebound, who keep blaming the QB's troubles on the dearth of surrounding talent. Give him a decent O-line, a running game, and better receivers, and could he have improved his play?

The answer is yes.

It's always been yes.

Matt Hasselbeck Also Not Expected to Return

Adam Schefter on NFL Live doesn't expect QB Matt Hasselbeck to return to the Seahawks, according to a tweet by Evan Silva.

I'm not sure what's changed since Seattle's favorite football leak shared that Matt Hasselbeck is still a target of interest for the Seahawks. The team's negotiations with him stalled right before the lockout after Hasselbeck turned down the team's offer, apparently over the issue of guaranteed money. OC Darrell Bevell is said to have "reached out" to Hasselbeck during the brief break in the lockout last month, assuring the veteran QB that Seattle still wants him back.

Still, this makes sense. The draft didn't kill the market for veteran quarterbacks so much as just reshuffle the possible landing spots. Washington's evil plan to draft Jake Locker was foiled by Tennessee, leaving them hurting at the position. Arizona might call, despite their alleged interest in Marc Bulger. Hass's old mentor is still lurking around Cleveland, no doubt red-faced as he suppresses his desire to fire Pat Shurmur and rush back down to coach. It's doubtful that Tennessee or Minnesota will be interested now, having committed Top-12 money (chortle) to their new QB's, but there are still candidates for his services.

I am not a Hasselbeck hater, but his hanging around is a messy and divisive situation. His good reputation is at risk. That we've allowed optimism for Hasselbeck's future to creep back into our opinions shows how long it's been since we watched him play. Statistically and fundamentally, he was one of the worst starting QB's we've ever seen in 2010. It's far more logical to expect a San Francisco meltdown from him than a New Orleans comeback in 2011. I'm not saying Charlie Whitehurst will be any better, but there are still other options besides him.

With the lockout embalming teams in their current offensive schemes, Hasselbeck has retained value to the Seahawks by way of his familiarity with Seattle's system and personnel. Should he stick around, the team will at least have continuity. But he looks for all the world like a guy who still believes in himself, still wants to play and win, and wants a contract that reflects those goals. Seattle's front office has been a bit stingy in that regard, both with its own guys and other teams' free agents. The two sides just don't seem to share a vision.

I think it's for the best for both parties if Seattle cuts the cord and moves on. Seattle denied any intent to seriously contend in 2011 by failing to draft a QB, so Charlie Whitehurst might as well get a shot and try to justify that third-round pick he cost (which was used, in case you're wondering, on a small corner from USC).

Thursday Post-Draft Links

Sorry for the hole in content. It's been a busy week with many exciting things going on. Here are some links while I finish a piece on Seattle's late-round picks.



Mike Sando passes on Seattle GM John Schneider's justifications for the draft. Tons of good info here. I appreciate how accountable Schneider makes himself to the fans - most of his "we don't care what others think" comments feel directed at national draftniks, not fans.

Also from Sando: a fair and balanced view on whether Matt Hasselbeck has a future with the Seahawks.

Rob Staton's source continues to hit it out of the park with intriguing gossip. Amongst the tidbits in his latest leak: Blaine Gabbert was actually the top-rated QB on Seattle's board, which I find encouraging. (Jake Locker was #6, which I find equally encouraging.) CB Jimmy Smith may have been a target at #25 after all, and Seattle is still in the thick of the free-agent QB hunt, with Charlie Whitehurst as a very real starter option.

Rob also addresses those who rationalize away Seattle's failure to draft a QB by pointing to next year's crop. In a nutshell: that's what they say every year. The optimistic future always looks more appealing than the closely-examined, better-informed present. That's a pretty good definition for the word "mirage".

FOXSports.com's Peter Schrager forecasts Seattle to draft #1 and select Andrew Luck in 2012. This won't happen. Too many things have to go just right (or wrong) for Seattle to select #1. It's like out-competing 31 other teams in the suck department. With master motivator Pete Carroll as coach, Seattle will win too many games against Arizona to nab Luck. And I don't care how long Carroll has supposedly been given to build his vision - if the Seahawks collapse disastrously enough to go #1 next year, his job will be in danger.

The OC Register examines new Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith and the gastrointestinal disorder that he suffers from. It's a sobering thing. If Smith can stay on top of his condition, he has the tools to become an impressive value pick.

Nick Andron over at Fieldgulls reminds us that Seattle's new offensive line is not likely to bloom right away. List of obstacles to said blooming: inexperience, question marks at center and left guard, inexperience, Russell Okung's fragility, two rookies, inexperience, the lockout canceling OTA's and minicamps, and by the way, since we all seem to keep forgetting this...

ROBERT GALLERY IS NOT A SEAHAWK YET, AND MAY NEVER BE.

The Mallett Ultimatum, Part 3: Scheme Fit?

I don't have any idea what kind of offense Pete Carroll will be running in 2011.

You don't have any idea what kind of offense Pete Carroll will be running in 2011.

The media doesn't have any idea what kind of offense Pete Carroll will be running in 2011.

Truth be told, I don't even think Pete Carroll has any idea what kind of offense Pete Carroll will be running in 2011.

Why? Because Pete Carroll doesn't know who his quarterback will be yet. This is a quarterback-driven league whose successful offenses are built around the QB, not the other way around. Draft a good QB, construct the offense around his skill set, and you can start your rebuild any time. Wait for a QB who perfectly fits your abstract playbook, and you're at the mercy of the whims of the draft. You might be waiting years, and GM's don't have years to turn teams around.

It would be foolish for Seattle to rigidly adhere to an offensive philosophy instead of a quarterback. I personally don't see any proof that Carroll is even going to be that rigid. We know what he has said to the cameras, which means nothing. We know whom he has pursued in free agency, which means more. We know what he's done on the field, which is also valuable. And we know what works in the NFL, which might be the most important consideration of all.

Let's use that stuff when it comes to guessing Seattle's draft next week. Yes, this has to do with Ryan Mallett, because arguing in favor of flexibility allows us to envision Mallett as a Seahawk next week. Bias? Maybe, but I don't think it's a deadly one. Judge for yourselves.

A question to ponder: if Carroll is so excited about arm strength and mobility, then why did he trade away Seneca Wallace?

Where Do Real Offenses Come From?

We Seahawks fans are a unique breed. We're still riding high on the memory of 2005's Super Bowl offense, that unstoppable smashmouth machine. The reliable running game that defensive coordinators feared, the sharpness and zip of Matt Hasselbeck's play as he threw without duress, the favorable job the defense enjoyed of merely keeping opponents from outracing Seattle's points total. All enabled by a once-in-a-decade peak of skill and chemistry along the offensive line, complemented by an elite runner and a 6th-round quarterback obtained in trade. The Seahawks were catapulted to the top of the conference on the backs of that historic line, giving the team an aura of invincibility and the 12th Man the first taste of nation-wide respect they'd experienced in twenty years.

So why would we desire anything else? Why would we care how other teams get along? A lot of us honestly don't even watch non-Seahawks football. I hadn't until 2009, when I started suspecting that Seattle's QB issues were independent of the other problems on offense. I started researching the history of playoff teams, especially those who repeat. I learned a lot from draftniks who observe the draft tendencies and priorities of teams that succeed (and those that don't). I built a picture of which positions build off each other and which ones feed into which. And I came away with an inescapable conclusion.

Seattle's 2005 offense is a weird outlier. It's an exception to the rule. Most playoff offenses don't hinge on the offensive line nearly to the degree that the Seahawks' did that year. Some Super Bowl offensive lines have even been downright mediocre. But almost every single one of them is led by a great, and usually first-round, quarterback.

Which has no small amount of pertinence to how Seattle goes about rebuilding. Quarterback first, or everything else? Draft a QB early or later? If there's a debate raging stronger than Matt Hasselbeck, this is probably it.

Hawks and Hasselbeck: Half Seconds

It's believed that Matt Hasselbeck reinvented himself in 2010 as a vertical quarterback. He certainly looked more successful at the deep bomb from my armchair. It was no small task for him to accomplish this transformation, set at his feet by 2010 offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates. But Bates is now gone, leaving us to wonder what value that transformation will have going forward, and how complete it was.

Despite what some say about Darrell Bevell's predilection for the West Coast offense, Seattle's new OC comes from the Reid-Childress branch of the WCO that employs Desean Jackson and Sidney Rice. There's no reason to limit our expectations to a mostly short passing game of the kind Holmgren ran. There will be deep passes in Seattle in 2011, and Hasselbeck will indeed have value to the Seahawks if it can be proven that Bates' West Coast Recovery program has turned him into a deep-ball maestro.

Problem is, no successful quarterback in this league actually has the deep pass for his bread and butter. It is the velocity of the football on all manner of throws - short, intermediate, and long - that keeps the chains moving and the ball slicing past defenders. The Packers' game in particular is based on intermediate zip. Arm strength is not shown by distance; it's shown by velocity.

And by that definition, I'm not sure Hasselbeck has ever thrown a deep pass in his life.

Redefining Arm Strength

I have a female friend, 19 years old and a petite 110 pounds, whom I've seen throw a regulation football 30 yards' distance several times in a row and hit the same general area with good consistency.

According to some people's definition of a "deep ball", that makes my friend a pro quarterback prospect. Never mind that her delivery looks more like a pitcher's combined with the heel grab of a figure skater, and never mind the fact that her throws hang in the air long enough for most turtles to get under it from several feet away. For some, the distance a QB can throw is the only measure of arm strength - and the only point. If he can throw long, the thinking goes, then he can succeed in the NFL.

The major hole in this theory is that most defenses are thinking the same thing. And they've invented the safety position to compensate.

Hawks and Hasselbeck: The Tribute

The quarterback position is amongst the hottest debates amongst us right now, and by extension, so is Matt Hasselbeck. The few mentions I've made of him so far have been pretty negative, and since I'm about to embark on another series of posts about the position and how Hasselbeck fits in, I find it important to explain my position on our favorite QB and how I see him and his successor.

How do you let go of a long-term relationship that needs to be let go? You've had a few great years together, but it's become obvious that you need to move on. The future is daunting, the past seems unrepeatable, and the denial is constantly threatening to keep you in the same comfortable spot rather than step out on your own, take new risks, rebuild from the ground up - especially if the relationship you're ending is the best you've ever had. Hard to imagine anything better.

That's kinda how I feel about the 12th Man's relationship with Matt Hasselbeck. He's obviously the best, or at least the most accomplished, quarterback to ever play for Seattle. He's helmed this ship through its proudest moments and stayed at his post through some of its roughest and most embarrassing. That he has caused some of those embarrassments directly does not negate his past accomplishments. He is to be in the Seahawks' Ring of Honor the moment he retires from pro football, and if the Seahawks organization fails at that, I'll have something to say about it. He is the greatest Seahawks quarterback of all time.

And it's time to move on.

Hasselbeck, Harper, and the Overblown Playoff Win

"Pro Bowl votes are already in! WOOHOO!"

Matt Hasselbeck did not redeem himself for 2010 with the New Orleans playoff game. Or 2009, or 2008, or any combination thereof. He didn't have the best game of his career, he didn't prove his doubters wrong, and he didn't demonstrate that his occasional good games in 2010 weren't flukes. He may have made others forget about his 12 TD, 17 INT performance in the regular season, but he didn't make me forget.

The injury absence of Saints FS Malcolm Jenkins and the horrific performance of SS Roman Harper were just as much the story of that game as Hasselbeck. Anyone who thinks Hasselbeck's four TD throws were impressive hasn't broken the plays down closely enough. Harper has been solid for the Saints for years, but on January 8, he undermined the playoff game for New Orleans worse than Kelly Jennings has ever undermined a game for the Seahawks. It was that bad.

I know this is harsh. I know I'm putting the Saints game in the most pessimistic light possible. But that's a valid way to look at things, and I have no qualms about it, because it involves the most important position on any NFL roster. This matter needs to be addressed, because it's a key argument in the ongoing debate over how the Seahawks should handle their QB roster this offseason. If Hass still has serious potential as a future QB, then he gains significance in the team's plans and Charlie Whitehurst looks more and more superfluous. If not, it's time to be proactive with the position, probably in the draft. Hasselbeck could have a role with Seattle either way, but context is needed.

Breaking it down:

UPDATED Thursday Links

I'll have some original (and controversial, and possibly unpopular) content up on Monday. Another installment of the "Looking Back" series will arrive on Saturday, I think.

Meanwhile, on this final day of the CBA that we've enjoyed for 18 years, a few Seahawks happenings. Check back for updates!

• UPDATE: The NFL and NFLPA have agreed to a 24-hour extension of labor talks. This move is being popularly seen as a stepping stone to a longer extension, and at the very least as increasing goodwill between the two sides. Brian McIntyre also optimistically notes that the last such extension during a labor dispute (in 2006) eventually led to a new agreement.

• UPDATE: TE Chris Baker was cut by the Seahawks. Baker's disappointment as a receiving threat and the emergence of Cameron Morrah made this a non-surprise.

• QB Matt Hasselbeck has rejected Seattle's latest contract offer, and ESPN's John Clayton has reported that the two sides aren't anywhere close to an agreement. It appears that Seattle is trying to keep Hass's contract lean and incentive-laden to give them the ability to opt out easily if Matt can't produce, which has to be a consideration given his dropoff in the last three years. Hass, on the other hand, seems to think he can keep playing.

• The Seahawks have waived QB Nate Davis, reports Brian McIntyre. Davis' brief acquisition from the 49ers seemed to indicate the importance of the QB position to the team, but apparently Davis hasn't shown what he needed to. It could also mean that Seattle is confident in its ability to either re-sign Matt Hasselbeck or replace him through the draft.

• Anyone looking to understand the CBA chess game between the league and the players absolutely must give this ESPN article a read. It does a great job of taking the obtuse legal wording and various scenarios in the CBA drama and reducing them to layman's terms.

• Rob Staton of Seahawks Draft Blog has another piece up on Arkansas QB Ryan Mallett. Rob has carefully modulated his words to show neutrality on the guy and avoid becoming a Mallett shill; what he's really addressing are the lazy journalism and raging groupthink that have dogged Mallett for months.

• LG Robert Gallery, former protege of new Seahawks O-line coach Tom Cable and potential free agent of interest for Seattle, has confirmed that he'll be leaving the Oakland Raiders.

Decoding John Schneider

Seahawks GM John Schneider graciously dropped us a few small bones today as he spoke to reporters at the Combine. In these days of CBA limbo, we're desperate for any scraps that fall from the table, are we not?

I wanted to take what we heard and turn it over a little bit in my mind. Not that I have any idea what Schneider is really thinking, but hey, we're all doing this, right?


On Matt Hasselbeck:

Top Ten Great Mistakes of Tim Ruskell, Part 2

5. The Hiring of Jim Mora

Jim L. Mora, Seattle's head coach for one brief year that wasn't brief enough, was a loose-lipped PR embarrassment before his Seattle tenure, a vacant, reactionary excuse-maker during his tenure, and a facepalm-inducing fop after he's left. He had never created anything but a mediocre defense before Ruskell tapped him to succeed Mike Holmgren as Seahawks head coach. You could rank his hiring anywhere on this list of Ruskell's greatest failures.

I don't know which is worse - that the players quit on Mora before the season was half over, or that he was trying to make grandiose, larger-than-life big-shot gestures before the season even began. T.J. Houshmandzadeh and the watch, really? Did you think we'd completely forgotten about the Huskies comments? Before he'd had any chance to (re)build credibility and trust with the Seahawks or their fans, he was already flexing for the Super Bowl pregame shows. Ugh.

From his thousand-yard-stare to his reflex of publicly hanging struggling players out to dry, Mora did one thing right: he taught us how much of the dignified, responsible, patient Mike Holmgren we'd taken for granted all those years. He also gave us a frame for new coach Pete Carroll, who defends his players as a coach should. It's pretty bad when your biggest accomplishment as an NFL head coach is to make both your predecessor and your successor look better than you.


4. The Left Tackle Situation

NFL Network: Seattle in first-round QB hunt

NFL Network's Albert Breer comments on Seattle's quarterback intentions: (emphasis mine)

   With Charlie Whitehurst difficult to count on as a "quarterback of the future," and Matt Hasselbeck's contract up, Seattle has planned for months to seriously consider pulling the trigger on a new signal-caller in the first round. ... There are likely three quarterbacks going in the top half of the first round: Missouri's Blaine Gabbert, Auburn's Cam Newton and Washington's Jake Locker. Now, to get any of those three would require a serious move up and a heavy cost to Seattle, and that means there would have to be serious conviction on the part of the staff. Maybe Carroll has that with the hometown kid Locker...But otherwise, all this might mean the team would be left with the option of Ryan Mallett at the bottom of the first round, and the Seahawks already are well aware of the kind of risk he presents from a character perspective.

   One way for the Seahawks to address their quarterbacking question could be to make another run at Kevin Kolb. ... Remember, the Browns and Seahawks made inquiries last offseason about Kolb but were rebuffed as it became clear the Eagles preference was to deal Donovan McNabb. Cleveland, of course, has insight because of GM Tom Heckert's Philadelphia roots, while Seattle was another West Coast offense team that figured Kolb's transition could be a smooth one.

My take: This strikes me as nothing more than makes-sense speculation. A few disagreements I have:

• Kevin Kolb is indeed a hot commodity - in the sense that a hot stove top can scorch your hand. He's an untested QB and his very limited action in 2010 hasn't changed that. Something else that hasn't changed is his price tag of two first-rounders - a price Seattle walked away from last year when they actually had those picks available. Why would they go back to the well now?

• I have a creeping hunch that a surprising run on quarterbacks will occur early in the first round. As in all four top prospects (Gabbert, Newton, Locker, Mallett) gone in the top half of the draft, perhaps sooner. The draft is top-heavy with QB-hungry teams and has seen a number of free-agent QB experiments sputter and die this year (e.g. Donovan McNabb, Jake Delhomme, Jason Campbell, Brett Favre, Troy Smith, Kyle Orton, Derek Anderson, Trent Edwards), possibly making the free agent route a little unseemly. Struggling teams need new franchise faces to rejuvenate the fans. Rookie QB's are always a hot commodity. Plenty of GM's and coaches think they have what it takes to turn first-round projects into stars. Combine these factors, and you have the makings of an early run.

• If Mallett falls to #25, is that really such a hard choice for Seattle? Footwork schmootwork...the only real reason Mallett's stock is falling is those un-confirmable character flags. The guy knows quite well what he has to show in the next few months to maximize his stock. Give the kid a chance. His on-the-field abilities are starting to make him look like the most NFL ready signal-caller in this draft, other than the out-of-reach Gabbert.

Looking Back on 2010, Part 4: Competition

Continuing a series of posts re-capturing the moods, debates, and plot twists of Pete Carroll's first year in Seattle. You can find Part 3 here.

The 12th Man's winter was short and soon ended by the "spring" of training camp. As always, we were debilitated from the endless circular discussions and desperate to see some resolution and answers to the ongoing storylines. Where was the QB situation headed? Who would emerge at wide receiver? Was Pete Carroll's vaunted "competition" really going to make something out of a scrum pool of camp-body defensive ends? We were tired of talking about it. We had to know.

The annual worry over signing our draft picks arrived as surely as spring flowers do, only to be silenced within a week once they all signed unremarkably - as surely as spring flowers do. Also signing was Chester Pitts, another well-reputed, scheme-fitting O-lineman recovering from an injury. Pitts was another attempt to compensate for the Sims trade and had more football ahead of him than Ben Hamilton, but was Carroll starting to push his luck with all the injury gambling? It was immediately clear that Pitts would be a while in returning to full form.

Toward the end of June, Seattle had named Scot McCloughan a senior personnel executive. Many merely peg him as "the guy who brought us Kentwan Balmer" a couple of weeks later. Balmer, a first-round almost-bust who publicly grumped his way off the 49ers, has had little impact in Seattle, therefore casting apathy upon McCloughan for some reason. But McCloughan was a respected figure in San Francisco whose role in Seattle's personnel decisions and scouting may be underrated, and probably has yet to have its biggest impact. San Francisco is certainly not lacking talent because of him. Keep him on your radar.

Training camp finally launched, sending swarms of informed reporters and uninformed unlookers upon the VMAC to watch Kelly Jennings' usual strong camp. I was looking forward to the gossip and breakdowns as much as anyone, but cynical nonetheless. Why do these affairs always seem to be little more than bullet lists of WR catches, as if that sums up the work being done? There's always so little about the linemen, the running backs, the mechanics. Or perhaps...observers are just kind of ignoring the things that aren't looking so good.